The next morning, I was jarred to consciousness by a banging sound. My natural instinct was to just hope it would quiet down and go away, but consciousness brought another revelation. I wasn’t the only one sleeping in the pile of blankets. Brooke was curled up with me, both forelegs wrapped around my stomach and her face nuzzled up against my chest.

I gazed down at her, completely shocked. I had been completely exhausted after my time on the roof last night, both mentally and physically, but when I had made my stumbling way back into the apartment and collapsed next to Brooke, we hadn’t been this cuddled up. One or the other of us must get particularly grabby in her sleep. And judging from her tight grip, it wasn’t me.

The sound resumed, and I realized it was someone angrily knocking on the front door. This time it was persistent enough to cause Brooke’s eyelids to crack open. She was still only half awake, and didn’t seem inclined to let go of me, but with a bit of care I extricated myself from her grasp. I tried to ignore the blush that had appeared on my face.

I trotted over to look out across the short hallway into the living room. I could see Daisy was up as well, and looking frazzled. She glanced at me, then back at the door before placing a finger over her mouth.

I nodded back. It made sense. No one home, that was the safest way to play it. But a thought surfaced in my mind: who would actually be knocking on my door? And with such insistence? It’s not like I had usually friends stopping by in the mornings. Most of the time it was just my damn landlord, complaining when I was even the slightest bit late with— Oh. This would be a problem.

“Open up!” The voice confirmed it, even muffled as it was from the door. What was particularly worrying was that he had a key. And an unfortunately low level of concern for the privacy of tenants – at least the ones who didn’t pay, a category that currently included me.

It’s not like I meant to stiff him. But money concerns being what they were, I was already planning on taking advantage of every last day I could and getting the check in as late as possible on the 3rd. And then, well, pony matters had taken precedence. Unfortunately, just because I had forgotten about my other problems didn’t mean they had forgotten about me. And today was the... 6th? Yeah. Uh oh.

I looked around the bedroom, searching for a place to hide. Not here, for sure. This bedroom was still completely empty save for the small pile of blankets we had been sleeping on and a very worried-looking Brooke.

Come to think of it, the whole apartment was pretty bare, meaning the best option was my room. Though I couldn’t think of where. Uh. Under my bed? Could we fit? It was a possibility.

“I’m coming in,” my landlord yelled through the door. I could hear the muted jingle of keys. Man, my hearing really was a lot better, huh? Or else he was deliberately shaking his keyring as a veiled threat.

No time to ponder it. Daisy panicked as well, having realized that staying quiet wasn’t going to work. I looked back at Brooke and jerked my head urgently before galloping off towards my bedroom. After a moment of confusion, she took the hint and her legs kicked into gear, scurrying after me.

We ducked into the bedroom and I pushed against the door to cause it to swing shut. Once safely closed, I pressed the side of my head against the wood, trying to hear what was going on. Out of one corner of my eye, I could see Brooke, still standing around uncertainly staring at me.

I heard the door open. “Uh. Yes, can I help you?” That was Daisy’s voice. Okay, good.

“I’m looking for Tyler. Tyler Hawkins. Who are you?” His voice was laced with suspicion. The guy always did think I was up to no good, for some reason. Even though I had tried to be a model tenant. ...Occasional late rent payments aside.

“A friend,” Daisy said, lifting her voice to deliberately try and sound helpful. “He’s not around right now.”

“Uh huh,” the landlord said, unconvinced. “I think I’ll take a look around and make sure of that.” I involuntary flinched. Should have guessed, but that meant this would be a serious problem.

“N-No!” Daisy exclaimed, losing her composure for a moment. “Like I said, he’s not here. And you can’t just come in.”

“Look, lady, as of now your friend is significantly overdue on his rent. And it isn’t the first time. Now since I own these apartments, it is my perfect legal right to go wherever I damn well please. And if you want to get the police involved, be my guest, cause I know whose ass they’ll be throwing out on the streets.”

Great. I knew from previous experience that he was not one willing to stop poking around when it came to getting his money. Which meant we needed a place to hide. Quickly.

I looked around the room, my eyes flicking from place to place wildly. Nope, we would definitely not fit under the bed. We were way too large to just hide under a blanket or something without it being suspicious. And the shallow closet in here would be too cramped for two even if it wasn’t already way too full of junk. Brooke just stood there, watching me as I quickly ran through options and discarded them.

Time to think outside the box. Looking at her unmoving observation of my actions gave me an idea. A slightly crazy idea, but it might work: hiding right in plain sight.

“Hurry,” I said in a urgent whisper. I hopped up onto the bed, getting surprising lift from my legs. Either I was much stronger or much lighter than I expected. I motioned with one hoof for Brooke to join me, smiling encouragingly as she clambered up next to me.

“...Lyra?” she asked, softly. Oh. Of course! In the rush I had completely forgotten about... well, about nearly all of yesterday, and the admittedly dark place I was in. And I hadn’t the chance to reassure Brooke in any way, after treating her so horribly. Though, this wasn’t exactly a great opportunity either.

“I’m... I’m better now,” I said, simply. “But I need you to stand absolutely still, okay?” A thought suddenly popped into my head and impulsively I acted on it, reaching over to kiss her lightly on the cheek.

That caused her to freeze up, her face turning red. I saw a smile creep across her lips before I turned to look straight ahead myself.

We waited a moment, the sounds of voices talking out in the apartment filtering in. The words were hard to make out exactly, but it seemed to be a pretty heated argument. A raised exclamation had to have been made by Daisy. Then stomping footsteps drawing close. The door swung open as the pudgy form of our unwanted intruder burst in.

I concentrated very very hard on staying still. No ear twitches, no tail wiggles, no eye movements. The warmth of Brooke pressed against my side was helpfully calming. I could still see the landlord in my peripheral vision as he stared at me and Brooke.

“What the hell are those?” he asked, incredulously. Uh oh. He turned back towards Daisy, who was standing in the doorway.

I had a moment while his back was to me. My head turned slightly to stare right at Daisy, and I closed one eye in an exaggerated wink.

Her mouth dropped open. And then curved up into an incredulous smile. “Those are... Those are plushies. Life-size. From My Little Pony, surely you’ve heard of it?”

I stared forwards again right as the landlord turned to look questioningly at us once more. He blinked, quiet for a moment. And then he turned away, making a disgusted sound. “Whatever. I don’t care about the weird shit you people are into, I just need the rent. Immediately.”

“Like I said, I will call him up and get it taken care of today.” Daisy stepped back into the hallway, trying to get him to follow.

He gave one last stare at us, shaking his head slightly in disbelief before following her out into the hallway, already starting on working up another angry tirade.

I exhaled, realizing I had been holding my breath the whole time. We relaxed slightly, but stood in the same position, waiting until we heard his complaints die away and the front door open and slam shut again.

A broad grin stretched across my face. That had actually worked! I turned to Brooke, seeing her mirror my joy. Then I heard footsteps rapidly approaching and faced the door just in time to see Daisy run in and grab me in a big hug, whirling me around the room in a circle.

Whoo! I guess I was lighter than normal. Or that the normal laws of mass and acceleration didn’t apply to Daisy. Either of these options were equally probable.

She set me down on the bed again. “Tyler?” she asked. “Are you... you?”

I smiled. “Yes. And I’m really sorry about yesterday. I’m still trying to get this all sorted out, but I talked with Lyra. Sort of. And I think we have an agreement for now, maybe. I don’t know that it’s all figured out, but... it’s better.”

I thought I could see tears in Daisy’s eyes and she grabbed me again, squeezing me tightly. “I thought you were gone, for good! Oh my god, it was terrifying. And... and... jeez, you are the most cuddly thing imaginable, do you know that?”

I patted her on the back with one hoof. “I missed you too, Daze.”

She released me and wiped her eyes. I took a moment to turn to look at Brooke, who was again doing nothing but observing us, a blank look on her face. As soon as my eyes hit hers, her mouth wrestled for a moment before turning into a tentative smile. “I-I’m glad you’re okay,” she said.

“But what are we going to do about that?” Daisy asked, waving an arm behind her. “That jerk said he was going to be back tomorrow and every morning after.”

I raised one hoof to my chin. “Well. I suppose we should pay him.” I had just about enough in my bank account to cover another month, though that would leave nothing else. But it’s not like I had any idea what else to spend it on anymore. Plus it’d be good to get that money out before I somehow got reported as missing or similar, because I sure wouldn’t be able to prove that I was Tyler Hawkins anymore.

I hopped off the bed and searched around on the floor for the pair of pants that had my wallet in them. Ugh, my sense of smell was also much better now, and some of these hadn’t been washed in a while. But, my search did turn up the wallet and grabbing it in my teeth, I raised it up for Daisy to take.

“We just need to go to an ATM,” I said. “I don’t have much, but it should cover a month. Enough time for us to figure out a long-term plan.” I looked back at Brooke, worried that mention of our condition as being more than temporary might have upset her – any thought of the future was scary in its own right. But she seemed okay, just looking off into space, apparently thinking of something of her own.

“Okay,” Daisy said. “I need to run home, myself. Pick up some clothes, an overnight bag. I’m not leaving you guys alone here.” She caught my expression. “No arguments, Tyler.”

I grumbled under my breath, but nodded, hopping down to the floor. “There’s a convenience store right around the block we could—”

“No!” Brooke said abruptly. “Just Daisy should go.”

Daisy looked down at me and laughed. “Yeah, she has a point. You’re gonna stick out just a little walking around like that.”

Sigh. I just didn’t feel like staying cooped up in the apartment all day again. I frowned, but it was clearly the only option. “Okay,” I said. “Um. My PIN number is 6281. Just withdraw everything, if you can.”

Daisy opened up my wallet and retrieved the ATM card. I turned towards the door and started to trot out alongside her.

“W-wait!” Brooke said. “Uh, Daisy, could I get you to pick a few things up for me?”

I stopped, perplexed. Daisy seemed to be equally confused.

Brooke’s eyes flicked back and forth between us. “Tyler, give us a minute? It’s uh... girl stuff.”

I nodded and started to leave when a realization struck. “Wait a minute,” I said. “I’m a girl too, now. Technically.” I smirked at the both of them.

Brooke’s only response was to glare at me. Daisy shrugged helplessly, seeming to be amused at the whole situation.

Girls! I’ll never understand them. Even when I am one.

I sat in the empty bedroom, staring wistfully out the windows. It looked like a nice day outside, and I envied Daisy, off somewhere enjoying it. What I wouldn’t give to be out there, galloping in the open, the wind blowing through my mane and tail.

Hey, what about the roof? Sure, during the day, I ran the risk of bumping into someone in the hall or stairwell. Not to mention if anyone else had gotten in the habit of smoking up there. And it wasn’t exactly the largest or most convenient place to frolic around in. But— Okay, basically there were plenty of reasons why it was a horrible idea. Didn’t stop me from thinking about it though.

Brooke trotted into the room, interrupting my train of thought. She had something delicately held in her mouth... my lyre.

Heh, the instrument that I went to so much trouble to steal, and then promptly ignored. At least it appeared to still be in good condition and I hadn’t tried to smash it or anything. Just the sight of the lyre raised my spirits, though at this point it was pretty clear that it wouldn’t be the key to undoing our transformation.

I... I hated to admit it to myself, but deep down I was beginning to think that this wasn’t simply a curse or a magic trick that we could reverse and get back to normal.

Brooke smiled at me encouragingly and waved one hoof at the lyre. “I thought you could try and play it? Maybe that would cheer you up.”

“Couldn’t hurt,” I said. I was pretty curious about the thing, after all. Plus, if I had a lyre as a cutie mark, presumably that meant I would be good at playing it.

I reached down with my mouth, picking it up. And then stopped, realizing I had a problem here. I sorta needed all four legs to stand here. After a moment of consideration, I sat down on my rump to free my two front hooves and awkwardly held it cradled in those forelegs.

Step one, complete. Now I just needed to—

I promptly dropped the lyre as soon as I moved one hoof in a position to play it. Gah. And that was still before considering how I’d be able to pluck the closely-set strings without the fine motor control of fingers.

Brooke giggled, her head tilted slightly as she watched with amusement. “No, no, no,” she said. “You’re supposed to use magic.”

I blinked. “Magic?” I said. “Isn’t that a little silly?” Brooke rolled her eyes.

Well, I was a unicorn after all. Who’s to say that I didn’t have legit magic? I hadn’t really stopped to consider it, and the thought made me a little bit excited.

I reached up and tapped my horn experimentally. Well, it was there, alright. I got on my hooves again and tilted my head down towards the lyre. No idea if my horn actually needed to be pointing at it or not, but might as well. As I closed my eyes I tried to think serene thoughts. Serene floaty thoughts.

Ommmmm.

…

One eye cracked open, and I saw the lyre still sitting there untouched.

Hmph.

Okay, well, a different approach. I grimaced with concentration, my forehead wrinkling and every muscle tensing. I stared at the lyre with one-hundred percent intensity, sending every psychic signal I could out to cause it to lift up off the ground.

Move.

Move, dammit. Move!

I felt like I was about to pop a blood vessel somewhere.

But for the lyre, nope. Not even a twitch.

Brooke giggled again. I sighed heavily, but she just shook her head, her curly hair bobbing. “Look,” she said, “it’s a instrument, right? Maybe you should do something... musical?”

“That doesn’t seem very magicky,” I said skeptically.

She shrugged. “It’s worth a try, isn’t it?” A smirk appeared on her face.

Music. Right. Well, I would need to start with a song.

It only took a moment of reflection before a melody started flowing through my head. I smiled and closed my eyes. It was... actually, it was pretty catchy. A strong flow that accentuated a lively beat.

I should write this down, it’d be a shame to waste it on some silly experiment with—

Brooke tapped me on my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see the lyre floating in front of me, wrapped in a glow of aquamarine. At that sight, the song slipped right out of my head in surprise, and the lyre dropped back to the floor.

“Oh, you were doing so well!” she said, a little disappointed.

I carefully extended one hoof to prod at the unmoving lyre. It was back to being completely mundane. So, that really did come from me? No way! A grin started to form.

I closed my eyes again, and the melody returned, surging forward in a faster tempo due to my excitement. This time when I opened my eyes I made sure to keep the music flowing in my head.

I was definitely holding the lyre up. I could sort of feel it in the air, though not like I was touching it with hands. Or even hooves. It was as if I was aware of every part of it at once. As if it was some sort of extension of myself, and I could feel it like I did an ear or a leg.

A moment of experimentation showed that I could move it, too. I spun it gently in the air, then caused it to swoop around me in a low arc. Brooke stamped her hooves against the floor in appreciative applause.

Returning it to float up close and in near view, I paused for a moment to reflect on how to actually go about playing it. I still couldn’t effectively pluck strings with my hooves, even if I could hold the instrument still with magic. Which meant I’d need to use a little more finesse, and a little more magic.

I could feel the strings, just as much as the instrument as a whole. I concentrated and reached out towards the rightmost string. The melody still ran through my head, and I let it loop through a phrase a moment or two, getting used to the pattern.

Then, right on a downbeat, I did it. Somehow. I reached out to hit the string just right, and a clear note rang out.

I bounced up and down, thrilled at my success.

It wasn’t difficult from that point to play a note from each of the seven strings. They were surprisingly well in tune, making up a perfect scale. Hexatonic, my old music knowledge chipped in – since it began and ended on the same note, only separated by an octave. I couldn’t quite recall what the scale was, specifically. It sounded a bit otherworldly, but given that the instrument was floating in a magic aura, my perceptions might have been colored. I would just have to feel out the sounds and see what I could work with.

Playing a few more notes at random to get an idea of the tones, I moved into something more musical in nature, shifting between them in an easy rhythm. Yes! It sounded more or less like a song, albeit a simple one, and I grinned at the happiness this brought Brooke. But it still was nowhere close to the melody I had running through my head. I would need more than seven notes on even beats.

Maybe, though... I was used to a guitar, with the flexibility of my fingers on frets to manipulate the sounds to my liking. I may not have had fingers anymore, but this magic stuff was even easier to deal with. If I had the sensation and control to pluck each string, holding them in place shouldn't be any more difficult... right?

I concentrated on a single string, trying to hold it completely still. My success at that task was momentarily inspiring, until I realized it would be doing that without any of my help. Time to put it to the test, then – relaxing my mind I let go, before plucking as I had before. A sharp note rung out, my signal to tense the string again, and...

Yes! The reverberation ceased, its source stopped by my mental grasp. For my next trick, I tried to divide my attention. I concentrated on the strings, focused on holding half of the lowest steady, while simultaneously plucking at the other strings. It was easier to multitask than expected, and I slowly worked my way down from the higher notes until I reached the string I'd been holding. Pausing for only a moment, I struck it, making certain to keep the upper half controlled and unmoving.

The note that sung out was distinctly higher in pitch than before! Distracted by my accomplishment, some of my stillness slipped away, and the tone still ringing in the air lowered. Testing, I tightened my grip once again, and pitch scaled back up. A little more experimentation and I could properly bring it into the exact note I wanted.

A grin broke out across my face.

I could do anything!

Of course, playing a complicated tune would require a lot of precision and practice. But the capability was there, I just needed to try. Closing my eyes, I focused purely on the feeling of the lyre and its strings. A deep breath helped calm me down, slowing the pace of the imagined music passing through my head. A further attempt to focus on the basics of the melody caused the flourishes and complexities to fall away, leaving a simple, heartfelt tune.

Then I started playing. At first I didn’t even realize that the lyre was producing sounds. Its music perfectly matched the vibrant song in my mind – at least, up until a moment of uncertainty caused me to fumble slightly, resulting in a wavering note going off key. But even that was only a temporary setback. I pressed on, gaining confidence and increasing the tempo as I went. It wasn’t perfect, and I regularly faltered, hitting the verge of losing the song before managing to reel it back in. But it was oddly familiar.

I don’t even know how long I played for. The melody seemed to constantly shift, showing me some new facet that I felt a need to open and explore. Finally, it drew to a close, the sounds whispering away into silence.

I was exhausted. Using my magic for that long had been surprisingly intensive, even if I didn’t realize how much it drained me until I was done. My coat was slick with sweat, and my head felt fuzzy, like it had been stuffed full of wool. My legs wobbled slightly – I could easily have been mistaken for having spent an hour running instead of standing still.

Noticing that, Brooke walked next to me, pressing against my side so that I could lean against her. She craned her head around to look at me, expectantly. “See? That was amazing!”

“I can’t believe it,” I said. “I-I can do magic! And... and I can actually still play my music.” The relief and happiness such a thought brought made me want to hop up and down again, but my body thought better of more exertion. I settled for a broad smile.

Brooke pouted. “You should play some more,” she said insistently.

“That took a lot out of me,” I said. “M–maybe I should just sit down for a bit.” Those blankets looked awfully comfortable and inviting suddenly.

“I... I’ll sing with you if you play some more,” Brooke said. She wouldn’t meet my eyes, and a blush spread across her cheeks. Actually, that was very tempting. It wasn’t very often that—

I was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening, followed by footsteps and rustling of paper bags. Brooke narrowed her eyes, glaring in the direction of the noise, but she trotted off without a word. I followed, beaming at the news I had to share.

“Daisy! I can do magic!”

Daisy carried in a few bags piled high with groceries, but upon dropping them off in the kitchen she and I were quickly ordered out back into the living room. Brooke had a devious gleam in her eye. She was up to something or another, but I was content to leave her alone. Getting some rest now wouldn’t hurt, not at all.

But that didn’t mean I couldn’t fish for information. As I trotted back into the living room and took a seat on the floor, I looked up at Daisy with an eyebrow raised. “So what’s with all the secrecy?”

Daisy looked back towards the kitchen and shrugged. She took a seat next to me, cross-legged. “She just wanted me to pick up some ingredients. I think... well, baking is her thing, right? Hopefully it’ll make her feel a little better. She’s been sort of standoffish around me recently.”

I tapped my hoof against my chin. “Really? I feel like we’ve been getting along better than ever.”

“Anyways,” Daisy said, “What’s this about magic? You telling me that horn’s not just for show?” She reached over and prodded at it, causing me to wince. It was a little sore from the previous exertion and the poke, as gentle as it was, caused my vision to momentarily swirl. Seeing my reaction, she pulled back. “Sorry!”

“S’okay,” I replied, shaking my head a little as I got my bearings again. “Yeah. But I just got done playing my lyre for a while, and I’m feeling a little wrung-out still. Turns out a little bit of magic takes a lot out of you.”

“Well, you’re learning all this for the first time,” Daisy said. “You’ll probably get the hang of it before too long.” She frowned, apparently still feeling a little guilty about poking me. “Um, anything I can do to help?”

I grinned. An idea came, a particularly silly one. I rolled over onto my back, my legs sticking out above me. “Scratchies?” I said, hope rising in my voice.

Daisy shook her head ruefully, but I felt her hands move to begin rubbing my belly. “I thought you were supposed to be a pony, not a dog.”

Her hands felt heavenly. Somehow I had stumbled upon the very best idea. “Mmmmm, I think I could deal with dog.” The gentle scratching on my chest made me feel drowsy, my tense muscles starting to relax.

“I got the rent paid. But as of now you have thirty-two dollars and eighteen cents left to your name,” Daisy said wryly.

Ouch. “That bad, huh?” At least it was hard to feel too badly about it when physically I was feeling so very good. One of my legs twitched slightly, and I let out a contented sigh, my eyes closing.

Daisy kept scratching, silent for a moment. “You sure are soft,” she said quietly.

“One of the many benefits of life as a pony,” I said sleepily. “You should try it sometime.”

I suddenly noticed that her hands had stopped. I opened one eye, slightly disappointed at the interruption of service, only to see Daisy’s mouth set in a serious line as she stared at me. “Are– Are you really okay like this?” Her voice was hesitant, missing her usual confidence.

I rolled back onto my side, taking more of a seated posture as I looked up to her. “I...” I stopped, taking a long moment to think about the question. I could tell she was bothered, and she deserved a genuine answer in return, not a joke. “I think I’m starting to be.”

She swallowed and looked away from me. “Oh,” she said flatly.

I reached out a hoof tentatively and touched her hand. She didn’t respond, but she didn’t pull back. “A whole lot has happened recently. Yesterday, I felt like I almost lost myself, my whole self, permanently. That sort of helped me put things in perspective.”

I paused for a moment, collecting my thoughts, and continued. “This change is really really weird, but... it’s not all bad either. There’s the magic and... well, it sort of feels right. Or, if not right, just unchangeable. Like this is just how things are supposed to be, and that I have to accept that, not fight it. Not that I’m forgetting what it was like to have hands, or walk on two legs, but it just seems less important.” I paused. “I think... I think I’m happy now.”

Looking up at Daisy, her face was pale, and she still refused to meet my eyes. “Are you okay with this?” I asked, gently.

She turned back towards me, surprised at the question. “You’re the one who should be—” She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. “No. No, I’m not.”

I stayed silent, content to let her speak.

“It’s just... Don’t you hear what you’re saying? At first, it was just ‘yay ponies!’, and I can’t say that it wasn’t sort of exciting and magical. But now it just feels like there’s something out there twisting you, turning you into a horse and then making you like it.”

She grimaced and rubbed fiercely at her eyes. I couldn’t tell if she was frustrated or if she had actually started to tear up, but either way, her voice sounded choked. “I thought I had lost you, Tyler. For good. And then you came back, and I couldn’t have been any happier, but it feels like you’re just going to leave again. I feel like... like I’m losing my best friend.”

I rose to my feet and wrapped both forelegs around her in a hug. After a moment of stillness, I felt her arms close around me in return. We were both shaking slightly.

“Daisy,” I said. “I’m not going anywhere.” My grip on her tightened. “You know, in all the mess of the past few days, all my mental breakdowns and issues and everything. You were always there, always at my side, and I think that’s how I got through it.” The words came out slowly, but I meant each and every one, and I needed to make sure she understood. “Daisy, even in the very worst of it, when I didn’t know who I was, I still knew one thing. That you were my friend.”

We held each other for a while. We didn’t need any more words than that. I couldn’t tell if she cried or not. I did, more than a little. But it wasn’t sadness or despair, because I wasn’t alone. I think in retrospect that the only way I was able look at the changes and accept them was because I knew that she would be there for me, no matter what else would happen.

Finally, we separated from the hug, still sitting close to one another. I wiped at my face with one foreleg. I probably looked like a total mess. Daisy didn’t look much better, from her puffy red eyes. But she had a smile on her face again.

“What did I ever do to get a friend like you?” she asked.

“I feel like I should be asking that question,” I said. “Though, having a talking unicorn as a friend is pretty awesome, it’s true.” I smiled slightly.

“Must be that wish I made on my sixth birthday,” she said, giggling. “Though green is such a tacky color.”

“Why I never!” I said, in mock outrage. “It’s mint green, you barbarian!” I flicked my tail, catching her in the face with her mouth slightly open.

“Pffah!” she said, sticking her tongue out. “You certainly don’t taste like mint. Just horsebutt.”

“Oh, and are you well-acquainted with the taste of horsebutt?” I fired back mockingly.

She opened her mouth for a snappy comeback, but was interrupted by the sound of somepony clearing her throat. We looked up to see Brooke standing in the doorway from the kitchen, eyeing us suspiciously. “I think I’m about done,” she said. “Though I could use some help cleaning up.” She trotted back into the kitchen, and Daisy and I rose to follow.

The kitchen was a mess, but a controlled one. By the time we arrived, Brooke was already back to standing with her hind legs on a stepstool, hooves balanced on the kitchen counter as she stacked a set of dirty bowls in the sink. Her cream-colored coat was covered with tiny flecks of brown, with one particularly large smudge on her nose. Given that she presumably had to be using her mouth to pick up and move most of her cooking stuff, it wasn’t too surprising that she’d be a little messy. But all in all, it was close to the state of any kitchen after some serious baking.

I paused for a moment, impressed. At the moment, I don’t think I could so much as pour cereal without ending up with more on the ground than in the bowl. Cracking eggs and mixing things? Well, clearly her special talent was no joke.

She hopped down from the stepstool and waved for me to take her place. “Be a dear and wash up? It should only take a bit longer for the chocolate to set.”

Chocolate? This was sounding better and better. “Did you save me the spoon to lick?” I joked as I hopped up onto the stool. I heard Brooke giggle to herself and looked down to see... she actually had! The top bowl in the sink had traces of chocolate left in it, as well as a wooden spoon with a good amount of leftovers. I clumsily caught the handle between my two front hooves and directed it towards my face.

“Are horses supposed to eat chocolate?” Daisy asked, more teasingly than serious.

My mouth was already full of delicious chocolatey goodness, so I shrugged. “Mph mrph mph...” I extracted the now mostly-clean spoon and tried again. “If I die, it will totally have been worth it.”

Daisy laughed as she picking up a few leftover utensils and put them in the sink for me. “Want me to handle this? I’m not sure how exactly you plan to wash dishes with hooves.”

I looked down at my lack of hands. I kept forgetting how hard it was to do otherwise basic things now. “Oh. Yeah, that might be—”

“No,” Brooke said firmly. “You can just use your magic.”

My brow furrowed. Well, I was already feeling a lot less tired – it seemed that magically induced fatigue tended to fade away faster than physical exhaustion. But... “Washing dishes doesn’t really have much to do with music,” I said.

Brooke shook her head disapprovingly. “It could. Anything can be musical, right? You just need to find the right music.”

I frowned. That’s all well and good to say, but I was the one with the horn having to do all this magic business. But from Daisy’s wide eyes and expectant smile, she was also looking forward to a show. I couldn’t say no without at least giving it a try.

So, first, I would need to focus on a song. A washing dishes song. Something spritely and up-tempo, maybe a little jazzy? A tune started flowing, surprising me with how quickly it came to mind. Not too fast though, I didn’t want it to get out of control. Simpler, too, cutting back the flourishes. All I needed was a little rubbity scrubbity melody.

That was it, perfect. I hardly noticed as I started humming the ditty to myself. I pushed with one hoof to turn on the water. Here was the real test. I just needed to reach out and...

The bottle of dishsoap popped up, surrounded by that familiar aquamarine haze. It bounced in the air, right to the beat I was keeping. Add a little squirt and the bubbles come up! A sponge floated to swing under the stream of water, then a plastic measuring cup. I heard Daisy gasp in delight behind me.

My hooves tapped on the counter to keep time, as things kept spinning. A bowl bobbed up and down as it got scrubbed and rinsed, a spoon following quickly behind. This felt different than playing my lyre – less natural, and with less of a sense of feeling connected to the objects I was levitating. And it used a lot more of my concentration, as all the floating objects felt under control, but barely. I had to constantly focus on the melody or risk losing my hold on everything at once. More than once I feared it would all collapse like a house of cards under a stiff breeze.

But the result was wonderful. Seeing the dishes dance in the air as I cleaned them was art in its own way, and I couldn’t help but grin madly as I worked. It was actually a disappointment to find myself suddenly out of things to wash, all the utensils, cups, and bowls neatly stacked in the other side of the sink.

Having finished, the tune faded away as quickly as it had come. The exertion had started to catch up to me again. Feeling a little woozy, I hastily stepped down, coming face to face with a triumphant-looking Brooke. “See?” she said. “No problem! And I have a reward for you, wait right here!” She trotted off to the refrigerator.

I looked up to see Daisy thoroughly impressed. Her mouth hung open, but she was silent, unable to think of the right thing to say.

“Pretty cool, huh?” I said, smugly. Sure, ten minutes ago I didn’t think I could do that myself, but it wasn’t going to stop me from being proud about it.

I was right about to brag a little more when I saw Brooke cantering back, a pan held in her mouth. On that pan were chocolates. Rows and rows of perfectly formed individual chocolate truffles, dark in coloration with swirls of white serving as decoration. They could have been the centerpiece of a particularly ritzy Valentine’s Day assortment – I had no idea how she had managed to make them so uniformly delectable-looking. Just the sight alone had my mouth watering.

Brooke’s paused for a moment, thinking of how best to serve her treats. Out of a lack of any better option, she settled on carefully setting the pan on the floor. As she raised her head, a shy smile crossed her face. “Try one,” she said, softly.

I didn’t need any more encouragement. I reached down to pick one up in my mouth, rolling it around on my tongue. The chocolate was excellent. Totally better in its finished form than licking the spoon had been. I savored the taste before biting down gently. At which point a new flavor butted in. It was the slightest bit sweet, but distinctly tart. They had fruit in them – cherries! The tartness was unexpected, and served as an odd contrast to the smooth chocolate, but it was nonetheless delicious.

Before I had realized it, the treat was entirely gone, with only a hint of the flavor remaining in my mouth. I smiled at Brooke, who was staring intently at me, face awash with expectation. “Wow!” I exclaimed. She grinned happily. “You’re... you’re really good at this, you know? I can’t believe you never sold these at the Café.”

Her eyes widened, and her head darted down as she bit into one of the chocolate-covered cherries on her own. Her mouth moved as she carefully tasted it, before hardening into a deep frown. “No!” she said. “This isn’t right. You wouldn’t...” Her eyes burned with anger as she glared at me. “They’re not supposed to taste like that. Usually I have more time to let the centers convert to sugar, and these are the wrong type of cherries, I knew it, but she got the wrong kinds and I had to make do but it didn’t work, it didn’t work at all and... and...” Brooke stared at Daisy with a dark look before turning to dash out of the room.

I stood for a moment, speechless. Daisy had a worried frown as she gazed in the direction that Brooke had run. I could tell that she was considering following her, to try and talk. “No,” I said. “Just let her be for now.” I knew all too well that with all this stuff going on, there were times that you needed to be alone to work things out. I sighed deeply and lowered my head.

Which brought me face to face with the chocolates again. I guess every cloud had a chocolate lining. I couldn’t help but smile slightly at that fact.

Daisy noticed where my attention had drifted. “Well. In that case...” Her voice brightened as she carefully phrased a hopeful request. “Are you going to eat all those?”

Brooke avoided both me and Daisy for the rest of the evening. I attempted a few times to talk to her, but she pointedly ignored me, at one point clamping her hooves over her ears in a clear indication that she didn’t want to hear anything I had to say.

It was discouraging, to say the least. I didn’t have the heart to play my lyre, so Daisy and I ended up just sitting around watching TV. I perked up when the news came on, expecting some sort of big story: Odd happenings! People turning into horses! Cats and dogs living together! Mass hysteria!

But no. No indication at all that abnormal things were happening. As far as I knew, me and Brooke were the only ones in this condition, though I still harbored the hope that there were others, if only to feel less alone. After all, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to expect other new ponies to try and hide, and it had only been a few days now. I would just have to keep my ears forward.

Eventually it grew late, and my yawns became increasingly more frequent. I insisted that Daisy take my bed. It wasn’t really made for ponies, and the nest of blankets in the other bedroom was perfectly comfortable itself. I just wasn’t sure if Brooke would be willing to join me like last night.

Confirming my suspicion, as soon as I walked into the bedroom, she trotted out, brushing past me without a word. I sighed and laid down in the blankets. She would come around sooner or later. I just needed to give her some space. That’s what I kept telling myself, hoping sooner or later I’d start to believe it.

It weighed on my mind, but before long I was warm and drowsy, and my eyes slowly drooped closed. I drifted off into slumber.

I dreamed of ponies.

Of standing in a crowd while a musical number swept over us, all singing and dancing together. I wasn’t the focus but just being there, being part of the group was an unforgettable experience. And I had Bon-Bon at my side, one of those rare occasions where she was willing to be open and honest about being happy.

But though there was music, the words weren’t clear. They sounded like the voices were coming from further and further away, devolving into unsettling murmurs, rumbling in my ears. I blinked. This was wrong, somehow? This wasn’t real. This was...

I found myself nudged awake, a mumbling voice still present. I opened my eyes ever so slightly to see the room cloaked in darkness. It was hard to tell what time of night it was, but I had definitely slept for a while. A dark silhouette was standing over me, murmuring words in such a low tone that I couldn’t make out the meaning.

It was pony-shaped. Which narrowed down the culprit significantly. “Brooke?” I said, my voice groggy.

She jerked upwards in shock before quickly turning and trotting a few paces away. She stood there, refusing to face me.

I shook off my tiredness and stood. I didn’t know what was going on, but this was getting weird. I would have to say something, even if I didn’t know what. “Hey, I know this is hard but...” I trailed off as I slowly approached her, reaching out with one hoof to touch her side.

She whirled around at the contact, knocking my hoof away. “You!” she said, voice hard with anger. She jabbed me in the chest with one hoof, hard. “Why did it have to be you? Why did you have to come back?”

“W-what?” I said, feeling tears reflexively well up in my eyes at the unexpected accusation. I swallowed, forcing myself to be strong. I had to stop bursting into tears at the slightest provocation.

Brooke looked down, her eyes dull and empty in the darkness. “It’s not supposed to be like this,” she said, hollowly.

“I know, Brooke,” I said. She flinched at the sound of her name. “We can still do this, we can get things back to normal.”

She looked up at me, her face grim. “Normal for who?”

It finally caught up to me. All the signs that had been there the whole day. Why she was avoiding Daisy. How she knew about my magic and how it worked, when I had no idea. Why she wanted me to play my lyre in the first place. Why she insisted on baking and turned out to be so disappointed with the results. Were chocolate-covered cherries Lyra’s favorite? It wouldn’t surprise me.

“You’re not Brooke,” I said.

Bon-Bon didn’t answer.

“What... what did you do with her?” My legs shook. I think I finally understood what Brooke and Daisy had to be feeling only a couple of nights ago.

Bon-Bon stared down at the floor. “She’s gone,” she said.

My breath caught in my throat. “W-what?”

“She’s gone. Just like you did to Lyra.” Bon-Bon’s voice was completely emotionless.

“I never— Lyra went away on her own! I was the one who had to find her again. I am trying to come to terms with this, for both of our sakes!”

“No you aren’t,” she said. She looked up, her eyes meeting mine, and even in the dark I could see the hatred burning in them. “You don’t care about anyone other than yourself.”

“And you do?” I said. I pushed her roughly with one hoof, causing her to stumble back a step. “You— You— You bring her back, right now!”

“Or what?” she said, bitterly.

I didn’t have a response. My mouth opened and closed, my train of thought skidding to a halt.

“You’re the one in the wrong place. You’re the ones in our bodies. Why can’t you just leave us alone?” Bon-Bon leaned forward, her face inches from mine.

I met her glare with one of my own. Everything was wrong. I was furious, my emotions raging. How could she have done this? And not by accident, she had deliberately taken over, forced Brooke out. She was— She was—

And then, suddenly, it fell away. All I felt was deep sadness. I saw movement as she pullled back slightly, surprised at my change of expression.

“You... aren’t the Bon-Bon I know,” I said quietly, keeping my eyes locked onto hers.

She blinked. “Y-you don’t know me at all!” Her tone was cold, but quivered slightly, betraying a sudden uncertainty.

“My Bon-Bon isn’t selfish,” I said, voice low but full of certainty. “She grumbles. She may seem rude or impatient. But she always goes out of her way to help, whether it’s for her closest friend or a penniless mare living off the streets.”

Bon-Bon started backing away from me, the anger in her eyes replaced by a deep pain. “N-no, I...”

“What you did... What you are doing, it’s wrong. My Bonnie would never hurt someone like that.” I took a single step forward.

She sped up, scrambling back until she bumped into the wall. With nowhere else to go, she froze. “I didn’t—”

I took another step forward. “I don’t know who you are. And I don’t think I want to know a pony like you.”

“Stop it!” she said, shaking.

“How much of yourself did you throw away to make her go? Your compassion? Your kindness? Your heart?”

“This is what I wanted, Tyler!” As soon as the exclamation burst out of her mouth, Bon-Bon slammed both hooves over her muzzle, eyes wide with shock.

“That— That was Brooke?” I said, my calm certainty vanishing. Bon-Bon didn’t answer, but I could see the truth from her frightened eyes.

She was still there. But... I didn’t understand. My body felt like a puppet that had its strings cut, immobile and lifeless. “Why?” I asked, the question ringing in my head.

Bon-Bon – no, Brooke – tremblingly lowered her hooves. Her voice was almost inaudible, lifeless and broken as it spilled out. “There’s nothing we can do to change this. And then you left me too. There’s no place for me anymore. I can’t... I just... I just want it to stop. If I fade away, it’ll be over. That’s enough of a reason. This world no longer needs me.”

“Brooke...” I said. “That’s not...”

I took a deep breath.

“I need you,” I said, simply. It wasn’t an empty platitude, but it sounded all too much like one.

We stood there in silence, staring at one another through the dark. Neither of us knew what to say. There were no words to solve to the problems we had.

What was I doing? Was I doing this for Brooke? Just for myself? What did I even want, and was it my place to get in the way of Lyra and Bon-Bon? All I had were questions, with not a single satisfactory answer. I had thought I had come to terms with who I was, but it wasn’t just all about Tyler, was it?

I didn’t have any idea what to do.

I had just been thinking on my hooves, taking each day one step at a time, not realizing that I was getting more and more lost along the way. I kept expecting to be able to fix things, or at least learn to accept them.

Was there even a way to make this right?

I stepped forward, Brooke’s eyes wide as she watched my every movement. I didn’t know what I should do, but I knew what I was going to do. Damn the consequences.

I stopped, inches away from the pony in front of me. I looked deep into her eyes, my heart pounding. And then I closed my eyes, leaning forward until our lips met.

I refused to open my eyes, refused to see the expression on her face. She didn’t move, not even the tiniest amount, but her lips were so warm. The only sound in the dark room seemed to be my racing heartbeat. I kept waiting for some sort of response, her returning the feeling, but nothing came.

After a long moment I pulled back, feeling my face hot with embarrassment and my stomach twisted in knots. I couldn’t open my eyes and face her. I took one shuddering breath, then another.

And then I felt that warmth on my lips again as she leaned into me in another kiss. I opened my eyes to see hers in front of me. She looked so... so sad. I raised a hoof to gently stroke her neck as I returned the kiss. She shivered at the touch.

I wasn’t sure how to make those eyes sparkle with joy once again, but it was okay. We had all night to work it out.