Two Bodies One Soul

Dust woke up in the hayloft of the barn early, even before the rooster started crowing. He had gone to bed before anypony else the night before on the excuse that he was tired from his trip. In reality, he just wanted to make sure nopony would surprise him.

Him, or as someponies would say on a day like today, her. As had happened every night for almost the entirety of his life, Gold Dust's physical appearance had changed. His body was now that of a mare's. He could look down his snout to see that it had curved. His slightly-longer eyelashes fluttered in front of his eyes. He raised a hoof to see it now clean and smooth, unlike his stallion hooves. And he could feel his mane, a bit longer in this form, flowing over his shoulder.

That was why he had awoken so early. The last thing he wanted was for Applejack or somepony else to find him like this and be caught by surprise. Now that he was awake, his only question was how to get away from the farm without being spotted. He figured that, like most ponies who worked the land, the Apples would be up soon themselves.

Dust climbed down out of the loft and quietly snuck out of the barn. With nopony in sight, he made a dash down the dirt road toward town.

As Celestia's Sun peeked over the horizon, Dust reached the center of Ponyville. He really didn't have a plan in mind. The best way to hide would be to go into the mountains and start his gold search, but without Rarity he was afraid he would get lost.

He was just starting to formulate a Plan B, when he was unceremoniously interrupted.

"Hello there," a familiar voice said behind him. Dust froze solid, fearfully scanning his peripheral vision to find that Pinkie Pie was standing right behind him, "My name's Pinkie Pie, what's yours?"

Pinkie obviously didn't recognize his mare figure, and was acting as if he was a completely new pony. Dust slowly started walking away from Pinkie, hoping that she would go away, but it was not to be.

"Aww," Pinkie cooed, suddenly standing right in front of him, "is something...

Much to Dust's confusion, Pinkie just stopped in the middle of her sentence. Her blue eyes seemed to be gazing into his very soul. Then they got bigger and bigger, a sure sign of surprise.

"...Dusty?"

Quickly, Dust grabbed Pinkie and pulled her into an alley. He was sure to keep one hoof over her mouth, knowing full well that Pinkie would riddle him with questions if he didn't.

"Promise to be quiet," Dust whispered in his slightly feminine voice, which was still rather husky, "Please promise.

Pinkie could only nod behind the hoof, which Dust slowly removed.

"You're right, it's me, Dusty," he continued solemnly.

"What happened," Pinkie whispered, trying her best to keep her voice down, "Did somepony do this to you?"

"It's a long story. It's not recent, either. This has been happening my entire life."

"Even on the farm?"

"Even on the farm. Remember those times when you wanted to play but my mother said I had to do chores. Yeah, that was a lie. The real reason I couldn't come was because I had changed into a filly. It had to be kept a secret."

"I'm so sorry, Dusty," Pinkie threw her hooves around his neck, "Why didn't you tell me yesterday? I wouldn't have had you stay at Applejack's if I had known."

"I don't know. I guess I was afraid of how you'd react. Other than my family, everypony who has found out about this turned their back on me."

"I'm so sorry," Pinkie cried, hugging tighter.

"How did you know it was me? Nopony has ever been able to guess on the spot."

"Your eyes. Everything else about you changes, but your eyes stay the same. They have a certain golden gleam."

"Pinkie, what am I going to do?"

"I'm not sure," Pinkie said solemnly, releasing the hug, "Maybe my friend Twilight could--"

"No," Dust interrupted, "I can't risk it. Nopony else must know."

"Dusty you're going to have to tell somepony else in order to see if we can help you."

"Promise me it won't get out."

"Dusty, I--"

"Pinkie, promise."

"OK," Pinkie smiled, beginning to go through the motions, "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

"What was that," Dust asked, confused.

"You told me to Pinkie Promise, so I did."

"OK. So what do you suggest I do?"

"Well, if you don't want to go to Twilight, there is another pony who may be able to help. She lives in the Everfree Forest, and she would never tell anypony."

"Are you sure she can help?"

"Oh yeah, she's solved a lot of problems in the past. If not Twilight, then Zecora's our best bet."

*--*--*--*--*

Pinkie led Dust into the Everfree Forest. Dust had never really been in a forest before, and certainly not one this thick with vegetation. Pinkie was happily bouncing along in front of him, leading the way.

Soon they reached a large tree whose trunk and roots seemed to have been hallowed out, allowing space for a house or hut of sorts. Dust wanted to take it slow, given the rather ominous-looking carved masks hanging up all over the place, but Pinkie bounced straight to the door and straight on in, without even knocking.

"Good morning, miss Pinkie," said a new voice coming from the house, who Dust couldn't see yet, "why have you called on me so early?"

"Hi Zecora. My friend Dusty needs your help."

By this point, Dust had made it to the doorway and could see who Zecora was. He had never seen anything like her before. Black-and-white striped fur, a mane that seemed to be standing on-end, and golden bracelets on her neck and wrists.

"Come, come, don't be shy," Zecora said, beckoning Dust in with a hoof, "I am a friend of Pinkie Pie."

"Dusty's in real trouble, Zecora," Pinkie stated bluntly, "I don't even have the full story yet."

Both mares looked to Dust, silently asking him to explain the situation.

"OK," Dust took a deep breath and slowly let it out, "I was born a stallion. However, when I was very young, like less than a month old, strange things started happening. In short, every night, I change. One day I look like a stallion, the next day, I look like a mare. No doctor I've ever seen has any answer to it, other than to say that I am cursed."

"A curse it does sound like to me," Zecora nodded, "but spare some time, and we shall see."

"What do you need," Pinkie asked.

"To find out whether your body is a curse's lair, I will need to have a mane hair."

Dust quickly reached up and plucked a long, loose, strand of hair from his mane. Taking it, Zecora dropped it in her potion pot, along with other various ingredients.

After only a few minutes, Zecora stepped away from her cauldron and walked back up to Dust.

"It pains me to say this true," the zebra said, placing a hoof on Dust's shoulder, "but a terrible ill does plague you."

"OK," Dust said, trying to remain calm, "Is there anyway you can remove it?"

Zecora sighed, "By what your folicle is telling me, there is neither cure nor remedy."

"What are you saying," Dust asked, his eyes beginning to glaze over.

"You must understand the effect of this curse," Zecora paused, as if she didn't want to finish, "shall be life-long and cannot be reversed."

"So," Dust shook, a tear coming to his eye, "I'm going to be like this forever?"

"Nothing I know can end your plight, perhaps you should seek the magic of Princess Twilight."

"N-No," Dust stuttered, backing away toward the door of the hut, "I-I can't..."

Dust turned tail and bolted out the door. He just started running, in no direction in particular. Pinkie quickly ran after him, trying as best she could to keep pace with the surprisingly fast pony.

Dust didn't stop or look back, even as he ran deeper into the forest. With the tears pouring from his eyes, it was a miracle he could see anything at all.

He only stopped when he reached the edge of a gorge. He could see a bridge not far away that seemed to lead somewhere, but he didn't know if he wanted to take it. Instead, he just sat at the edge of the cliff, looking down into the abyss, which was covered by a thick, soupy, mist.

Pinkie, meanwhile, had managed to catch up and saw her friend on the edge of doom.

"Dusty," she called out, stopping a few feet away, "Dusty it's OK, promise. Everything will be OK."

Dust heard her, but didn't respond at first.

"How," he finally muttered, but still loud enough for Pinkie to hear him, "How will it be OK, it's never OK. I'm sick of being a laughingstock. I'm tired of moving around. You're nice to me, Pinkie, you tried to help me, and I thank you for that. But please, just go away, leave me alone."

Pinkie took a step forward, "I can't do that, Dusty. You're a friend, and Pinkie Pie never leaves a friend when they're upset. I don't know exactly how things are going to work out, but I promise they will. My good friends, ponies like Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack, they won't say hurtful things about you. Please, Dusty, just please let us help you."

"It's not easy," Dusty replied, "I've been burned too many times. I cannot, will not, let it happen again."

"I understand," Pinkie offered, taking another step closer, "Anypony in your spot would feel the same. But I would never hurt you. And I know that my friends won't hurt you either. Please Dusty, I'm not going back without you."

Dust's instincts told him to think about this, to not just jump in all over again. However, he was too emotional to think at all, so he just made a natural reaction. He got up from his seated position, ran the few steps back to his friend, and proceeded to bury his crying muzzle into Pinkie's chest. Pinkie, happy that she had won him over, sat down with him and slowly brought her hooves up into a hug. She stroked Dust's back and mane, sitting and hugging silently while her friend cried his eyes out.

Eventually, Dust's uncontrollable crying gave way to sniffling and the occasional emotional hiccup. Pinkie still held him, determined to comfort her friend until he was all better.

"What do you want to do," Pinkie asked when she was confident Dust had calmed down enough.

"I don't know," he responded slowly, "I don't know who I can trust."

"Do you want to hear my idea?

Dust just nodded in response.

"We should go back to Sweet Apple Acres and explain things to Applejack and Big Mac. AJ is the most honest, trustworthy, pony there is, and neither of them will treat you badly. That way, you can stay there and be comfortable."

Dust raised his head up to look at Pinkie, "OK. Let's go."

The ponies gave each other another big hug before setting off back through the forest for the farm.

*--*--*--*--*

Once they were out of the forest, it didn't take the two ponies long to find the Apple siblings. They were working hard, tending to the trees in the far part of the field, which happened to be the part closest to the forest.

"Hey Applejack," Pinkie waved as she and Dust approached, "Hey Big Mac."

"Howdy Pinkie," Applejack greeted in return, before noticing the new pony with Pinkie, "who's your friend?"

"Silly AJ," Pinkie giggled, "you've already met."

AJ and Mac looked at each other, than back to Pinkie, "Uh, no we haven't."

"Don't you recognize her, or him, or, Dusty, which gender do you go by?"

"I usually use the masculine pronouns, even when I'm a mare."

"Okie dokie!"

"What in tarnation," AJ exclaimed, "That mare is your friend Gold Dust!? How the hay did that happen?"

"Oh, that happens to him every night," Pinkie explained, "He goes back and forth between being a stallion and being a mare. We just visited Zecora and she said it's a curse."

"Did this happen this morning," AJ asked, "Mac and I were worried when we couldn't find him."

"Nope, this has happened his whole life, it's a long story."

"Why didn't you tell us yesterday?"

"Even I didn't know about this until today. What do you think? Can Dusty still stay here?"

The siblings exchanged glances again.

"Well I ain't never heard of anything like it," AJ explained, "But that doesn't mean we're gonna go and throw ya out because of it. You're welcome to stay here as long as you need, right Mac?"

"Eeyup," the stallion answered.

"See Dusty," Pinkie asked, whipping her head around to look at him, "I told you it'd work out."

Dust was on the verge of tears again. Never before had he been accepted so easily, without some kind of catch or need to hide.

"Thank you," he croaked out.

"Don't worry, sugarcube," AJ responded, "You're a friend of Pinkie's and you're a friend of our's. And it just ain't right to treat you any differently. Ya are who ya are."