How I Lived In Equestria

“You’re doing what!?”

“We’re taking Cryo out of your hands. And we’re putting him in a more deserving home.” Twilight flatly replied.

“So basically, right here?” Ish raised an eyebrow. “I don’t see the issue here honestly.”

“Cryo Flare is now under the custody of Jorge and Rainbow Dash.” Twilight’s horn began to glow, as several papers grouped together, tapping themselves onto her desk as they aligned perfectly.

“Wat.” Ish blinked, looking over to Shadow, who stood next to his wife. “And you knew about this?”

Shadow shrugged. “Somewhat. I was kinda eating some leftover ice cream when Twilight mentioned this to me.”

“Fucking slut...”

“I heard that.” Shadow rolled his eyes.

“Look. Ish, you’re a…” Twilight paused for a moment to find a word to compliment him with, but failed to do so.

“An overall amazing guy?” Ish raised an eyebrow, wondering if that was enough to finish her sentence.

“An annoying little shit.” Shadow corrected.

Twilight nodded to Shadow’s insult. “Yeah, that.”

“Motherfucker... I mean, but why though?”

Shadow sighed. “Ish, you camped in the Everfree Forest for a month, somehow got your hands on a metric shit-ton of paper, and barrels, wrote terrible memes on the paper, and ‘Meme Inc’ on the barrels. All while having Cryo involuntarily help you.”

“But ‘was he hurt’ is my question...”

“You brought him into the danger!” Twilight slammed her hooves on her desk. “Whether or not he got hurt doesn’t mean anything in all of this!”

“So what you’re saying is, I managed to protect him from the danger?”

Twilight paused for a moment, wondering if this was another one of his acts of “memery”. She took a deep breath, and sighed. “No, what I’m saying is, during the duration of that month, Cryo had been scared out of his mind, almost unable to sleep due to how fearful he was!”

“The lad didn’t say shit to me. You tryna put words in his mouth now?”

“He did try to tell you!” Twilight growled at the human.

“At no point did he explicitly state that he was scared.”

Twilight looked over to Shadow, whom had his face buried under his hoof, leaving Twilight with no choice but to do the same. She looked back over to Ish, holding back every instinct to blast him to the sun.

“Ish… I talked with Cryo.” Twilight monotoned. “I am not forcing any words down his throat. Everything I’ve been saying has come from him specifically.”

“Oh why didn’t you say that then? Like damn, was that so hard? Honestly, you just nag and nag like my non-existent ex-wife.”

Twilight stood up from her chair, pointing towards the exit. “Ish. Unless you get your shit straight. Cryo will continue to be under Jorge and Dash’s custody. Now, get out.”

“But I—”

“GET OUT!”

*Knock Knock Knock!*

“I got it, Dash!”

Jorge opened the door to his house, wondering who would be standing behind it today.

To his surprise, it was Ishtaba.

Jorge immediately reached over behind the now open door, grabbing his bat once again.

“WAIT!” Ish shouted. “NOT THE BAT PLEASE I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY!”

Jorge paused, looking over to the asian. “I’m listening.”

“Aight so here’s the play. I am not letting you take my child away from me good sir. I shall hereby convert towards ponification to show my sincerity.”

Jorge deadpanned. “So what you’re trying to say is, you’re gonna start trying to get your shit together?”

“You said this, not me.”

“Ah. Well, if I said it, then it must not be actually happening.”

“Wait no, stop I’m sorry please. Not like this. Feels bad man. I mean it.” Ish pleaded, trying to keep his dignity.

“I won’t believe you until you say it.” Jorge narrowed his eyes.

“NOT LIKE THIS... Yes, Monsieur Jorge the First, I am in fact trying to get my shit together. Fucking bitch...”

If Jorge was still a human, he’d be crossing his arms. “Ish. Could you actually stop being a fucking retard for one moment and actually take things seriously? That’s how you lost Cryo in the first place, dammit.”

“Eighty percent sure it’s cause Twilight a bitch. But fine, I am trying to get my shit together.”

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Jorge raised an eyebrow. “I couldn’t hear you over the fact you were insulting someone.”

“I AM TRYING TO GET MY SHIT TOGETHER.”

“That’s more like it.” Jorge smirked. “Now, what do you need me for, then?”

“Well, uh... what’s it like not having thumbs?”

Jorge paused for a moment, trying to find a decent explanation to Ish’s question. “You get used to it.”

“What’s it like not having to do laundry?”

“Relieving, actually.” Jorge shrugged. “It’s one less problem for me to worry about.”

“You’re actually just a bitch... Sooo, I totally have to go ask Twilight to do the thing don’t I?”

“Well, unless you know another unicorn that could cast the spe—”

“I’ll ask Dylan, perfect plan Jorge!”

And with that, Ish bolted over to Twilight’s castle, where Dylan resided.

“That’s not what I meant…”

Ish bursted into Dylan’s room, not caring if he was awake or not. “DYLAN. I REQUIRE YOUR ASS-ISTANCE!”

Dylan immediately ducked, shoving himself under his bed as he hid from the intruder.

“BREACH DETECTED! SOUND THE ALARMS!”

“NO DYLAN IT’S JUST ME!”

“WE’RE UNDER ATTACK!”

“DYLAN NO!”

“PREPARE FOR THE SKELETON WAR, BITCH!” Dylan shouted, teleporting two mannequins that looked like skeletons in front of his bed.

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE THOSE THINGS!?”

“SKELETON WARRRRRRRR!”

“DYLAN STOP IT’S JUST ME, ISHTABA!”

Dylan poked his head from under the bed, verifying that it was, in fact, the asian.

“Oh. It’s just you.” Dylan calmed down almost instantly, his horn’s glow dieing quickly as his skeletons flopped onto the ground.

Ish sighed a breath of relief. “Dude, what the fuck? Where’d these even come from?”

“My closet.”

“Why the fuck do you have skeletons in your closet!?”

“...Why don’t you have skeletons in your closet?”

Ish paused for a moment. “Good point.”

Dylan took the opportunity to exit from under his bed. With a flash of light, he was now in front of the asian.

“So what brings you here, asian?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, well, see… Jorge suggested I come to you for my problem.”

“I got you my home dawg, whatchu need?”

“I wanna become a horse too.”

“Mhmm…” Dylan placed a thinking hoof on his chin. “And what are your thoughts on cactuses?”

“Dylan, I don’t wanna ask Twilight, she just finished chewing me out several minutes ago.”

“Pfft. You’ll be fiiiiiiine.” Dylan shrugged. “I can ask her for you if you wan—”

“Dylan, I want you to cast the spell.”

“Oh. Uh… Well, you see, I don’t really know how…”

“Dylan. I need you to cast the spell. Please.” Ish begged.

“Alright, I got you fam. At least you probably won’t explode....”

“I’ll have died for a good cause.” Ish nodded. “Leggo.”

Dylan’s horn began to glow softly, covering Ish in his brown-ish red glow. “Aaaaaaand…” Dylan muttered, lifting the asian up into the air. “SHA-ZAAM!” In an instant, a bright flash of light filled the room, blinding him for a moment.

Dylan waited for a moment before opening his eyes, however, once he did, he looked over to where Ish stood.

Only to find a pony shaped cactus in it’s place.

“...Oh.” He blinked. “Uh… this is fine, I can fix this…”

Dylan pointed his horn at the cactus. “KA-ZAAM!” He blasted the cactus’ “face” with magic, hoping he’d be able to get a different result.

To his surprise, he was able to give the cactus an actual face, to which it replied:

“DYLAN! YOU FOOL!”

“You thought I wasn’t serious about the cactus thing…” Dylan rolled his eyes. “Look, I tried to cast the spell, but I don’t know how any of it works. If anything, this is probably just a side effect.”

“‘Probably’ my ass.”

“Yeah…” Dylan scratched the back of his neck. “But look on the bright side, at least you’d make a good lawn ornament!”

“HOW IS THAT A BRIGHT SIDE!?”

“You can finally have a purpose in life!” Dylan cheered. “Wouldn’t that be great?”

“NO! NOT AS A CACTUS!” Ish shouted. “Fuck you and all that you stand for.”

“I’m pretty sure fucking me would be pretty hard as a cactus…” Dylan shrugged. “Let’s just… take you to Twilight…Like you should’ve done in the first place, you dumbass.”

“Y’know what? This is fine.” Ish tried to shake his head, but failed. “Quick! Toss me out the window! I’ll be a perfect lawn ornament!”

Dylan deadpanned. “I’m pretty sure you would scare the local children.”

“Good.”

“Welp! Off we go!” Dylan smiled, grabbing the cactus-asian with his magic, and exiting his room.

“Shadow, could you get the milk I left in the fridge?”

“Yeah, be back in a sec.” Shadow walked out of their bedroom, while Twilight held the foals. Walking from room to room, until he eventually found himself in the kitchen, where he then proceeded to dig in the fridge.

“Hey, Shadow?”

“Yes Dylan?” Shadow spoke, his head still inside the fridge as he searched for Twilight’s milk.

“We may have a problem…”

“What kind of problem?”

“How would you feel about an asian-shaped cactus… that talks?”

“Wha—OW!” Shadow lifted his head up, banging his head on the rim of the fridge. Wincing softly, he pulled his head away, with two bottles of milk in hoof. He looked at Dylan, who had been holding up the cactus with his magic.

“...What’d you do?”

“Well… Ish wanted to be a horse, but he didn’t wanna ask Twilight to do it, so I gave it my best shot.” Dylan explained. “It, uh… It didn’t end well, as you can see...”

“Uh… I’m pretty sure Twilight can fi—did you say the cactus talks?”

“Yeah!” Dylan turned the cactus to face Shadow. ”Say ‘hi’ bitch!”

“I need an adult.” Ish monotoned.

“I am an adult.” Shadow deadpanned.

“I NEED AN ADULTER ADULT!”

“Well Ish… I could always help wit—”

“Nevermind! I’m fine with the adult standing right in front of me!”

Shadow paused for a moment, trying to process the scene happening in front of him. “Okay… One, that’s totally not creepy at all… And two… let’s just take it to Twilight already…”

As the three of them made their way towards Twilight’s bedroom, Shadow walked in first, making Ish and Dylan wait outside.

“Twilight, uh… We have a tiny problem…”

“What’d Dylan screw up?”

“More like what Ish screwed up... With Dylan’s help.”

Twilight blinked, grabbing both of the bottles Shadow held, casting a quick spell to heat them up. “I’ll be out there in a second.”

“Alright.” Shadow walked back out of the room, looking back towards Ish.

“So, Ish… any reason for you wanting to be a ‘horse’ now?”

“Uh… I plead the fifth.”

“You’re not possibly trying to get Cryo back, are you?”

“And what if I am?” Ish raised an non-existent eyebrow.

“Well, I dunno, that would sound like you’re trying to get your shit together…”

Ish rolled his eyes. “Not you too…” He sighed. “Look, I already went through this shit with the cuban. I’d rather not deal with it again from the canadian.”

“Says the asian who’s a talking cactus.” Shadow countered.

“Fuck you, no one asked for your opinion.” Ish retorted.

Dylan slowly raised a hoof. “Well actually I kinda aske—”

“No, no you did not.”

“Hey!” Dylan pointed a hoof at the cactus. “Don’t forget who’s currently holding you in the air. I could turn you into a pie right now if I wanted to!”

Ish’s eyes focused onto Shadow. “And you’re just gonna let him?”

“You got yourself into this mess, I don’t see why not.” Shadow shrugged.

“Alright.” Twilight stepped out of her room, closing the door before she turned around to face the group. As she turned, she spoke. “What’s going o—o-oh…”

Dylan smiled innocently. “Twilight, meet Ish; the first ever talking cactus!”

“Talking cactus?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it…” Ish groaned.

Twilight stopped for a moment to think. “Alright… On the bright side, Dylan seems to have improved greatly with his magic. Well, better than earlier, anyway.” She sighed, grabbing the asian with her own magic, allowing Dylan to let go. “Though on the down side… This might take a while…”

“I’ll leave you to it, then.” Dylan nodded. “I’m headin to Jorge’s for a bit, if anyone needs me...”

“So let me get this straight…” Jorge tried to contain his laughter as he spoke. “You turned Ish into a cactus?”

“Yep!” Dylan nodded. “I think I’m getting better at this whole magic thing!”

“Sounds like it!” Jorge’s laughter finally began to slip, having a hard time holding back at the thought of the asian-cactus. “I gotta admit, I kinda wish I was there for that!”

“Yeah, it was pretty great!” Dylan slowly joined in on his laughter.

As their laughter slowly died down, Jorge looked over to Cryo, who had been in the living room, watching cartoons. Which he found somewhat ironic to him.

Suddenly, a thought came to the cuban. “Oh, I have some leftover pie in the fridge, if you want some.”

“Is it bucket or pie flavored?”

“It’s apple.” Jorge chuckled.

“Sure, I’ll have some.” Dylan nodded.

Moments later, Jorge brought a slice over to Dylan, leaving him to eat it in the dining room. He walked over to the living room to check on Cryo.

“Hiyo!” The cuban smiled. “Mind if I join in?”

Cryo shook his head.

“Sweet!” Jorge jumped onto the couch, causing the young colt to laugh at his childish behavior. “So, what’re we watching?”

“The Adventures of Batmare!”

“Ooh! Sounds cool!” Jorge looked over to the TV, ignoring the fact that it looked like a pony version of the early “Batman” cartoons. “What’s it about?”

“It’s about this superhero team ‘Batmare’ and ‘Redwing’, and they go around fighting crime!”

“Wow!” Jorge feigned shock, which seemed to work, as Cryo seemed eager to continue talking about his new favorite show.

“It’d be so cool to actually meet them!” Cryo added, still focused on his show.

“Kid, you have no idea…” Jorge chuckled.

Cryo looked at the cuban, eyebrow raised. He opened his mouth, about to speak, only to have his attention drawn away by his cartoon once more.

*Knock Knock Knock!*

Jorge lifted his head, looking over to the door. “Who could that be?”

He quickly jumped up off the couch, walking over to the door. He opened it, raising an eyebrow at the stallion that now stood behind it.

“I didn’t think you’d actually go through with it…” Jorge thought aloud.

“Yeah, well, if it’s gonna help get my shit together, I don’t really have a choice, do I?” Ish shrugged, standing in front of Jorge as the panda looking stallion he was the first time they used the spell.

“Well, this is you we’re talking about.” Jorge bluntly stated. “Normally you would’ve just called it quits a long time ago.”

“...Not this time.” Ish stated, giving the cuban a serious look. “I meant what I said. If it’s going to get me Cryo back, then so be it.”

“You do realize that just turning into an earth pony isn’t gonna be enough?”

“It's not?”

“Ish, right now Cryo’s under my custody, which means I have the final say.”

Ish sighed deeply. “What else do I have to do…?”

“Ish, prove to me that you're getting your shit together.” Jorge explained. “Fix your ego, move out of that rinky dinky apartment, drop your whole constant urge to meme, or at least tone it down. And actually make something out of yourself.”

“Rinky dinky my ass, you try and get a good place in this economy.” Ish huffed.

“Ish, look at me. Do I live in some shitty apartment constantly trying to piss everyone off?” Jorge asked. “Look at Shadow, does he try to constantly make a meme out of every Celestia-damned thing he sees?”

“Well, n—”

“No, right?” Jorge interrupted. “I found love with a mare who I'd never thought would even give me a chance, let alone be my wife.” He stomped a hoof on the floor. “And Shadow somehow managed to get his own life straight, despite being in a completely new world with no way back. And you know what? He got married, too.”

“Y-yeah, so?”

“What have you done so far, Ish?”

“Well, I… uh… I did some things… I uh, I had sex with Lyra once…”

“That's another thing, Ish…” Jorge scratched the back of his neck. “You don't know what that signifies here in Equestria?”

“Fuck.”

“Ish, having sex with someone here in Equestria bonds you to them.” Jorge rolled his eyes.

“Am I allowed to legally change my name and become an apache attack helicopter if it means that I don’t have to marry her?”

“No!” Jorge shouted. “Ish, this is a big deal, I don’t know how you’ve gotten away with all of this so far, but this will bite you in the ass sooner or later…”

“So like, that means I’m shit outta luck then. This is worse than having a girl lie about birth control just so you don’t leave her.”

Jorge placed a thinking hoof on his chin. “Well, no. Not exactly. You haven’t really cheated on her, per se.”

“So what you’re saying is I have to be single for life.”

“No, what I’m saying is you need to work something out with Lyra, either find a mutual agreement and end the relationship, or something else that doesn’t get your ass sent to jail.” Jorge paused for a moment. “Because I’m pretty sure the royals aren’t aware of this issue, except for Twilight, possibly.”

“Jail is a reasonable choice in this scenario…”

“And you’re just gonna leave Cryo here? Isn’t that why you went through this process in the first place?” Jorge tapped Ish’s head lightly. “Think, Ish. You have a brain in there for a reason. Fucking use it.”

“My 4.0 GPA doesn’t save me from relationships.”

“No, but it shows you can do something other than piss everyone off everywhere you go.” Jorge scoffed. “4.0 GPA, and you’re living in a dump.”

Ish shrugged, thinking back to when he had been fired not long ago. “Pretty hard to get a job when the entire population of ponies can do literally everything. But wait... now I’m literally part of the entire population of ponies.”

Jorge nodded. “It’s quite the opposite, Ish. Yes, the entire population of ponies can do quite literally everything. But because of this, there’s always a paying job for anything.”

“Seriously?”

“Dead serious.” Jorge replied. “And now that you’re a pony, finding a job isn’t as hard as you’d expect. Hell, if I really wanted to, I could work in the Ponyville weather team now.”

“So what do you expect me to do?”

“Find something you’re good at.” Jorge suggested. “Make a living out of that.” He pointed at Ish’s cutie mark. “That cutie mark means something. Maybe you’re meant to be more than just a douchebag troll.”

Ish looked at his mark. “Didn’t you say these marks represent a pony’s destiny?” He raised an eyebrow, looking back at Jorge.

Jorge nodded. “Ish, I’m telling you all of this for your own good. Because all of us are tired with your arrogant schemes.”

“You could’ve just said some—”

“We have.” Jorge interrupted. “Multiple times.”

“Really?”

“You’ve been so focused on trying to show everyone in Equestria your dank memes, that you’ve been screwing yourself over.” Jorge shrugged. “It’s time to stop.”

Ish stayed silent, looking around him as he mulled over Jorge’s words. Had he been that focused on his memes? Blinded by his acts of memery to the point where he had driven all of his friends away?

“Jorge?” He spoke softly. “We… we’re still friends, right?”

The cuban stayed silent as he looked away from the asian, the serious look on his face fading away to a frown. He looked back at him, unsure of what to tell him.

“I… I don’t know, Ish.” He sighed. “You haven’t acted like a friend, that’s for sure. You not only showed up late to Shadow’s wedding, but interrupted it just to demand doing it all over again because you were late. And then proceeded to do the same thing to my wedding.”

“That’s just one thing thou—”

“You’ve also been unappreciative, unhelpful—”

“Name one time I’ve been unappreciat—”

“When I risked my life to save your ass from Tirek’s destructive magic.”

“Okay, name two tim—”

“Every time Shadow and I have pulled you out of Lyra’s house. And so far it’s been about… six times?”

“Two of those are your fault!” Ish retorted.

“And what about the other four?” Jorge countered.

Ish tried to find a last resort to make him sound less bad than Jorge made him out to be. “What about Dylan?”

“What about him?” Jorge raised an eyebrow.

“How much help has he been?”

“Ish! Dylan’s only been in Equestria for a fucking month!” Jorge stomped a hoof on the floor. “He still lives with Twilight, for fucks sake!”

“Bu—”

“And even then, he still went out of his way to try to help his friends, including you!” Jorge interrupted. “Despite not knowing how to do it, he still tried to turn you into a pony just so you could avoid Twilight.”

“I—

“I heard me being mentioned, whatsup?” Dylan cut in, still eating the slice of pie.

Ish glanced over to the unicorn, who had stood not far behind Jorge. “Dylan’s here?”

“Yeah man, I was just seeing what Jorge was up to, maybe just talk or help out babysitting Cryo, who knows really.”

In an instant, all of Ish’s retorts to use on Dylan faded away. Jorge was right, despite Dylan’s lack of anything here in Equestria, he still managed to help in any way he could, as evidenced right here in front of him.

“So what’s the problem here?” Dylan raised an eyebrow.

Jorge looked over to Dylan. “Maybe you can help me out here, Dylan.” He spoke calmly. “When you were opening up about your depression from back home, who was around to help you out of it?”

“Uh, I’d have to give you the most credit for that one, though Shadow and Twilight helped alot. Flutters and all the others did as well, even The Pink One.” Dylan replied.

“Was Ish, at any point in time, around to help when none of us were?”

“I ran into him during one of my pinkie abductions, and again when out with Flutters one time...I’m pretty sure he called me a fag or some other memey insult both times.”

Jorge looked over to Ish, wearing a serious look once again. “Shall I go on?”

“N-no… I got it.” Ish scratched the back of his neck. “I… I really fucked up this time…”

“So wait, why is all of this relevant?” Dylan cocked his head to the side.

“Ish wants Cryo back, but before he can gain custody again, he needs get his life straight.” Jorge explained. “Twilight noticed that Ish has been too selfish and too arrogant to have custody in the first place, so now he’s under my care until further notice.”

“Well, no matter how noble at first, a selfish deed is always selfish.” Dylan responded. “Just do what I do, Ish, start looking for a job and appropriate housing. Also be nice to people, that helps.”

Ish looked down at the ground, having still stood outside of Jorge’s house. Multiple thoughts had begun to plague his mind. Was there still any hope for him? Could he actually turn around and fix two year’s worth of damage that he had created?

“Do…” He looked up at the two stallions in front of him. “Do you think there’s still a chance for me?”

“That’s on you, Ish.” Jorge shrugged. “If you can fix your ego, and if you’re willing to do what’s right. Then maybe.”

Ish looked at the two for a few moments, before he slowly turned around. “I… I need some time alone…”

Before the two could even say anything else, the asian began walking away, muttering something they couldn’t understand.

Jorge simply closed the door, looking over to Dylan with a concerned look.

Dylan casually looked over to Jorge, oblivious to the serious scene that just occurred before him. “I think we broke Ish.”

*Knock Knock Knock!*

Ish waited impatiently in front of Lyra’s door, unsure if anyone was home or not. He looked around, watching as other ponies continued on with their business. He had looked up, and noticed a few pegasi clearing the skies for the weather, and off towards a few shops, as ponies walked in and out, living out their daily lives.

Fortunately enough, the door in front of him opened, catching his attention as his head snapped towards the now open door, revealing Lyra standing behind it.

“Don’t tell me, you’re dead again?” She deadpanned, recognizing his pony body.

“N-No.” Ish shook his head. “I… I just wanna talk.”

“About?”

“Well, for starters, after two years of being in Equestria, I finally realized what having sex here signifies.” Ish began. “And… I wanna set things right before I get kidnapped again, or something.”

Lyra simply lifted an eyebrow. “I’m listening…”

“I know that having sex bonds you to the pony you do it with, there’s… some kind of term for that, I’m sure.”

“Being official.”

Ish blinked. “That… sounds about right. I’m also aware that relationships here in Equestria are, well… Intimate, to say the least. Not just sexually, I’ve noticed that couples are almost always together, caring for each other no matter what happened to them.”

“Where are you even going with this?” Lyra cocked her head to the side.

“What I’m trying to say is…” Ish sighed. “I fucked up. We had sex a couple of times, and only one of them was consensual. So… I wanna start over. Y’know, like none of this ever happened.”

The two stood there awkwardly for what felt like minutes. Lyra wasn’t sure how to respond, the human who had been nothing but manipulative and mean had stood right in front of her, asking for a fresh start. If she had still obsessed over humans like she did a while ago, she would’ve agreed. But after she slowly realized that humans weren’t any special, nor any different than ponies, she wasn’t sure.

So what’s been stopping her from telling anyone about Ish’s abuse towards a pony’s relationship?

“And what if I say no?” She asked. “What if I go to Twilight and tell her to throw you in a prison for everything you did?”

Ish took a deep breath, and sighed. His head fell low, his eyes closing as he prepared for the worst. “I… wouldn’t blame you. After everything I’ve done to everyone besides you? I probably deserve it. I’ve lost my friends, my son… All because I didn’t take being in Equestria seriously. I just took everything as a joke and pissed everyone off.”

Lyra continued to stare at the defeated stallion before her, unsure of what to make her next move. She looked over to Twilight’s castle, reminding herself that it wasn’t very far from here, then looked back to Ish. She was left with a huge decision to make. Should she tell Twilight and have him sent to prison? Or should she give him the benefit of the doubt and see if he could pull through?

She knew she was gonna regret her choice.

Another moment of silence passed, leaving Ish to assume the worst.

“Ahem.”

Ish reluctantly looked up to the mint colored mare, expecting her to shut the door on his face, but instead received the opposite reaction.

“Hiya, I don’t believe we met.” She smiled warmly, extending a hoof. “I’m Lyra. What’s your name?”

Ish’s mouth opened agape slightly, not believing what was happening in front of him. He slowly, yet reluctantly lifted his hoof, grabbing hers and shaking it gently.

“My name’s Ishtaba.”