A Good Thing?

Crash! Snap! Crunch! More crunching and snapping! Then silence.

Grey groaned loudly as his whole body throbbed in pain.

"Did someone get the number of that truck?" Grey chuckled to himself.

With his vision returning to him, he whistled in awe at the destruction he left in his wake. The tops of trees were cut clean off, and trunks snapped in half, a small crater where he first landed had flattened the trees in the area, and a deep scar in the dirt ended at him. He rubbed his forehead with his hoof when pain flared in his head.

"Hoof?!" Grey cried in alarm. He quickly examined his body and was slightly panicked at his new equine shape. When his search for a horn yielded nothing, a disappointed sigh left him. He was about as big as Big Mac, had a rusty coat, light grey mane and tail; he caught sight of his cutie mark, a blue heart superimposed with a red phoenix clutching arrows in one talon and a hammer in the other. "Huh," Grey grunted, amused. There were worse cutie marks, right? He attempted to put his four new legs under him, and he stood on his hooves triumphantly. A mischevious grin grew as a sinister idea took shape within his mind.

After stumbling out of the Everfree Forest, Grey saw Fluttershy's cottage a short distance away. How convenient. A quick search of the property and he spotted the creamy pegasus in front of the cottage watering her flowers.

"Excuse me, miss?" Grey called out in a tenor falsetto.

"Eeep!" Fluttershy squeaked, dropping the watering can from her mouth. She quickly dove into the bushes to hide. Grey suppressed his laughter.

Fluttershy popped her head out and saw an intimidating dark crimson stallion standing before her, his golden eyes smiling. "H-How c-c-can I h-elp you, s-sir?"

Grey took a step back and laid down on the ground with his legs under him. He smiled warmly, "I found myself in that dark forest when I woke up and I am a little thirsty."

"There is a river not too far away you can drink from," Prys' voice spoke in his head with a hint of hostility.

Grey got to his hooves and turned to see a giant Prys looming over him. A knowing smirked pulled on the corner of Grey's mouth. "Wow! Did you just talk?"

"Who are you?" Prys demanded.

"Master Smith," Grey introduced himself with an extended hoof without missing a beat, "What's your name?"

Prys eyed the rusty stallion before him. How come his mind is guarded, even before I made my presence known? Something is off about the stallion. A strange magic fills his entire body.

"As much as I love staring into your sparkling topaz gems," Grey chuckled weakly, "my hoof is getting kinda tired."

"Price," the wolf answered and shook the hoof with his paw.

"Alright." The rusty stallion glanced back at Fluttershy, who had half her body out of the bush when she froze from his gaze, "Is there a town nearby?" he inquired the wolf.

"Just follow the path behind me," Price stated dryly.

"Thank you," Master Smith bowed politely to Price and winked at Fluttershy before leaving.

Fluttershy walked up beside Prys who was still in his large form. She placed a hoof on his front paw. He looked down at her, and she smiled up at him. "How was your visit with your brother?"

The sun shone brightly; clouds floated nonchalantly above in the blue sky, and birds sang beautifully without a care in the world. With morning behind him, Grey had the rest of the day ahead of him. While his original plan was to go around and pull pranks, his maturity caught up to him, forbidding him to do so. He missed a certain regal blue alicorn and blue filly right now, and he needed money to pay for a ticket to Canterlot. He stood at the edge of the market and surveyed the area.

What to do? What to do? What to do? I don't have bits to buy the stuff needed for a stall, let alone a permit. Panhandle? Nah. A lightbulb flashed above his head, "Lightbulb!"

He trotted to the newspaper stand and picked up the classifieds. He stared at his hooves for a second in wonder. Was that magic he felt in the soles of his hooves? Trippy. With his curiosity sated, he turned his attention back to the paper. Today was his lucky day. A certain Princess of Friendship was conducting an experiment and needed volunteers. The one thousand bits raised a few alarms in his head, but surely the experiment couldn't be worse than Pinkie's ad for experimental taste taster. Right?

Grey watched in stunned silence, mouth agape, as the brightly green neon glowing mare ran out of the Friendship Castle crying her heart out. She slightly resembled a particular teacher.

"It is only temper-RARYYYY!" Twilight called out to the mare at the bottom of the steps. Twilight smiled and chuckled sheepishly up at the new stallion. "Are you a new volunteer?" she asked hopefully, her amethyst gems sparkling behind goggles.

"YA ne govoryu po angliyski!" Grey shouted behind him, as a cloud of dust enveloped Twilight.

"Wait!" Twilight cried out after coughing away the dust, "Results may vary!"

Escaping the clutches of mad Doctor Frankenstein led Grey to Sweet Apple Acres. Thinking back, he should have come here first; it would have saved him from what he witnessed earlier. It was high noon which probably meant the Apple clan would be taking a break so he headed for the main house.

Shortly after knocking on the screen door, Applejack greeted him. "Howdy. Is there sumthin' Ah can help ya with?"

"I certainly hope so, Miss Applejack," Grey said sincerely. He bowed politely and introduced himself, "I am Master Smith. I left my wallet back home, and I was wondering if I could do some chores around the farm to help pay for a train ticket back to Canterlot. Nothing beats good ole hard work for an honest pay."

Applejack scrunched her face in thought. "Well, if ya ain't 'fraid t'get yer hooves dirty, there's sumthin' fer ya t'do."

Was it Grey's first time working on a farm? No. Was it Grey's first time cleaning out pens? No. Was Grey going to be doing so again anytime soon? Hell. No. Shit stinkswho knew?factor in the scorching heat and choking humidity and you have all the conditions of a living Hell. He finished and got paidthat is all that mattered.

After a well deserved and welcoming shower, Grey said his farewells to the hospitable Apple clan and headed to the station. After purchasing the tickets, he had enough bits to buy a tuna sandwich (which pleasantly surprised him) as a late lunch.

Gentle prodding woke him from a sound nap. The alabaster mare with the electric blue mane and tail smiled at him and walked away coolly as she bobbed her head to the beat produced by headphones.

With step one out of the way in his plan for sweet revenge, he cantered happily out of the station and down the lane, headed for his friend's flat for step two.

Canterlot reminded Grey of Human castles of yore. He could appreciate the architecture of the buildings and the engineering of the walls and roads. It must have been Hell to remodel and upgrade the whole place for modern conveniences. He passed construction ponies working inside the sewer; his heart went out to the brave souls.

Grey knocked on the white door and waited patiently. Vinter Solace opened the door; sleep clouded his eyes. Grey beamed widely. "Jingle bells! Jingle bells! Jingle all the way! Oh what!" Slam! Grey blinked at the door and snickered. He knocked again. An annoyed Vinter Solace opened the door. "Oh, what fun it is to ride!" Slam! Grey knocked on the door and quickly leapt into nearby bushes.

"What?!" Vinter roared and swung the door open. He blinked at the emptiness in confusion. He released an agitated sigh and groan as he closed the door behind him. He snapped his head at an awed whistle. The infuriating rusty stallion from earlier was in the archway to his living room. "You better have a death wish breaking into a guard's house," Vinter growled.

"Nice place you got, Vinny," the pony complimented in a familiar voice.

Vinter shook his head in disbelief, "Grey?"

"Yup!" the stallion chirped.

Vinter sighed and shook his head. A smile formed on his muzzle, "What did you do this time?"

"I think this is a punishment from Celestia. Well, jokes on her; now, I can be that much closer to Luna!"

"Lemme guess. You need help getting into the castle. Right?"

"Bingo!"

Vinter rubbed his face with a hoof. "I'll go get my armor," he yawned.

With the sun down, Princess Celestia retired to her room. After another long, uneventful, boring day of court, the Princess desired nothing more than to unwind in a warm bubble bathmaybe even read that trashy novel that enthralled her so. As she neared her door, her brow furrowed, puzzled. Her two regular guardsponies were absent from their posts. She cautiously opened the door. A crimson stallion stood in the middle of her room before her bed, staring out the glass balcony doors. She closed the door loudly which grabbed the stallion's attention.

"Can I help you?" she asked on edge.

"Quite the contrary, Princess Celestia," the stallion's tenor voice replied with a small bow, "I am here to help you."

Princess Celestia raised a questioning brow.

"A good friend of ours, Grey, asked for my service to help you unwind," he informed her. He stepped towards her and she backed away. A grin parted his lips, "How can a stallion decline services to magnificence incarnate, Princess Celestia, herself?"

"As. . . flattering this all is," Princess Celestia smiled politely, "I am afraid I will have to decline and ask you to leave."

"Princess," the stallion replied thickly, "I can sense your apprehension. I can also sense your need." He slowly advanced towards the white alicorn.

Princess Celestia felt the cold wooden door press against her warming fur. Thoughts buzzed around in her head. Should I? Would he break like the last stallion? Would this be a one-time thing? Would he talk about this to others? She swallowed the lump in her throat as the stallion drew his muzzle closer to hers. His golden eyes drawing her in. Despite her heart screaming at her to not forget Sombra, her brain and hormones were winning the battle raging inside her body. Just. . . just for tonight. . .

His thick neck pressed against her and his hot breath tickled her ear. "I win," he whispered in a familiar voice.

Princess Celestia drew her head back and stared at the stallion before her with wide poudrette eyes. "No. . ."

Grey stepped away from the stunned mare and laughed. "I just wanted to thank you personally for the change, Celestia. And also to tell you that I win. Because now I do not carry my worries about how to return Luna's love and affection."

Celestia stood in shock with her mouth unhinged. Grey slid her out of the way of the door and blew her a kiss before closing the door behind him and laughing maniacally.

Shaking her head to regain her senses, Princess Celestia quickly opened the door and roared, "GUARDS!"