North. Violetta had to go north. Now, after several days of recovery, she was ready to go north. The rose-gold rays of the dawn were warm upon her face. She turned to face the sun, closed her eyes, and basked in its glory for a few precious seconds. The mindless ponies around her also seemed to be enjoying the sun and the grass.

She had found rope in the tower, and after much struggle, she had managed to form a line to lead the others along with. She had discovered that her horsey ankles were flexible, far more flexible than a normal horse's, and that she could curl back her hoof like a thumb against her leg. She could grab stuff in a clumsy sort of way. Tucked away in storerooms, she had also found saddlebags, horsey luggage, and all manner of supplies.

It had taken a lot of effort to gather the food, pack it up, and get it loaded. Even the mindless ones did their part to help carry supplies. She had spent a crazy amount of effort getting the different packs and saddlebags on the other ponies. They didn’t seem to mind and they were content to stand around at the moment as they waited to go.

Turning her head, Violetta looked over at Sour Sweet. She felt a pang of guilt, she had helped to take Sour Sweet. She had helped to steal her away. It wasn’t like she had much of a choice in the matter, but guilt was guilt, shame was shame, and Violetta felt the need to make amends. She was just a few feet away, the rope loop secure around her neck, and she had her head down so that she could nibble upon the tender green shoots poking up through somewhat faded brown grass.

She didn’t know what to expect, how far they would be traveling, Violetta didn’t know anything. There were no guarantees that they would even find the zebras. She didn’t know what to do if they ran out of food. Sure, there was grass and whatever grew on the ground, but she wasn’t sure if that would be enough. These little horses were different.

Besides, who wanted to eat grass when you could have a cheeseburger? She was dying for one. Her mouth watered as she thought about it, and she wondered if other little ponies might puke if they saw her eating one. Could she even eat one now? Was it wrong? Could ponies eat meat? If it was wrong, did that mean that eating pussy was off the menu?

“Your thoughts…” said the zebra in a soft whisper.

“Hey, you peek inside of my head and you get what you deserve!” Violetta turned to look at her zebra friend and the corners of her mouth curled upwards just a bit.

“I couldn’t help it,” he replied in a somewhat whiny voice as he cringed away from Violetta. “You think so loud… so strong. It just jumps into my mind.”

“Privacy.” Violetta rolled her eyes and her smile became a little more visible.

“You like mares.” The zebra, looking apprehensive, looked Violetta in the eye.

Sighing, Violetta’s smile vanished. “I’m about ninety percent gay. I’m a butch-bitch. I’m a top. Single blue female, currently not attached.”

“I don’t understand half of what you say, and the other half, I can’t sort out your thoughts enough to make sense of it. You don’t think like us.” The zebra, looking troubled, shook his head. He blinked and his greenish eyes were a lighter shade of green in the majestic light of dawn.

“What she means is, she is mostly gay and into girls, but she might check out a boy if he was girly enough or was submissive enough. In a girl-girl relationship, she’s the boy.” Sunset Shimmer stuck out her hoof, felt around a little, and then when she found the zebra, she touched him, pressing her hoof up against him.

“I try to stay open minded.” Violetta looked over at Sunset Shimmer, and she wasn’t sure why she did. Looking Sunset in the eye was not required for conversation, as Sunset was blind. “I don’t want to rule out boys completely because maybe I haven’t met the right boy.” She felt a blush settle over her cheeks and she was comforted by the heat. At least some things hadn’t changed, and even in a pony body, she could blush, which was reassuring for some reason. “I try to be open minded. I don’t always do a very good job of it though. I’d hate to miss out on the love of my life just because they had a dick. After all, what’s a dick between friends, right? ‘Sides, you can dress it up in little Barbie dresses and draw faces on it—”

“You’re like… what… fifteen years old? How did you figure all of this out?” Sunset shook her head. “I still felt guilty and ashamed when I’d touch myself in the shower—you know what, never mind. Sorry, zebra, I know you aren’t a human, but you are still a boy—”

“Colt,” the zebra corrected.

“Yeah, same diff.” Sunset took a deep breath. She nibbled on her own lip for a few seconds, shook her head, and then with a sigh, she lapsed into silence.

“I read books. Books about punk philosophy and feminism. I also watched a lot of porn. A whole lot of porn.” Violetta sucked in a deep breath and her cheeks puffed out. She let everything out in a long slow exhale. “I found the right kind of porn, the good kind, and I kept watching until I saw stuff that I liked, and then I learned more about what it was. And that’s how I figured out what sort of girl I was by watching porn. Self empowerment though sin and vice. My mother threatened to make me have electroconvulsive therapy.”

“I don’t understand any of this.” The zebra turned and looked over at the sunrise.

“I don’t get you,” Sunset whispered to Violetta. “I don’t understand you at all. I don’t understand how you’re okay after all of this—”

“Who said I was okay?” Violetta asked in a sharp voice.

“You seem so strong… you have this plan. You seem like you know what to do.”

“That don’t mean I’m okay.” Violetta let out a rough grunt and then wondered if she should apologise for being snippy. “At some point, I’m gonna have me a good cry about this, but I can’t do that right now. There’s too much shit to do. Nothing I can do about it ‘cept just suck it up.”

“Violetta…”

“What, Sunset?”

“When the time comes, you can have my shoulder to cry on… do horses even have shoulders?”

“Thanks.” Violetta felt another warm blush and she thought about everything she said to Sunset before they had a bath together. She thought about Sunset beside her in the bed. It might be nice to have a shoulder to cry on. Or at least a warm body to hug. Hugging a pony wasn’t so bad, it was like hugging a human wearing fuzzy pyjamas. There was a certain niceness to it.

“I think I’m going to need a shoulder to cry on,” the zebra remarked in a very meek and subdued voice. “I’m so scared of going home. I don’t know if I can do this.”

“First chance we get, we’re all having a pity party. Don’t think there’ll be any cake though, so that’s just one more thing to feel sorry over and mope about.” Violetta lifted her head high. “It’s time to go. Nothing to this but to do this.”

“I have two shoulders,” Sunset said to the zebra. “When we have that pity party, you’re invited.”

Sniffling, Violetta wiped her foreleg over her face, she took a deep breath, and in a strained voice she managed to say, “I’m too butch to be crying. Now stop it, both of you. We gotta get going. Time to move. We don’t have time for this sissy shit.”

She stood up and checked the rope she had looped around her own neck. Sunset, feeling a tug, stood up and fell into place behind Violetta. The zebra, not bound by rope, stood beside Sunset and a look of concentration settled over his face. One by one, the mindless ones fell into line, and were ready to go.

“I feel like that little midget guy when he left home to go on an adventure… let’s go.”

Author's Note

Well, all done. Time to return to things that people actually want to read.

We now return to your regularly scheduled programming.