It was a lot more comfortable in Best-stallion's bed than the one in my old kennel. It was soft, and warm, and soft, and smelled nice, and soft, and pokey. The pokey bit was new, and pulled me awake at the strangeness of it.

Under the blankets of the bed, my eyesight was useless. I sniffed and felt around, prodded a little, and eventually found out what had poked me.

Best-stallion was excited about something, and excited dogs liked to poke—and poke a lot. But still, he's Best-stallion for a reason, and his bed was soft, and he didn't get too pokey. Without a bad thing to actually think about him, I licked his pokey thing.

"Sweet Celestia. Screwed, that—that's amazing!"

I rocked my head, filling my mouth with the stallion. He tasted good and musky—like a stallion should. Working my tongue under his hard length, I coaxed him ever closer toward release.

"I can't hold back anymore. I—I—"

My reward, or his reward, came quite suddenly and literally.

The memory of a time before I was me didn't hurt so much. Rather than recoil from the images in my head, I used them as instructions. Opening my mouth, I took the end of his pokey.

Taste and feel told me it was just like the stallion of that other me's memory. Best-stallion's pokey was hot and musky, and best of all I could hear him making happy-stallion-noises. When I pushed further down his pokey, I felt a sudden tightness in him and then I got my breakfast.

Best-stallion made a lot of happy-stallion-noises, then startled gasps.

"What——doing?" Best-stallion asked.

He jerked away from me, dragging himself to the other side of the bed and staring at me.

Licking my lips clean of the last of breakfast, I smiled at Best-stallion and then made a happy bark. Wagging my tail was a bonus. When Best-stallion didn't immediately reply, I barked again and jumped off the bed.

A new desire made itself known. The rules of being inside dictated that I not just make a mess wherever, so I ran down the stairs and to the door—whining the whole way.

"What's wrong?" Best-stallion followed me, looking between me and the door. "Oh!" Thankfully, Best-stallion proved his name was completely the absolute truth by pointying the door open!

I bolted outside and found the closest garden that looked like a good place to mark anyway. Crouching over the flowerbed, relief was nearly instant.

"Good girl," Best-stallion said.

A bubbly happiness welled up, and I wagged my tail in delight. He really was the best stallion.

Each night Best-stallion would try to climb into bed without me, but I know that was just a silly game.

At first, I would sneak into his kennel after he was asleep and climb into the bed, but I kept waking him up. That was fine, though, because then we got to play all night!

So I found a better tactic. When he went to bed, and closed the door with his pointy, I would sit at it and whine. It wasn't real whining, I wasn't hurt or anything, but a few good whines and he would use his pointy to open the door for me. It wasn't as fun as playing all night, but it meant I could get him to make happy-stallion sounds in the morning.

I really liked hearing his happy-stallion sounds.

Best-stallion kept me fed, and always made sure my water was full. Then one day, when I kept whining at the door, he took me for a walk.

"Good girl," Best-stallion said.

I waited for him to clip my leash on, but the moment it was on I couldn't stop my tail from wagging. Wag, wag, wag so much! Best-stallion was taking me for a walk!

He opened the door but used his pointy to keep me from yanking the leash when I pulled on it.

"Heel, Screwy." Best-stallion yanked on the leash, but I didn't mind. He wanted me to walk beside him, so of course I did.

Trotting along, prancing even, it felt so good to be out of the kennel. And the smells—they were everywhere!

Sniffing was required. Everything we passed needed to be fully investigated. I know Best-stallion was a little sick of waiting for me each time, but he did wait, which is one of the many things that makes him Best-stallion.

We walked from our kennel all the way to where the buildings stopped and the cold-stuff started. I sniffed at it—the cold-stuff—but it didn't really smell of anything. Then I saw movement. From the corner of my eye I registered a shadow change, and spun my head to see what it was.

A little rabbit, white as the cold-stuff it was standing on, looked back at me.

"RABBIT!" I barked.

My paws—hooves—dug into the cold-stuff and I shot forward, only to be wrapped in pointy and lifted off the ground!

Turning my head, I saw it was Best-stallion's pointy doing it. I shook and trembled, panic over him lifting me with his pointy, like the not-nurse-or-doctors used to. I hated being pointied then, and I still hate it now. And it was twice as bad having Best-stallion do it.

Best-stallion put me down, giving me soft words that I couldn't understand. He lifted a hoof toward me, but I shied away for a moment—remembering the not-nurse-or-doctors.

"It's falling!"

The shout terrified me. My hooves locked to the ground while I turned to see who shouted. Banged Nail's magic wrapped around my body, tried to pull me away, but he wasn't in time.

Pain radiated from everywhere, all at once. Sharp pain. Aching pain. The load of heavy timber shifted, and the pain all focused in my head—and stopped.

A hoof stroked along my head, petting me while soft words were spoken. I didn't try to follow what was being said, but I could appreciate that the speaker meant them to reassure. And it worked. I lifted my head into the petting and made a soft whine.

"Good girl. Sorry," Best-stallion said.

I realized it was Best-stallion petting me a moment later. I looked up at him and saw his pointy, and the memories came back again. Trembling, I whined and moved a little closer to him. "Please don't use your pointy on me," I whined.

More soft words, but then I caught two in a bunch that made me happy all over.

"——won't——magic——" Best-stallion said.

I sat up immediately and licked Best-stallion's face. I didn't like his pointy, but if he promised not to use it on me, he could still be Best-stallion. As I licked, I tasted saltiness on his face. My brain, through the dim fog of what I could puzzle about that, told me that meant he'd been crying and really sorry. So I licked him a few more times for good measure.

"——go home?" I knew it was a question because Best-stallion ended it like one. He'd always tried to stop me from licking his face before, but he seemed extra patient of my silliness.

Finally, once I was sure there was no more saltiness on his face, I pulled back from Best-stallion and nodded. I shied when his pointy did something to his eye-covers, but he wasn't using it on me.

We walked slowly back home to our kennel. I didn't tug on the leash, and Best-stallion didn't try to command me to walk with him. I just wanted to forget everything about his pointy touching me.

It was the end of another day guarding Best-stallion's paper things. I knew how much they meant to him, so I didn't even let the little mice go near the shelves. His opening the front door woke me from my sleep, and I lifted my head to watch him coming inside.

Things weren't odd yet—this was perfectly normal.

Excitement poured into every part of me, and I shot to my paws—hooves—and galloped toward him at full speed.

Best-stallion put up with a lot of things I did, and getting bowled over and licked all over his face was one of them. He didn't brace against my charge, and he didn't try to shield himself with his pointy (see? Best-stallion or what?).

He laughed, with peals of happy sounds echoing around the kennel. Even with me on top of him, licking his face of all the amazing smells and tastes he'd encountered, he laughed.

His pointy started, and I was a little wary of it, but instead of touching me, he pulled something from his bags. The loop of little-rope lifted up in his magic and draped around his neck. Best-stallion looked at me, and said, "Hi, Screwy. Are you glad I'm home?"

The words were clear, perfect. I heard them without a headache, and they were in his voice. At first, I had no idea what to do. Besides, it was obvious I was happy he was home—my tail was wagging and everything!

"Not going to say anything, Screwy?" Best-stallion asked.

"No," I whined. "Nothing."

I climbed off him and walked back to my spot before the fire, even though the fire wasn't there. Turning around three times—as was customary—I curled up and flicked my tail over my nose.

"Well, you can listen, anyway. This thing I got lets me talk to you, and understand you, but it takes a lot of magic to do it. I just wanted to tell you I was sorry about using my magic on you." As he spoke, Best-stallion walked over to his chair and climbed up into it.

One by one, logs danced in the air in Best-stallion's pointy—magic—and deposited themselves in the fireplace. I watched when his pointy—magic—ignited one of the pieces of wood, and warmth began to spread from the fire.

"I should be able to use it a little bit each day. It recharges on its own. I hope you're——" The remainder of Best-stallion's words turned to gibberish, and I tucked my ears back to avoid a headache from them.

"Please stop. Your thingy isn't working," I whined.

Using his pointy—magic—Best-stallion lifted the thing off his neck and tucked it back in his bag. "Oh."

Best-stallion sounded so sad that his thing stopped working. I looked up at him with what I hoped was a comforting expression, and wagged my tail a few times.

The next day, and I greeted Best-stallion with my usual enthusiasm. Bouncing around him, I wanted to go for a walk so much I was probably even willing for him to carry me in his pointy—magic. Walking to the door, I whined at him wordlessly to make sure he knew what I wanted.

In reply, Best-stallion put the odd collar on again. "Do you want to go out?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yes. Walk now!" It was a relief to be able to tell him what I wanted. He understood what I wanted to do most of the time, but there was always moments when he just got it wrong.

So I got my leash put on, and Best-stallion took me for a walk. Before leaving, he took his collar off and put it back in his bag. I felt both relief and excitement at the idea of his collar now, it was obvious what let him talk to me.

It was a long walk, which was good. We walked almost completely in a circle around all the big kennels, and stopped when Best-stallion pulled his collar out and put it on. "Is there something else you want to do, Screwy?"

Excitement buzzed through me. There wasn't a lot of things I actually wanted for, but I had my sights set on a real top-tier thing. "I want to chase a rabbit!" I barked.

Then Best-stallion walked me to the edge of all the kennels again, where there was cold-stuff. "Do you promise to come back?"

"Of course! You're Best-stallion!" I barked, excitement making my whole back-end wag now.

Best-stallion removed his collar and unclipped the leash.

Ready to explode, I bounced around a few times, licked Best-stallion's face, then turned and ran into the cold-stuff. As the cold-stuff got deeper, I had to change how I ran. Bouncing, I chased after birds and rabbits and anything that moved, not particularly caring that the only thing I could actually catch was sticks.

Barking at one tree that I knew kept moving, I heard Best-stallion calling out. I gave one more good bark at the tree then turned toward him. "I'm coming!" I barked.

I had to bound most of the way, but once I reached the shallow cold-stuff I was able to run properly. I galloped as fast as I could right up to Best-stallion and started licking him all over his face. Once I'd properly shown how excited I still was, I stopped and stood still for him, offering Best-stallion access to my collar.

"Good girl." I didn't need Best-stallion wearing his collar to be understand those words.

I barked in excitement. When he used his pointy to attach the leash, I stepped up beside him and sat down—waiting.

When Best-stallion stepped forward, I stood up and walked with him. I could remember seeing ponies walking their dogs like this, and it felt relaxing and good to let him lead. He didn't talk, and he didn't try to throw me off with odd turns. I might have even pranced a little.

When we got back to our kennel, I waited for Best-stallion to let me off the leash before diving into the bushes in the garden bed. Relief was brief, but needed, and when I was done I walked inside—Best-stallion had waited for me, though his ears were turning red again.

"G-Good girl," Best-stallion said.

I marched inside and aimed myself right for the water bowl Best-stallion had set out for me. The refreshing and cool drink turned my excitement into a heavy relaxation that made me yawn.

Best-stallion didn't say anything. He had made his way to his favorite chair and was sitting down in it to read a book.

I didn't jump up on it with him—I knew I shouldn't do that—instead opting to curl up at the base of his chair. Calmness filled my world, and I lowered my head to the floor and closed my eyes.

"We don't know how it's going to affect her, and we won't know the extent of it for at least a year. She seems cognizant of her situation now, but there was a lot of damage. She seems to be speaking a little less than normal, and doesn't engage ponies in dialogue unless directly spoken to. Isn't that right, Screwed Tight?"

My name pulled my attention to the stallion—a doctor. I blinked a few times, my brain sorting through the mass of information for what he'd been talking about to warrant a question, but had nothing. "S-Sorry, what was that?"

"I was just explaining to your friend what has happened, Screwed Tight." The doctor waved a hoof toward the other occupant of my room, a young stallion I could almost remember.

Glancing from the doctor to my "friend", I looked at him up and down—he was cute, or he would be if he didn't look sad. "Hi!" I said.

I woke up to the feeling of two weights on me. I looked, and saw that Best-stallion's back legs hung of the chair and on top of me. It wasn't exactly comfortable having dead weight laying over me, but it was Best-stallion, and that made it nice.

But, there was a nicer way to sleep. I looked up at Best-stallion—fast asleep on the chair—and grinned. Slipping out from under his legs without waking him was the first part, and I waited just a moment to make sure he hadn't woken before moving to phase two.

Putting one hoof up on the chair, I applied more and more weight until I could lift my other forehoof up. Best-stallion looked so calm and happy, and even while I slid myself up onto the chair beside him he murmured happy things.

He was warm and cozy, and now that I could snuggle against him I was warm and cozy too. I closed my eyes and drifted into a dreamless sleep.

Best-stallion woke me up. He poked my belly in a way that made me want to giggle. I tilted my head up to see a panicked look on his face. I just licked his nose.

With his pointy doing something, Best-stallion kept poking me while his collar floated across and closed around his neck. "Why'd you get up here?"

"It looked comfortable and warm. You're poking my belly," I whined back, and licked his nose again for good measure.

"I know I'm poking your belly. I'm a stallion, this is—it's really embarrassing!"

"Why? It doesn't hurt, and we're alone." To emphasize my point, I rubbed my belly against Best-stallion's, which squeezed his pokey thing between us. His face looked adorable after I did that, though it was hard to work out if he was nervous or excited—or maybe both.

"That's beside the point, I'm—you're—we—"

"You're wasting your collar." I snuggled myself in a little more firmly, which meant pushing against him. "Get up if you want, but then I call dibs on your warm patch."

Best-stallion stared at me for a moment, then let out a sigh and climbed up. "I'm going to bed."

Normally I would have followed him, but I had a warm patch that needed taking care of first. Stretching out, I closed my eyes and dreamed of running through the cold-stuff and chasing rabbits.

Author's Note

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