The Wheel Deal

by PonyPixel

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Original Character
Length: 5290

Most yaks don't really take that much care. Trud finds this out by breaking his back legs. This causes many problems for him, but there is somepony who knows how he feels.

When it comes to yak, there are a couple of things that are obvious about them. They’re quite proud of their culture, they’re quite stubborn, and they are a little reckless. Trud is a prime example of this. These traits eventually get him in trouble as he ends up breaking his back legs. This means he won’t be able to do a couple of activities he’d normally do with fully functional body parts. Thankfully, there’s someone who knows what it’s like.

Published 2020-05-27 06:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2020-05-27 06:00:01 UTC

Go for Broke

It was another day at the School of Friendship. The students were having some free time and were all spending it differently. For Gale, he was just dozing on the top deck on his double-decked bed as Moss walked inside his room.

“Hey, Gale,” the changeling called, as he saw him laying his back on the bed.

He flew inside and stood beside the slumbering white griffon. He tried poking the griffon awake, but it didn't work, he’s still asleep. When that didn’t work, he went with the next best thing he could do. Moss transformed himself into a rooster, took a deep breath, and crowed as loud as he could.

COCK-A-DOODLE-DOOOOOOO!!!

This managed to wake the griffon up. He sat up and started breathing fast because he was frightened by the sound. He then looked at Moss and felt irritated.

“Ugh!!!” Gale groaned, as he laid down his head again with a pillow covering up his face. “What is it?”

“Are you really going to sleep all day?”

“Hey, it was too early to be up.”

Moss changed back into his original base form. “But……it’s only one o’clock.”

He pointed to the window, where it showed the sun was high in the sky. Gale just groaned loudly.

“Do you really have to wake me up?”

“Some creature has to do that. I’m surprised that Trud hasn’t given up yet. Speaking of which, where is he?”

On cue, some loud thumps were heard from down the hall. Gale nearly fell out of bed due to the mini-earthquake. He and Moss quickly hovered above the ground.

“I think I know where he is,” Gale said.

They went out of the dorm room, and started looking around for a while. Eventually, they made their way into the lounge. There, they found Trud. He appears to be teaching a couple of his classmates the Yakyakistan Stomp.

“Hey. Trud!” Moss called loudly.

But Moss’s voice was silenced by the sound of the students’ stomping and the loud music that was playing for their dance. To get their attention, Moss transformed himself into a giant yellow manticore and he let out a mighty roar. This managed to get everyone’s attention.

Gleaming Pearl, who was one of the dancers, turned off the music player quickly. Trud sighed. “What friends want?” Trud asked, a bit annoyed.

“Your earthquake dance nearly knocked me out of bed,” Gale answered.

“Really? It’s only past noon,” Kelpie said.

“That’s what I said,” Moss spoke.

“Shush,” Gale groaned. “Look, Trud, I know we’re roommates, but there has to be a limit to the yak that likes the things you do. Like that……dance of shaking….”

“Yakyakistan Stomp,” Trud corrected.

“Right, whatever. Just give us a warning next time when you do something like this.”

“I thought there was a rule against yak stomping,” Moss said.

“Hold on, there is?” Kelpie asked.

“I don’t know, I should probably have to double-check,” Pearl said. She and Kelpie flew off a little worried if they might get in trouble. The other students then soon follow, leaving the griffon, the changeling and a yak alone to have the conversation.

"Okay, you were trying to wake me up," Gale said to Moss. "Why?"

"I've been hearing about quizzes being moved to Monday," the yellow changeling explained.

"Why?" Trud questioned.

"I don't know. I'm not the one who makes up the rules. Look, Tanz said it’ll be best if we studied up on what we learned." The griffon and yak both groaned. "Yeah, I know, let's just go to the library, so we don't have to do that test twice." The three students headed towards the library.

Well, not a lot of students were there in the library, but most of them were doing other activities and projects that needed to be passed soon. Moss, Gale, and Trud all walked into the library and looked for a couple of books. The griffon and changeling didn't struggle to get the books on the high shelf, Trud on the other hand, simply just struggled. He jumped up a couple of times and each time he didn't get the book he wanted, he landed on the ground making it tremble a little.

"Trud, would you stop that, please?" Moss questioned.

"Yak can't get book," Trud replied.

"Okay, I'll just fly up and get it," Gale said. He was about to, but his friend stopped him.

"No! Yak get before himself."

"...If you say so." Gale just rolled his eyes and flew away to check out the books he got.

"You're just giving up now?" Moss sternly questioned him.

"Ugh! If Trud taught me anything about the yaks, they're all just sticks in the puddle of mud."

"Like when you're trying to wake up." The changeling smirked while the griffon just gave a low brow to him.

Trud jumped a couple more times, which didn't phase his friends as they kept flying. After a few more jumps, he managed to grab onto the top shelf. However, his weight started upsetting the bookshelves's balance. It started to tip over and Trud knew he had to get out of there. Just before he could get out of the aisle, the bookshelves soon toppled over like dominos. The first one fell over, landing on the back legs of the yak.

The loud thud followed by Trud's scream of pain not only grabbed the pain of the ones in the library, but also some of the students that’re passing by. This got Gale’s and Moss’s attention.

“What’s going on!?” Gale shouted.

Gale and Moss quickly got off to their seats, and quickly ran towards the tumbled bookshelves. As they arrived, they found Trud yelping in pain, and calling for help. Moss quickly turned himself into a bear to help Gale lift the bookshelf off of their friend. Trud's legs weren't something pretty to look at.

"Yecch! It looks like someone forgot to remove the bones from the meat before they put it through the meat grinder," Gale gagged. He flew down to pick his friend up, but that only caused Trud a great deal of pain. Tanzanite quickly flew into the scene, and saw Trud was not in good shape.

"What happened here?" Tanz questioned as he flew up to them.

"It's kind of obvious," Moss said pointing to the yak's broken legs.

"Well, we can't move him."

"Then what do we do? Just leave him here?"

"Just……just keep him in company. I'm going to get help." The drake rapidly flew off as Moss and Gale landed in front of their injured friend.

"It's okay, buddy. You'll get help soon."

"Yak's legs hurt," Trud sobbed. Gale cringed as he looked at the broken legs.

"Come on, Tanz," he muttered himself.

When Tanzanite came back with the medics behind, they quickly carried him and put him on the wheeled stretcher. Students who are witnessing the accident are feeling both scared and worried.

“Did you think he’s going to be fine?” Pyther said, feeling so uncomfortable while witnessing the incident.

“I hope so,” Garry replied back, also feeling uncomfortable.

The medics then quickly pushed the wheeled stretcher heading outside, Gale and Moss then soon followed them.

Moss and Gale were now at the hospital, still wearing their winter clothes, sitting on the chairs in the waiting room. Gale’s now starting to feel very anxious about him.

"You think he's going to be okay?" Gale asked Moss, who’s reading a magazine.

"Hopefully. Yaks are pretty tough creatures, you know," Moss commented. "You ever seem one of them break their bones?"

"I haven't seen dragons break their bones before."

"You haven’t seen that, doesn't mean it hasn't happened."

“Yeah. True.”

Just then, Nurse Redheart walked over to them.

"Gale, Moss, you can visit your friend now," she said.

“Thanks,” Gale and Moss both replied.

The griffon and changeling walked down the hall until they reached the room Trud was staying in. The yak was lying on a hospital bed with his hindlegs bandaged up. Doctor Stable was sitting beside him with an x-ray of the yak's legs.

"Oh, there you are," the doctor said. "Came to see your friend."

"Nah, we were just looking around," Moss said sarcastically.

"Is he okay?" Gale asked.

"Just fine," Doctor Stable replied. "Though, his hindlegs are going to be out of commission for a while. About…two and a half months."

"That long?!" Trud cried.

"Yep. Or it could be longer. There's surgery, physical therapy, honestly, this cause looks pretty bad."

"You just said he was going to be fine," Moss reminded.

"After a while. At the moment, it's not a pretty sight. We've heard from your headmare that Trud's parents will be contacted and informed about this."

"Of course," Gale commented.

"But how Trud get around?" Trud asked.

"We have just the thing," the doctor answered. Nurse Redheart walked in while pulling a wheelchair cart. It was a little big, a perfect fit for a yak like Trud.

"Yak use that?"

"If you don't want to be stuck in bed for three months," the nurse responded.

Trud sighed. “Help yak up.”

Now that he was in his new wheels, Trud walked back to the school with his friends by his side. “Trud really hate this,” he complained.

“You’ve been in that thing for literally two minutes,” Moss stated. He pointed back to the hospital which wasn’t too far away.

“Honestly, it doesn't seem that bad,” Gale commented.

He was about to be proven wrong when they came to a little patch of snow on the ground. It didn’t prove to be much of a problem for the griffon and changeling, but for the yak, his wheels dug into the snow and slowed him down.

“Huh?” Trud pulled harder, though it was still a challenge to get through the snow.

Gale and Moss were a little confused about where Trud went until they looked back. “What the heck are you doing?” Gale questioned.

“Yak getting stuck.” Trud’s friends could see the marks his cart was leaving.

“Ugh,” Moss groaned. “Alright, I’ll give you the boost.” The changeling turned himself into a minotaur to help lift his friend up.

“Whoa, cool!” gasped a voice. The three looked over to see a colt that looked about two years younger than Sandbar. The colt was a unicorn that had orange fur, a black mane, and a monkey wrench for a cutie mark. Like Trud, he was in a wheelchair cart, but his legs weren’t bandaged up.

"...Hi," Gale said.

"What are you doing?" the colt asked.

"Yak's wheels stuck," Trud answered. Moss lifted the yak's cart out of the snow.

"Okay, now keep going," Moss said, "Wheelbarrow style."

The friends carried on but the disguised changeling noticed despite the fact that the colt was in a wheelchair cart like Trud, he wasn't struggling to get over the snow. "Hold on, how are you walking?"

"Well, I've added something to my wheels," the colt replied. He then showed off some skis he attached to the bottom of his cart. This made his wheels move up a little bit to make them hover above the ground. "It's something my dad helped me build."

“Wow,” Moss exclaimed.

"Can yak have some?" Trud asked.

"Sure. I have a spare set at home. I'll drop it by your place. Where do you live?"

"The School of Friendship," Moss replied.

"You mean Twilight Sparkle's school?"

"Yep. That's the place," Gale replied. “You've never been there before?”

“I've passed by before, but never been inside though.”

“School good place,” Trud said. “Lots of friends from different kingdoms.”

“Nice! Maybe I’ll visit tomorrow. I’m picking something up for my mother.”

“Okay. See you tomorrow,” Gale said. The colt nodded before walking off in a different direction.

“Pony seemed nice,” Trud commented.

“I agree,” Moss admitted.

Once they got past through the snow, they made it back to the school. Here, Trud was met with another problem. When he tried to walk up the steps to the door, his wheels got stuck again, causing him trouble to just get up the stairs.

"Come on," the yak groaned. His friends sighed as they flew back to help him.

"Man, this is already getting irritating," Gale groaned as he helped push his friend into the school.

Things seemed much easier now that Trud didn't have any stairs to worry about. When he tried turning around a corner, he got a little close to some of the furniture and his wheels hit one of the legs. This caused the table to get dragged with him before he stopped.

When dinner time rolled around, the yak got his tray. However, when he walked to his table, his wheels rolled over Geena's tail, making the griffon yelp in pain.

"Watch it, will ya!?" she ordered in anger.

"Sorry," the yak apologized. Geena huffed, then turned away while rubbing her tail. He made it over to the table where Moss and Gale were sitting at.

“Hey Trud. Wheels dragging you down, huh?” Moss asked.

“Yeah,” the yak sighed. He couldn’t even sit in one of the seats at the table. He just stayed standing as he ate his food. “Yak can’t go like this for three months.”

“Trud, there you are,” Sandbar said. He walked over to them with a couple of other students. “We heard what happened to you. How are you feeling?”

“Not good. Yak had broken legs.”

“It’s gotta be hard,” Emerald said.

“It has to be better than having a broken tail as a seapony,” Gleaming Pearl said. “Trust me. It gets boring when you’re stuck underwater unable to move.”

“That sounds terrible,” Sandbar commented.

“Trust me it is. As if hiding underwater isn’t bad enough.”

“How do friends deal with cast?” Trud asked.

“Well, usually when you have a cast, you have your friends sign it.”

“Why?”

“It’s just something friends do,” she said, with a smile.

“Do you have a marker?” Moss asked.

Sandbar got his marker pen from his bag, and handed the changeling one and he started drawing on one of his friend’s cast. Moss drew a picture of what looked like Queen Chrysalis.

“...Why would you draw that?” Gale questioned.

“Because like that queen, these injuries will eventually fade away.”

“Let me try,” Sandbar said.

He was given the marker and started drawing on the other leg. The marker was passed to the other students, who all drew images on Trud’s cast. Still, this didn’t do much to cheer the yak up.

After they ate dinner, Trud and Gale headed back to their dorm room. “Yak hate wheels,” Trud announced.

“I can see that,” Gale said. “Listen, it’s only for a short while.”

“Three months short?” The griffon just shrugged as he landed on his bunk.

However, he could see Trud struggling to get into his bed.

“Yak not letting wheels beat him.” With a bit of force, Trud got himself into his bed. Lying on his back, his cart’s wheels stuck in the air. Simply turning over caused the cart to smack against the wall. Trud just groaned and tried to get to sleep. Though, the cart made it quite uncomfortable.

The next day arrived. Breakfast was being served as very tired and injured yak walked in. He arrived at the table Moss was sitting at.

“How’d you sleep?” the changeling asked.

“Terrible,” Trud sighed. “Yaks wheels keep yak up.”

“Wait, you…really slept with those on? You silly, those wheels actually come off.” Trud’s eye widened, even though his hair didn’t show it. He walked over to the wall, banged his head against it, and walked back to the table.

“We’re going to be sitting around in class,” Gale said, “So, you probably don’t have to worry about moving around.”

“That right,” Trud responded. He let out a frustrated sigh as he ate his breakfast. Classes proved to be difficult too. Trud’s cart was a little wider, so he kept getting stuck walking past the other desks. The yak growled with frustration. “Yak hate wheels!”

His friends felt sorry for him. They couldn’t only imagine how they would be feeling in his position. “Well, maybe we could talk to that pony again,” Gale said.

“We just have to make it through what might be the worst day of Trud’s life,” Moss remarked. Trud simply lied his head on his desk to let out another groan.

School seemed to drag on longer than usual. Trud was kept distracted by his cart. When he was stationary, school seemed to be normal. Moving around was when problems kept piling up. Bumping into furniture, running over creatures’ feet, having to make wide turns around corners. All of this was getting to Trud, and the big amount of schoolwork wasn’t helping.

Finally, classes were done for the day after the school bell rang. Trud had never been so pleased. “Friends go see wagon pony?” he asked.

“You mean that unicorn?” Gale questioned. Trud nodded.

“He said he’d come by later,” Moss reminded.

“When will pony get here?” Trud questioned.

“Don’t know,” Gale answered.

After a few minutes, they soon found Silverstream guiding a familiar pony towards them. “There they are,” the hippogriff said.

“Thanks,” the orange handicapped unicorn said, with a thankful grin, walking towards them. “Hi, guys,”

“Hey, dude,” Gale said.

“Did colt bring skis?” Trud asked.

“Yeah, I did. Here they are.” He pulled out two small skis that were similar to the ones he was using out of his saddlebag. He also pulled out an allen wrench.

“What that for?”

“It’s to help make sure that your skis stay on.” The colt used his magic to lift the yak’s car up and started attaching the skis. “By the way, I didn’t catch your names. My name’s Rusty Wrench.”

“Trud,” the yak answered.

“I’m Gale,” Gale answered.

“Moss,” the changeling added.

“Cool.” Rusty finished adding the skis to Trud’s cart. “Let’s test these out.”

“We’ll get our winter clothes,” Gale said, “be right back.”

Gale and Moss went back to their respective dorm rooms and started wearing their clothes. After a while, they came back to join with Trud and Rusty Wrench.

The four boys walked outside, where they could find some patches of snow. Trud walked around on it as his skis helped him walk across the snow like his legs were still functional. It really actually worked!

“Yak like skis,” Trud spoke.

“I’m glad you do.”

“Okay, I’m going to be the first one to say this,” Moss spoke. “Rusty, could you give Trud some tips about having unfunctional legs?”

“Really Moss?” Gale questioned.

“How else was I suppose to ask him?”

“I understand...…your phrasing,” Rusty replied. “I get that a lot. I’d be happy to give Trud some tips.”

“Like what?” Trud asked.

“Well, it’s usually best to take wide turns. Your wheels could easily get stuck on corners.”

“Yak noticed.”

“It’s also important that you make sure your cart is maintained. If you don’t, it could cause more problems than it helps with.”

“Yak already having problems.”

“You’ll get used to it. Maybe you could try one of your hobbies to help get your mind off of this.”

“Yaks like sledding.”

“Then we could try that out.”

The boys headed back inside to get their gear, and went back outside after getting them, including Trud’s sled. The yak pushed the sled with his head as he needed his working legs to walk. After a few minutes of walking, they made it to the top of the hill.

“Okay, how is this going to work?” Moss asked.

“What friend mean?” Trud asked.

“Your wheels could cause some problems.”

“Yak will be fine. Rusty help fix cart.”

“Actually, I might not be able to promise that,” the colt stated.

“Friends go sledding.” Trud got on the sled with his friends behind. Doing this, there wasn’t anything to hold the sled back from sliding down the hill. Before Rusty could stop it, the sled raced down the hill before the three creatures could prepare themselves.

Without hesitation, Gale and Moss grabbed their flightless friend and flew off the sled before it smashed into a tree.

“Okay, that was a bad idea,” Gale commented.

“Oh, you didn’t want to crash in the tree?” Moss asked sarcastically. They placed Trud on the ground, who then quickly ran over to his sled. He was relieved to see if it was okay.

“Are you guys alright?” Rusty asked, running down the hill.

“Friends fine,” Trud said. “Sled okay. Built by yaks. Yaks make things strong.”

“Good to know.”

“Yeah, unless we think of a better way of sledding without crashing, I’m out,” Moss spoke.

“Yeah, I’m playing it safe too,” Gale agreed.

“But what friends do now?” Trud asked.

“……Maybe we could play cards,” Rusty suggested.

“You know any good card games?” Gale asked.

“Only a few. We can go to my place.”

“Your place?” Trud asked.

“Yeah, follow me.”

The colt led his new friends towards his home. It was a nice place with a few ramps installed to make sure that Rusty wouldn’t struggle. Inside, there was a flight of stairs with an interesting looking stand with a set of pedals.

“What’s that?” Moss questioned.

“It’s something my dad made so I won’t struggle,” Rusty responded. “Let me show you how it works.”

The colt stepped onto the stand and started using his forehooves to turn the pedals. Slowly but surely, the stand moved its way up the stairs thanks to a track that was built on the wall. Eventually, Rusty made his way to the top of the stairs.

“Okay, that’s cool,” Gale commented. “So, where are your cards?”

“...In my room. Downstairs.” Rusty started feeling a little silly right now. He got back on the stand and started pedaling back downstairs.

When he got back down, a white mare with a black mane walked into the room. She was shocked to see the three creatures with Rusty.

“Rusty, what are these creatures doing here?” she questioned.

“Mom, these are some of the students from the School of Friendship,” the colt explained. “I’m helping Trud...”

“That yak,” Trud said.

“...Get used to his new wheels.”

“Oh, I see,” the mare said. “And these other two?”

“I’m Gale and this is Moss,” the griffon explained.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you. Though, I’d appreciate it if you knocked before you came in.”

“Sorry, mom,” Rusty apologized. Then he noticed the grime that he and Trud had tracked in with their wheels. “We’ll... Clean that up.”

After a few minutes after cleaning up their mess, the four sat around the table as Rusty shuffled the cards. “So, how long did Rusty live with cart?” Trud asked.

“What do you mean?” the colt asked.

“I think he’s asking what happened to your legs,” Moss said. “There’s no other way we could ask this really.”

“Well, my legs were like this when I was born. It’s a little difficult to get used to, but I don’t mind too much. I might not be that good physically, but I have learned a couple of craft tricks from my dad. I might know a trick or two when it comes to handy work.” He passed the cards out to his guests and they began their game.

“Got any threes?” Gale asked. Moss just groaned as he gave him that said card. “Any eights?”

“Go fish,” Moss smirked. Gale grunted as he drew another card.

The game carried on for a while. Rusty was enjoying this. He and his guests exchanged information about each other’s home. While this went on Rusty could see Trud was down in the dumps.

“You okay?” the colt asked. The yak just lay his head on the table.

“Trud, he asked you a question,” Moss spoke.

The yak looked towards his new friend. “Yak just frustrated with moving around,” he admitted.

“You’ll get used to it,” Rusty reassured.

Trud just sighed. “Got twos?” Rusty handed over the card that Trud requested. “Any sevens?” Rusty just shook his head and Trud drew a card from the pile.

Moss looked out the window and could see the moon was in the sky. “Hey, it’s getting a little late,” he commented. “We better be getting back to school.”

“You’re only saying we go now because I was about to win,” Gale chuckled. He placed his card down so Rusty could place them back in the deck. “Thanks for having us over here.”

“No problem,” the colt replied. “You can come back tomorrow if you want.” The three creatures left the house and headed back to the school.

“He was actually pretty nice.”

“Yeah,” Moss agreed.

“His mom said that she’d make snacks for us next time. That would be nice.” Moss gave a lowbrow. “Hey, she seemed like a nice mare.”

They looked over to Trud to see if he wanted to voice his opinion. However, the yak still looked upset. “Trud, what’s wrong?”

“Yak just fine,” Trud replied.

“The low hanging head and big frown beg to differ,” Gale remarked. “Still hating the cart?”

“Yes. Trud won’t be able to perform yaks’ activities. No stomping, no easy traveling through snow.” He groaned with frustration.

“It’s only for about three months. I’m sure it’ll fly by like that.”

“But Trud won’t take part in Snilldarfest.”

“Is that a yak holiday?” Moss asked. Trud nodded.

“So, you take part in smashing things,” Gale said. “What’s stopping you from just stomping?” Trud demonstrated by stomping on the ground. With each stomp, he slid backward until he stopped.

“That does seem like it would cause problems.”

“We’ll probably figure it out tomorrow,” Gale said.

They carried on back to the school and made it to their dorms. They helped Trud out of his cart and placed him into bed.

“There,” Moss said, after they finished removing the wheels. “I’d better be going. See ya tomorrow,” he waved.

“Yeah. Goodnight!” Gale said, waving back, and went back to the top deck.

While the yak was happy that he wouldn’t have to sleep while wearing his cart, this still didn’t help Trud get to sleep.

The next day rolled around Trud was starting to have an easier time with his cart. However, there were some activities he was unable to participate in. He could see his friends practicing the Yakyakistan Stomp. Trud let out a sigh as he walked pasted the dancing creatures stood in the lounge.

“Hey, Trud,” Rainbow Dash said. The professor walked over the yak. “How are you feeling?”

“Bored,” the yak replied.

“I could only imagine. I know what it's like to have a broken body part. I broke my wing once.”

Trud sighed. “Not as bad as legs.”

“You could say that. But flying is my passion. I really hated being grounded. Not to mention I had to stay in the hospital for a while.”

“How professor handle broken wing?”

“Well, Twilight managed to find a series of books to help pass the time while I was in the hospital. I didn’t like it at first, but now I can’t get enough of it.”

“So, yak need to find something new?”

“It could be anything. You just got to find out what it is.” Dash walked off, leaving Trud to think for a minute.

He headed to Rusty’s home and knocked on the door. A stallion that had orange fur and black and yellow mane answered it. “Can I help you?” he asked.

“Trud like to see Rusty,” Trud replied.

“Oh, you must be one of his friends, hold on,” he said, taking a pace back to get a good call. “Rusty!”

“Coming,” the colt replied. He walked into the room and could see the yak walking in. “Hey, Trud. I see you’ve met my dad.”

“I’m just going to leave you two to chat.” The father walked away, leaving the two teens by themselves.

“What are you doing here?”

“Trud want to talk about hobbies,” the yak replied.

“So you want to know what I do?”

“Oh yes. Yak can’t do yak things with broken legs.”

“I could imagine. Well, you did see I was interested in cards. I also have a bit of a habit of taking things apart and putting them back together. I wasn’t….so good at putting them back together. I kind of got in trouble.”

“You smash too?”

“……Not really. Let me show you.”

Rusty led Trud to his room, where he took a model train off one of the shelves. Using a screwdriver, he opened the engine up to show its inner workings.

"Did Rusty buy train?"

"Actually, we bought the parts. My dad helped me build this."

"He built that?"

"It was a little hard. Dad has to help me with the smaller parts. Aside from that, it was a fun project." He put the engine's back together and placed it back on the shelf. "It's a nice hobby."

"Trud looking for new hobby. Friends’ front hooves still working. Why not go to roller rink?”

“……Maybe not something so dangerous. We don’t want you to be in those wheels any longer than we need to.”

“Then what Trud do?”

“We’ll go around Ponyville and see if we can find anything.” After getting confirmation from Rusty’s parents, the two set of around town to see what they could find.

“So, Rusty collect parts for trains?”

“More than just locomotives, but yeah.”

“Maybe... Trud interest in cultures other than yaks. Maybe Trud can collect pony things and things about other creatures.”

“That’s a good idea. Let’s see what items you could collect.” The two looked around for whatever Trud could add to his new collection.

Meanwhile, Gale was just minding his own business, again, when Moss walked over to him.

“Hey Gale, have you seen Trud?” the changeling asked.

“Not since classes ended,” the griffon replied.

“You’re his roommate. You should know this stuff.”

“Look, classes are exhausting for griffons.”

“You mean lazy creatures……like you?”

“...I don’t know where he is.” They could then hear some footsteps. Looking down the hall and could see Trud, and Moss and Gale walking towards them while the former carried a box on his back.

“I think you’re off to a good start,” Rusty noted.

“Yak like pony items,” Trud said. The two stopped when they saw the griffon and changeling fly up to them.

“Trud! Where’ve you been?” Moss asked.

“Trud starting new hobby. Yak start collecting pony items.” Trud showed the contents of the box to his friends. They consisted of a horseshoe, a model of a cart, and some glasses.

“Why glasses?” Gale questioned.

“Yaks don’t have glasses back in Yakyakistan.”

“Make sense,” Moss remarked. “But I’m still confused about how you see past your thick fur. Seriously, how do you see when you have fur covering your eyes?” Trud just gave a shrug.

“Well, it’s good you’re starting a new hobby,” Rusty said. “Should help pass the time until your legs are healed.”

“Good to know,” Gale said.

“Friends want to get cocoa?” Trud asked.

“Sure,” Moss and Gale replied. The changeling, griffon, yak, and colt left the yak’s new collection in his dorm room. Then they headed back outside.

“So, Rusty enroll?” Trud asked.

“Probably,” the colt replied.

“That’d be a good idea,” Gale said. “You said something about…..maintaining your wheels.”

“……Probably a good idea.” The four continued their conversation as they went on with their day. Trud was feeling a lot happier knowing that he had someone to help him get used to his situation.

Author's Note

Stay tuned for my next blog post. You’ll all have an important roll with that one.