Answer Quite Slowly, A Mare With A Kaleidoscope Mane
Anon gave a soft sigh as he sat on the shore of the lake just outside of town, bathing in the sun's gentle warmth. he was dressed in a simple, breezy t-shirt and set of shorts, a pair of flip flops adorning his feet. the same ones he had been wearing about six days ago when he had found himself plucked from his weekly walk down to his favorite hangout spot in the park.
Of course, it had been a big shock to him that he was no longer even in the same world he knew, much less now inhabiting one populated solely by adorable little pastel equines. Fortunately, he was adjusting well enough. Sure he was homesick, but he still had some remnants of his old life to hold onto and cherish. The clothes on his back for one, as well as a small menagerie of electronic devices, a laptop, his phone, and even fortunately enough, a solar charger, since outlets were not plentiful in the great outdoors should he require one to call for assistance.
But what had really been helping him through this tough time was something maybe a bit more silly to some. He had packed a few snacks in his bag before leaving that day. Some sweet, some salty, some pleasant things to nibble on while he was enjoying nature and maybe doing a bit of work on his laptop in the open outdoors. And as well, corny as it might sound, having some of those comfort foods to enjoy was certainly helping him cope a bit. Allowing him to imagine, even if just for a moment or two, that he was back home and simply enjoying a day in the outdoors like he always had.
As such, he had been carefully rationing them, eating the ones he enjoyed somewhat less first, and even then just a little at a time to make sure that they lasted as long as they could. He was actually enjoying one such snack right now, slipping his fingers into the somewhat crumpled waxy plastic bag to pull out another of the treats when suddenly-
THUD
In a small cloud of tossed sand, a rather perky blue posterior sporting a rainbow tail was suddenly sticking out from the sandy shore of the lakeside, wiggling and grunting muffledly as its owner did their best to dislodge themselves from the situation.
"Hey Dash," he said with a small sigh, getting up and walking over. Such predicaments were not the most uncommon sight since he had arrived, and he had been here at least long enough to simply get with the program and help a mare out. He gripped her by the sides of her barrel and firmly tugged, assisting her in popping her top half out of the sands grainy clutches.
She looked back at you with a small slightly irritated pout before shaking the sand out of her coat and giving a more thankful smile "Thanks, Anon. but I would have gotten out fine myself in a minute or two." She said as she ran her hoof through her mane and knocked it against the side of her head a few times, a bit more sand pouring out of her ears she winced slightly.
"Of course you would have. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a snack to get back to," he said with a small huff as he trodded back over to his comfortable folding beach chair and reclined once more, popping another one of the little candy morsels into his mouth with a satisfied hum.
But it seemed that he would not be left to his own devices quite yet, Rainbow Dash trotted over, peeking over the side of him to look at the little red baggie he was eating from. "Is that another one of those weird candies from back home you're always on about, Anon?" she asked as she tilted her head slightly. "Skittles...wait a minute...." she said softly, squinting as she leaned in a bit closer to Anon, who raised his hands in a defensive, harmless gesture, his eyebrows raised.
"Hey now, I told you when I called you that it was a compliment, and I meant it, these are pretty good..." he said as he looked down at the bag, deciding the best way to smooth things over, holding it out to her with a smile. "Here, why don't you try one for yourself, hold out your er...hoof..."
She hummed in that soft, knowing way suspicious women or er, mares tended to do and nodded, slowly shaking the sand off of her hoof and extending it for him to deposit a single, red-colored bead of candy into it. it was marked with a small white "S" and had a sort of shiny coating. "Huh, looks more like a bead than a candy, are you sure this is safe to eat?" she asked as she questioningly looked down at the strange little treat.
"Trust me, Dash. These things might not look like much but they bang pretty hard," he said confidently as he popped a green one into his mouth, chewing softly.
Rainbow Dash gave the morsel another unsure look before shrugging and popping it into her mouth, chewing slowly. The texture was acceptable, a bit grainy, with a tinge of sweetness to it, the flavoring was definitely artificial. "I mean, it's okay but I don't see what the big...d-deal..."
Her eyes slowly widened as her vision wavered, gradually beginning to fill with soft colors creeping in on the borders of her periphery.
Anon, who for some reason was now colored a dark lime green stepped in front of her, waving his hand in front of her face, leaving smeared trails of different shades of green in front of her wherever it passed, his voice swimming creepingly into her ears in a slightly, melodically distorted tone. "Yo, Dashie, you aight, girl?"
"Ohhh, I'm doing juuust fine, dude..." She heard herself say, practically able to hear the colors in her voice. Wait, did voices have colors? She was pretty sure that they didn't before she ate that Skittle thing he gave her, "Bro, this stuff is great..." Was that...was that music she was hearing? What the hell were they even singing about!?
Anon meanwhile was trying to figure out what the fuck to do with her. Pupils dilated, mild euphoria, yeah she looked like she was tripping absolute fucking balls.
And it looked like he might be responsible, which meant now he had to tripsit the little shit.
"Well fuck, there goes my afternoon," he said softly as he sat next to her, her own haunches plopping down into the sand shortly after. "Whatever you are seeing right now, I assure you it is not the intended effect of Skittles, Dash. I'm going to sit here with you for a while, until...whatever this is subsides. In the meantime...hmmm..."
He thought for a moment and smiled as he got an idea, using his finger, he walked around her, drawing a square in the sand around her. "Dash, this is The Box. You aren't allowed to leave The Box until I say so, okay?"
She reached out, seeming to think she was pushing on something at the line drawn around her, her eyes widening "H-hey! how did you do that, I thought humans weren't magic!"
"Heheh, it's a very special kind of magic Dash, don't worry about it, alright?" He said softly as he relaxed next to her, slowly petting her back "just try to chill and enjoy the nice weather for a bit okay?"
"Y-yeah alright, I think I'll just...watch the pretty colors for a bit..." she said slowly as she got down onto her stomach and relaxed with her legs folded under her, wings occasionally twitching softly.
"Sure, Dash, you do that. Hey, you want like, a carrot or something? I have some actual food in here too." he said, reaching over to his bag, pulling out a carrot and taking a bite. he didn't want to...indulge further in front of her, goodness knows he didn't need her asking him for any of his other snacks, those were his!
She nodded, and he pulled one out, passing it to her, where she seemed to fumble it between her hooves for a few moments before getting it into her mouth, gnawing at it contentedly, speaking to him between bites. "hey, Non?"
"Yeah, what's up, Dash?" he asked her as she nibbled at his own orange nutrition cone, looking back down over at her.
"Sorry for bugging you, I know you don't have a lot of those treats of yours, and I shouldn't;t have asked for one without knowing if I could eat them safely..." she said softly as she looked up at him with eyes that were wide in more respects than her dilated pupils. "I'd give you like, a hug but I'm in the box. Can I please come out of the box, Non, I want a hug."
He gave a small sigh and shrugged,m picking her up gently, eliciting a soft squeal from hr as he settled them into his lap comfortably, hugging them "There, better?" he asked her in a gentle tone as he slowly ran a hand through her mane.
"Yeah, better," she said, slowly relaxing into his hand as he stroked the rainbow-colored strip of hair atop her head. "Dude, your hands are really good at that, you could like, open a pony petting parlor..."
He chuckled softly at this and shrugged "I'll be sure to look into it later, after I can get some test subjects who aren't tripping balls quite so hard, Dash." he said as he looked out over the surface of the lake. "And it's fine by the way," he said, trying to reassure her. As much as he Didn't want to share, as scarce as they were, he had gone right ahead and done it anyway, hadn't he? and now he was having a nice relaxing afternoon with a decently chill pony getting a pet in his lap. He wouldn't be having this chill moment with this chill pony if he had decided to keep his goodies to himself he probably would have just spent the afternoon alone by himself, again.
Honestly, he felt like he made the right choice.
He looked down at the cyan-coated mare in his lap, who gave a small yawn and relaxed further under his touch, and he felt...good. he felt good about being there, making sure her trip was good, about sharing with her even against his better judgment. And as long as she didn't suffer some sort of adverse reaction to food coloring or something, he was fairly confident he would feel just as good about it tomorrow.
But he could think about that later, for now, all he needed to do was sit and watch this little pony in his lap.
Well, there goes his afternoon.
Author's Note
A little something I tossed together at the request of a commissioner, I hope you all enjoyed it!
