Wednesday, September 3rd, 908 AB

Once again Cure was thankful that he had several years of pony life before his human memories had come in. Sure, there would have been some things that it would have been convenient to remember beforehand, but the awkwardness and uncomfortable situations that would arise from an adult man needing to be potty trained all over again were not missed at all.

Pony toilets are almost exactly like squat toilets that he had seen images of online. The only real difference is that there was actually a bar to drape your tail over to ensure that it was well clear of anything. That and the presence of a bidet to tidy up the rear a bit, though it generally wasn’t necessary.

I can think of maybe half a dozen times in my entire human life when I took a shit and the toilet paper was completely clean on the first wipe. Every time it happened it shocked me so bad I actually made a mental note about it and was paranoid I missed a cling-on the rest of the day. Kudos to whatever entity engineered the pony butthole. I will never have to deal with another fissure again, thank the heavens. Why couldn’t you be there for humanity, butthole engineer guy? Bless my dreams with a face and I’ll carve a fucking altar to you and give thanks at every poo.

Contrary to what a human may expect, pony bodies were actually plenty flexible enough for Cure to reach the back door with some toilet paper, so once he was done with his business he gave the whole area a good spritzing to be safe, dried off his fur, washed his hooves, and was good to go.

Since she is a female, it was mandated across all multiverses that Vines would have to take longer to get ready. This was inevitable, and Cure accepted it as yet another normal part of everyday life.

Don’t quite get why, though… I don’t think ponies wear makeup or anything, do they? It’s not like she’s trying to find just the right outfit. I was up there droppin a deuce for a few minutes and I’m ready to go. Maybe my dam’s not getting enough fiber and is struggling up there. I don’t think she’d find it so humorous if I yelled “magic can help with that too” up the stairs. “Really pump your magic into your sphincter, dam! Show number two who’s boss!”

Snickering to himself on one of the cushions, he feels his ears auto-swivel to the steps as his dam finally comes down the stairs. She looks at him a little confused and asks what he was laughing at.

“Oh nothing much. Human males stereotype females and joke about how much longer it takes them to get ready,” he explained while heading for the front door. “It’s actually fairly accurate, in my experience. Women use powders and liquids… wait, do ponies have makeup?” he asks.

“Some ponies will use powders to lighten or darken their fur on their cheeks or to lengthen their eyelashes. It depends on their coat color if they can pull it off, if that’s what you mean.”

“That makes sense. Humans vary in color too, but the variety is nothing like fur color on ponies. No greens, blues, or most of the more vibrant, bright colors. So, there’s no fur on humans, remember?” at her nod he continues, “with just skin showing it’s a lot easier to spot blemishes or what-have-you. Remember I said men compete with each other for the attention of females? Well, women obviously compete for men’s attention too, though it varies a lot from woman to woman,” he continues as they head out the door.

“Just a second, honey, I’m going to get the little cart since we’re getting groceries. I don’t think my saddlebags will be big enough.” Vines says as she puts her head and forelegs through the small pull-cart harness. It’s basically a utility cart slightly wider and taller than a classic red wagon, but with two longer arms going up like a rickshaw and a very lightweight harness a pony can slide their neck and forelegs into so it doesn’t bash them when they stop. The arms can move up and down a little bit so it works great for adult ponies and foals about his size once the harness is tightened down… a lot.

They begin the trot to town and he continues his explanation, “So anyhow, if a woman has anything wrong with her skin or just thinks she wants to smooth out lines or wrinkles or whatever they have a whole huge industry of powders, temporary paints, etcetera, that they can apply to their faces to either minimize or accentuate features. Men don’t do that at all except for some special situations, like they’re going on stage for example. Also, guys typically don’t put as much thought into what they’re wearing. The stereotype for men is they just throw on whatever is in their closet that doesn’t need washed at the moment, whereas the stereotype for women is that they try on twenty different outfits before they find the one they like, then they still have to do their hair and makeup. So men joke about women taking two hours to get ready but the guy can be ready to head out the door in under ten minutes. I can honestly say I don’t miss the whole clothes thing one bit. I can only imagine how much easier not needing clothes makes packing for trips.”

He smiles at her before continuing, “I was just chuckling to myself thinking “How is it that even in a world with no makeup and no clothes the guy’s ready to head out the door and there’s still no woman in sight?”” he explained. “Really, though, it was more of just an idle thought that made me laugh, I know there’s probably things mares do to get ready that I’m happy not to be privy to until necessary.”

Smiling down at him, she shrugged off the thought and continued walking, “I was just cleaning up the room a bit before we left. It only took me a minute to get the saddlebags picked out, get some bits, and be ready to go. The bed was kind of a mess, though,” at Cure’s choked cough and shout of “too much info, dam!” she laughed and shouted, “from sleeping in it! Your sire throws half the covers on the floor every night, I swear!” She ignores his accusing “uh huh, sure” and continues, “anyhow, I just took a few minutes cleaning up the room and straightening out the bed, that’s why I wasn’t down right away. So be quiet, little colt,” she doesn’t even break stride to give him a poke in his side as he continues laughing.

As they pass their neighbors they call back greetings and wave to everypony, all the while continuing on their way. It’s only a couple blocks down before they come across Cure’s friend Heavy Lift and his mom, Spring Showers. She’s one of the only pegasus that Cure can think of married to an earth pony. There’s probably only about forty or fifty pegasus in the whole town. Of course she initially moved here for a job with the weather team. There’s not a whole lot of other reasons a pegasus would live in the suburbs he can think of.

Of course, the instant Heavy gets a look at Cure he spots the new addition.

“OH MY CELESTIA! YOU GOT YOUR CUTIE MARK! WHAT’S IT MEAN? HOW’D YOU GET IT? IS THAT A SNAKE? WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?” and about a dozen other mark-related questions explode out of the excited, bouncing colt. As expected, this draws a small crowd of all the neighborhood children whose ears and heads all lock on like twin radar dishes when the words “cutie mark” are bellowed across the block.

Totally herd animals, I swear. This kid’s caused the tiniest, most adorable stampede ever seen. There goes another video that would get about four hundred million hits in its first hour on YouTube.

Playing his part and sticking to the story they planned out the previous day, Cure puts on his “excited young colt” facade and explains that he got his cutie mark when he bandaged and treated his bruised leg, omitting anything along the lines of “totally fixed it with magic, bro”. “Yep! It healed up real fast afterwards. It’s good as new already!” he exclaims, waving the clearly-uninjured appendage before them. “I’ve just been staying at home so I could help my dam in the garden. She sold almost everything we grew at the market last weekend, so there was a LOT of work to do! We’re headed into town to see if I can get some first aid books at the library!” Busting out the ultimate finisher, he leans over and wraps his forehooves around his dam and declares to the world, “Dam says I can grow up and be a great doctor someday so I wanted to learn everything there is about helping ponies get healthy and fixing ‘em up when they get hurt!”

The collective “aww” from the mares and stallions that were attracted from the crowd makes Vines’ ears shade red. Deciding to turn the tables she declares with confidence, “That’s right! My little Wavey-poo is going to learn everything he can about medicine.” Wrapping her forelegs around him, she hoists him up the ground and squishes him against her chest. “Getting a cutie mark when he’s barely eight years old! Who’s my little prodigy? You. Bet. You. Are!” she says, emphasizing each word with a squeeze as she nuzzles the top of his head. “Now we need to get to the library, honey. Maybe if you’re good you can play with your little friends when we drop your books off at home.”

“Okay, dam!” he says, looking up at her as she lowers him to the ground. Turning to the group of foals he explains, “Well I’ll see you all later! I need to see if I can find me a good book to read so I can get started learning! My sire says medical ponies need to be super smart, so I got a lot of work to do!” With that he says goodbye while waving to the crowd, then turns to make his escape.

As they get some distance from the crowd he sees his dam smirking down at him. “Yeah, yeah, you win this round. Honestly, though, I did feel like I kinda wanted to go play with them,” he admits. “That’s actually kind of a relief, in a way. I was so afraid these memories would change me and make it hard for me to be around colts and fillies my age without feeling weird. I mean, I had to force the excitement a little, but I am looking forward to playing with my friends. You only get to be a child once, so … ya know… if some being out there,” he waved up at the sky as he continued walking, “decided to give me a second shot… Well, I didn't want to seem ungrateful by acting like this was just an extension of that other life.”

He didn’t get another step before he was scooped up and held against his dam’s chest again. Drowning him in nuzzles and kisses and with palpable relief in her voice she says, “Oh honey, I can’t tell you how glad I am to hear that. I knew you were still my baby either way, but I was so worried you wouldn’t get to have a foalhood because of all this. Especially when your mark showed up the other day. Honestly, this feels like you’re getting the best of both worlds. You get to keep all that knowledge and the life experiences, both good and bad, and you get a whole new fresh start,” she explains as she sets him back down. “I wish those first few days were easier for you, but we’ll always be there to help you get through the hard times.”

“I know, dam. Trust me, I know. You’ve all shown that plenty, and it’s been great to get all that love and attention. Humans aren’t nearly as affectionate normally… at least towards boys. Part of the “gotta toughen em up” mentality, I suppose. Besides, as hard as some of those memories are, I still wouldn’t want to lose any of them. I don’t remember how the saying goes, but there was one about how we learn way more from our failures than our successes. Same goes for the things that hurt, I reckon. Pain, as much as it stinks, is a very effective teacher.”

He releases his hug around her neck, signaling that it’s time to let him down and get moving again. Vines complies, though she doesn’t really want to let go just yet.

“That’s true, I suppose,” she responds thoughtfully. Honestly, Vines isn’t sure what the right response is to something like that. It’s true, but it still doesn’t bring a lot of comfort to hear those words in her colt’s voice, even though she can agree that he seems to be doing pretty well overall. It’ll just take time. He’ll get through it and we’ll be there to support him.

“So I’ll admit I’m eager to get some reading material, so I may be slightly biased here, but from a practical standpoint I think starting at the library may be the best choice. I’m not sure what the grocery list looks like, but if anything needs to be refrigerated I think that should be our last stop before we head home. Sound good?” he asks as he looks up at his dam.

With her agreeing nod they make their way to the library. Vines moves over by a little corral and unlatches herself from the cart as he heads in. It’s not a tree house, to Cure’s slight disappointment, and has only a few dozen shelves barely as tall as his dam. Really, it reminds him of the school library he had at his elementary, though the demographics targeted clearly include adults. Rather than piddle around like a typical child probably would, he goes straight up to the counter to ask for help.

I remember the running gag in the show and in a lot of the fanon was that Twilight had Spike reorganize the books about every other minute. Granted there’s probably not a regular pegasus-induced shelf clearing going on here, but fuck if have any clue where to grab anatomy and medical textbooks. I’m not optimistic that I'll find quality books without going into a major city.

“Hello, miss?” he addresses the library mare behind the desk. Putting his forehooves on the counter to stand as tall as he can on his rear legs, he barely clears the desk enough for the mare to see his ears, mane, and eyes just over the top. “Hi, down here,” he calls out with a smile. Clearly she already sees him, but he hears his dam snickering behind him. Smiling up to her he explains what he's looking for. "Good morning. I was hoping to get some assistance finding some introductory level anatomy, physiology, or other basic medical textbooks that may be available. I'd love to get a hold of something on pediatrics and another about orthopedics too if you have them."

Looking down at the colt, then back up to the mare behind him, the librarian is clearly a little confused. "Uhh… what?"

Vines smiles broadly at the library mare, then points one hoof at her son, turns slightly, and points back at her flank.

"Ohh! Well, aren't you just absolutely precious!" She then turns and calls over her withers, "Binder, we have ourselves a future doctor over here! Can you show him to the medical books, please? Oh and make it stat!" She smiles and winks back to Vines.

A deep orange unicorn emerges from the office behind the counter. He takes a look at Cure and obviously barely holds back an eye roll. "Sure. Right this way," he says, tilting his head to the side.

They follow Binder to the far corner with a small sign reading Health is hanging. "Here ya go, big guy," he says as he pulls a… picture book? off the shelf. Taking the book from the unicorn, Cure looks at the cover.

"Your Body and You: A Foal's Introduction to Good Health. Huh…" Looking up to the stallion, Cure plasters a smile on his face. "This will help so much! Thank you Mister Binder!"

"Sure thing, young colt," he says as he pats Cure on the head. "You study real hard and some day you'll be a great nurse. Good luck!" he says as he heads back to the office.

Once he’s back in the office and out of earshot Cure can’t help himself. "Prick."

"Cure!"

"What? He kinda was."

"Still…" Vines shuffles back and forth on her hooves, clearly a bit uncomfortable.

"Anyhow, I'm genuinely impressed they have anything. Also, this may not be a terrible book to read. Sometimes you miss the common sense stuff by looking right past it. How long did you want to spend here, dam? Is there anything you were wanting to get too?” he asks.

“Actually I was going to look at the history books to see if they match up with your stories. Who knows, maybe it’ll be useful to know how closely your memories align with everything.”

“That’s actually a great idea. I’m sure mom will be interested to know if everything matches up, too. I’m going to skim through this book real fast and then pick out a few more detailed ones for us to take home. Give me fifteen minutes, maybe?”

“Sounds good, honey. Take your time,” she says as she heads to another section of the library.

Digging through the shelf Cure actually finds a good selection of intro level books. It makes sense, he supposes. The books aren’t exactly college level pre-med books, but they’ll still help fill in a bunch of blanks in his knowledge.

He finds a small reading section with tables, cushions, and book stands nearby. After a few trips back and forth he accumulates a decent stack on basically every subject he was looking for including some on pregnancy, birth, and early foalhood development.

I doubt Title needs these but I should give them a look-through so I can be more help as her pregnancy progresses. Huh, this picture book is actually pretty good. It’s unbelievable how much better basic health information is in a society that didn’t have two thousand years of society and religion suppressing everything they consider shameful or that doesn’t align with their agenda.

Actually, it’s really not unbelievable at all. This is exactly the way it should be. I swear I could write a couple books alone on the impact of having an immortal, immensely powerful benevolent dictator sitting on the throne.

After reading through the small picture book he digs through the anatomy and physiology books looking for diagrams. Though not as high of quality as what he would find in his past life, he is still satisfied that the books are at least worth the time to read through. On a whim he also grabs a book on nutrition and dietary science.

After about half an hour of poking through various books and setting some aside to return to the shelves, Vines finds her son sitting beside a small stack of “keepers” with another, much larger stack that can go back on the shelf.

“Find everything you need, honey?” she asks.

Looking up from the page he’s on he smiles at his dam and replies, “Yep. I actually did a lot better than I had dared to hope. I figured I would have to go to a metro library to find anything, but they have a pretty decent selection of intro level textbooks and more general-knowledge books here than you’d think, given how small the library is. Hey I didn’t think about it before, do you think they’d have some magic primers here? I mean, we live in an earth pony town and I’d expect to find those more in areas with mostly unicorns.”

“I don’t know. I’ve never looked for it before. I’m sure we can get Mister Binder to help us again, though. He seemed eager enough,” she teases with a smile.

“Actually, that’s not a bad idea. Do you mind helping me with this stack? I assume I should just leave the others here so they can put them back in the right spot, right?” At her nod Cure grabs a couple books and tosses them onto his back. His dam grabs the rest and does the same as they make their way back to the desk. Spotting his target he calls out, “Hey Mister Binder, do you have a moment, please?”

“What? Oh, sure thing, colt. Wow, got yourself quite the haul there, don’t you? That’s fantastic! You must be a real genius for your age if you can follow those, huh? Did you need help with something else?”

“Yessir! Being an earth pony and all I know I won’t be able to cast all the fancy spells I bet you know, but I’m super curious about magic and what all unicorns like yourself can accomplish. Do you have any books for young unicorns or anything about other types of magic?”

“You know what, you may be the first non-unicorn I’ve ever had ask me about magic. There’s actually some cool things you could do with it that don’t need a horn at all. That’s good thinking, colt. Let me show you a few books that may interest you. Come right this way, I’ve got a few over here that I donated when I was done with them. Even though almost everypony around is an earth pony we still have some of the basic unicorn primers too. Every library in Equestria is required to have some of the basics so inquisitive youngsters like yourself have somewhere to learn.”

Binder leads them to a different section and points out a few shelves about different topics. “Now a lot of this is for young unicorns, like I said, but there’s some basic guides here that an earth pony could actually use, too. Here’s Power of the Tribes: The Gift of Magic that’s a really good read about the different abilities we all have, even if it’s a bit vague and focuses on the history pre-unification. Rune Theory: The Language of the Divine is probably a bit over your head, but the first few chapters are very basic and show you some neat enchantments you can use to do everyday things. No horn needed there.” Binder was clearly excited to have a young earth pony asking about magic. He was talking much more animatedly and Cure swears he is witnessing the start of TwiLecture mode being engaged. He isn’t even faking the smile at this point, so amused and genuinely interested in what the unicorn has to show him.

“Finally, and most important if you ask me, and ma’am,” he pauses looking with utmost seriousness, “I can’t in good conscious recommend any of these books until the young colt reads this one cover to cover,” pausing to pull a book showing a charred-looking unicorn, he presents it to Cure and Vines before continuing, “Know Before You Cast: The Official Magical Safety Guide from Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. The author was a big jerk, but I’m sure a few of my classmates would have blown themselves up or turned each other into who-knows-what if he didn’t pound this book into our faces that first semester,” he finishes with a serious look. “Always remember, son, magic is a gift, not a toy. I don’t want to have your dam rushing you to the hospital because you tried something you weren’t sure about, understand?”

Cure nodded with all the seriousness that the topic warranted. “I understand, sir. I’d be happy to start with that if I can get it and the other books I picked out. I’ll probably come back in a week or two for that Rune book too, but I think I have enough to keep me busy for a while before I get into that. Thank you for taking the time to show me all this, Mister Binder!”

Appreciative of his advice, Vines joins in as well. “Yes, thank you for all your help, Mister Binder. I think we’re ready to check out, right, Cure?” she asked.

“You bet, dam.”

Cure already had a library card, so the checkout process was done in no time. He had the books for four weeks, which should give him enough time even if he casually read through them for a few hours each day. He is pretty sure school wouldn't starting back up until after the harvest in a few weeks, so he would have less free time at that point.

Ugh, school was boring the first time through. Now I get to start all over again, but this time I have to pretend to pay enough attention to get by. I think the only thing I’ll learn is history, but I don’t want to completely socially disconnect from my friends either. Maybe I can just get by for a few years then test out or something while maintaining the social contacts. Are these friends even going to be a part of my life when I’m an adult? Probably not, I guess. Most ponies don’t go too far from home, but if I’m going to learn medicine and healing I won’t be able to do it all in a book. I’ll have to head to a major city and I’ll lose touch with my current friends either way. That’s a depressing thought.

Vines loads their books into the cart and hooks herself back up. Turning to Cure she asks, “Well, honey, do you want to head to a bookstore or did you find everything you wanted?” Before he can answer she looks over her son and notices his ears drooping. “What’s wrong, honey? It seems like you found everything you needed in there.” She puts a hoof on his withers and rubs at his back while asking, “Did you see something that reminded you of something upsetting?”

“No, not really,” he starts, “I was just thinking about what the next few years are going to look like for me. School is starting up and I just had this thought, “Ugh, I’m going to have to go through school again,” you know? It’s like… I already have,” he pauses to make sure nopony is in earshot, “like twenty years of education and now I’m basically starting all over. The thing is, what could they possibly actually teach me, ya know?” At her nod he continues, “History, obviously, since I don’t know that very much, but I can learn that from reading a few books on my own and, despite the whole “you need to know this when you’re an adult” thing, it was my experience that No, you don’t need it very much at all.” He stops to look up at his dam and asks, “How much do you really use history in your life? How much of those classes do you even retain when you’re an adult busy doing adult things, hmm? Be honest now,” he points accusingly at her.

“Well… my first inclination is to say you do need to learn that, but… I can’t say you’re totally wrong. I remember the basics, like you said. I have a general outline of ancient history, pre-unification and the wendigos, the Age of Chaos, and the princess’ defeat of Discord.”

She almost falls over when he mutters, “Yeah, he’ll break free eventually too.”

“WHAT?” she quiet-shouts as she turns full-body to face him, mindful enough not to whack anypony wandering by with the cart.

“Yeah, it’s not an issue for another hundred years or so, but he’s quickly defeated again if, you know, everything happens according to the story. Don’t worry, he’s only free for a few hours and just acts more like a nuisance than anything,” he says as he casually waves off the re-emergence of, basically, pony Satan.

Holy shit, he thinks, pony manes really do go all short-circuit when they freak out. I’m kind of glad dam doesn’t have a horn or she’d be shooting sparks right now.

After a few calming breaths Vines finally gets herself back under control. She leans down close to his ear and gives it an not-so-gentle nip while growl-whispering, “Don’t do that to me! You can’t just say stuff like that, Cure. You’ll give somepony a heart attack if you just casually say stuff like, “oh yeah, the world almost ends next week, by the way, but it’ll be fine and stuff, pass the carrots” without at least a little forewarning and maybe some context, okay?”

“I don’t sound like that,” he pouts as he rubs at his eartip. “If something legitimately bad was going to happen I’d give you a warning before just spouting off about it. We’re in a time of peace right now, though. Just so you know, after you-know-who returns and she’s cleansed and rejoins her sister there’s about ten years where a lot of villains emerge or re-emerge and are subsequently defeated.” He looks around to make sure nopony is paying attention again.

He leans up to her and whispers in her ear, “I don’t know all of them, but some highlights include Lord Tirek, the changeling queen Chrysalis, the umbrum, King Sombra, and I think a few others. Again, they all get defeated and whatnot, typically the same day they pop their head out of a hole, so don’t worry about it. I’m hopeful at some point when I’m an adult that I can do something about the changelings. They’re honestly just unlucky and misunderstood, not evil. Their culture is also foreign, so again… misunderstood. I don’t even think their queen is actually evil, just desperate and backed into a corner while her subjects are starving, which would put anyone on the warpath, even a princess.” He gets back down on his hooves as they continue walking. “I mean, really, what kind of ruler would just let their subjects starve? One that wants to be deposed, that’s who. Anyhow, you kinda got sidetracked. How much do you typically use your knowledge about history, dam? I’m thinking “almost never” right?”

Clearly still a little shaken, she shoots an annoyed look at her son before answering, “As I was saying before you nearly killed me, I have a general outline of world history and I know the major events in our country’s history, mostly, but I don’t remember all of the specifics like dates and stuff. For some reason I almost feel guilty agreeing with you, but… I don’t use that knowledge much at all,” she admits, ears drooping like she got caught stealing.

“Called it! Anyhow, I was feeling kind of bummed out because I was thinking, “Hey, I know everything the school could teach me but history and I can learn that on my own. I don’t want to leave my friends behind, but I also don’t want to sit in a classroom wasting six hours a day either. I need friends, but even if I stay friends with them now it’s not like I’m always going to live in Golden Hills because I’ll eventually HAVE to go to school somewhere like Canterlot or, at least, Baltimare or Fillydelphia to become an actual doctor and I’ll be leaving my friends at that point no matter what.”” He pauses, ears drooping further while he walks. “Then I thought about the fact that I’ll also have to go away from you and my mom and sire and any siblings you decide to have. I won’t be able to be there and be the big brother I want to be. I didn’t get to be a big brother before and my older brother was kind of crappy when I was little. I stuck up for him more than he ever did for me. Younger siblings are supposed to look up to their big brother to stick up for ‘em and look out for them. Jimmy had “only child syndrome” and would take away anything I had if mom and dad weren’t watching.”

With a deep sigh Cure continued, “I just had that thought that I didn’t want to have to go away, even if it’s just for a few years, but it probably won’t be. There’s just not enough ponies in this town and if I can do what I think I can do eventually it would be kind of a waste to spend my whole life treating minor cuts and bruises when I could really be saving lives. Or, better yet, developing treatments and cures for stuff that save more lives than I could ever hope to touch myself.” He pauses in thought for a moment, then asks, “Do ponies have penicillin?”

“The antibiotic? Yes, why?”

“Well humans didn’t have it until a scientist kind of accidentally stumbled upon it a little under a century ago. Just that one discovery saves millions of lives each year. I know a great doctor can make all the difference to someone that needs them, but nopony can save tens of thousands of lives every year by themselves. That’s where somepony can really make a big difference on a global scale… medical research and development. You can’t do that in a small town, you need to be at a major hospital or university.”

Vines couldn’t really fault his logic, so she did the best she could to comfort him. Walking with her side touching him she tried to assuage his concerns. “Honey, even if you ended up moving all the way to Canterlot, that's still only a half-day train ride away. You could come home and spend the weekend with us whenever you wanted to. Besides, who knows what the future may hold? Maybe you’ll be a super successful doctor for the princess herself when you’re not doing your research. Then you can buy a big, fancy house for your poor old parents. It could have a nice big garden for your dam and a bunch of bedrooms for all your little brothers and sisters and your sire and mom will make a mint selling fancy houses in the capital. There’s no reason we can’t stay close even when you’re older, honey.”

“Huh… yeah, I guess you’re right. Thanks, dam. I just don’t want to lose you all. I’ve just lost so much and I know I sound clingy and needy, but I… I just don’t know if I could keep going without you and mom and dad nearby.”

Sighing again he continued, “So I feel like I need to really start planning. I think if I break things down into smaller increments I’ll do better because when I sit back and think of all the things at once it’s just overwhelming. Cut a problem into pieces and tackle them one at a time, that’s how you complete a big project. Have an architect draw up a floor plan, find the ideal plot, clear the land, have the foundation poured, put up the frame, have the tradesponies do their parts, put the finishing touches on, and then furnish it. You don’t build a house all in one step and you don’t try to tackle all of life’s problems in one either,” he nods resolutely.

“Well be sure to include all of us, sweetie. I know you can figure it out, but there’s going to be some things you just don’t have the life experience for here that you’ll overlook, okay?”

“Sure thing, dam.”

A few quiet moments later they arrive at the grocery store. Pony grocery stores are, predictably, quite a bit different from human ones. There actually is a parking lot, sort of, but it’s for the carts and wagons that ponies have brought with them to carry their groceries home. Cure is convinced that ponies are subconsciously channeling their TK through their backs too because, steady as it is, the withers and back move too much for shit not to be falling off of them. None of the ponies coming or are going that have stuff on their back are dropping anything at all.

Just for yucks we did the whole ‘balance a book on your head’ thing when I was little. That takes some work to get good at. I’ll just toss another log on the research pile, I guess. I never even ran any experiments on using TK through my hooves and now I’m starting to wonder if it can be applied anywhere with skin… or, I suppose not even skin contact since hooves are basically bone. I need to test the strength of it too. If each hoof has the grip strength of a hand I could totally be Spider Pone. Damnit, now I’ll have that stupid theme song running through my head all day. It’s a shame that the Mare-Do-Well episode is ninety years away, we could have a MLP/DC/Marvel crossover going. I’ll just pop that in the reminders tab of my Google Calendar.

Cure observes that the actual process of buying groceries is basically the same, overall. There’s still shopping carts, but they’re totally different. First, they’re much lower to the ground. They’re nowhere near as deep either. Finally, there’s almost like a steering wheel at the back that turns the front wheels. Ponies put a hoof on the wheel which they can then twist left or right, turning the front wheels. It has a back to it, so the hoof basically locks in, allowing it to stop when the pony does or be pulled backwards. Since it’s just barely off the floor they can also put some weight on it without popping a wheelie. Because ponies are just BS compared to humans when it comes to strength, they can easily manage a fully loaded cart with just that one hoof.

This may legitimately be the most complex, well engineered, purely mechanical thing I’ve ever seen in this life so far.

Selection is approximately what he’d expect, though the packaging is almost entirely paper products, and nowhere near as bright and colorful.

I guess they haven’t realized how much pull kids have on their parents' pocketbooks. Not looking forward to that revelation. Kind of weird not feeling like I’m being bombarded by advertisements from every angle.

The lack of plastics isn’t surprising, but the integration of magic on several shelves draws his attention. The shelves themselves are also nothing like the metal, modular stuff he saw in WalMart. They were legitimate wood shelves with enchantments carved along the bottom, presumably to keep food on the shelf good longer and whatnot, since preservatives aren’t a thing in magic pony land. Cure actually runs back out of the store, grabs his notebook, and copies down the part of the enchantment he can see, much to Vines’ amusement. Smiling sheepishly at her, they continue their shopping.

“Hey they have fish,” he’s surprised to see. And even more surprising, none of the ponies are losing their shit over it.

Then again the ‘rents didn’t bat an eye when I told them I was an omnivore. Dam was a little squicked out about hunting, but dad even joked about me eating mom that night. There’s hope yet!

“Of course they do, honey. Pegasus need it in their diets for the oils and fats. It’s good for coats, too, but only they really need to eat it regularly. Eat too much and it’ll upset your belly, though. Earth ponies and unicorns can have a little bit every day and be fine. Too much oil can cause some skin conditions if you’re not careful. I’m not a big fan myself, but Title’s been getting cravings for salmon since the pregnancy began.”

“That could be the sign of a vitamin deficiency. Those cravings are usually the body telling the brain that it needs something it’s not getting in your diet normally, so it’s not a good idea to ignore them, especially if her OBGYN has recommended it.”

“Her what?”

“Her doctor. Don’t you typically go to a specialized doctor for everything related to the pregnancy?”

“No, honey. You don’t go to the doctor unless you’re having some kind of complication or if it’s time to give birth.”

“Huh. Okay, well, if her body is telling her she needs fish I would still recommend it. I know some good recipes and wouldn’t mind having some myself, but I don’t know how expensive meat is. It’s something I’ll probably need more when I start growing since, ya know, protein builds muscles. Either meat or some kind of substitute like soybeans, tofu, almonds, chia seeds - I used to put those in my oatmeal for breakfast, or chickpeas. I didn’t care for those or hummus before, but who knows now,” he shrugs.

“Meat is a tad pricier because there’s not much demand around here, so very little supply too. I think weather ponies, guards, and other pegasus that are stationed somewhere get a small stipend to help cover the added expense when they’re assigned to towns like ours.”

I’m genuinely impressed. That’s a logical and reasonable way for the government to address a problem. Will wonders never cease…

After all their selections are made, including both tofu and a dozen small salmon patties, they make their purchase. All transactions are purely cash, he notes, with no paper money to speak of. All the currency seems to be coins of various sizes, cuts, and colors. He reflects that it’s a little odd that he doesn’t really know anything about money at eight years old. Then again, humans definitely commercialized a whole lot more than ponies. The only time he can recall using money when he was a young boy was when he’d get a quarter to go to the concession stand during James’ baseball games, so maybe it’s just not that big of a deal after all. Most foals probably never even pay attention to the part where money changes hooves.

Also, hoof-written receipt. How quaint. Half the checkout time is the poor clerk writing the receipt out, but again he’s not surprised at the complete disregard for inefficiencies in pony society.

NCR would absolutely love to expand to Equestria. Shame they’re gone now. And in another universe, I suppose. Hell, get me some Microsoft products over here. No Apple though. That one IIe was the last Apple product I’ll own in any lifetime. Fucking piece of shit. I’d take a Commodore any day over that mess. Get me some Kung Fu side scrolling action again.

A quick transfer of the purchased products to his dam’s cart and they were on their way back home.

The trip back was uneventful, though Cure enjoyed the quiet just trotting next to his dam. They would occasionally bump into each other, his head occasionally barely bumping into her shoulder.

When he started getting kind of tired he began cycling his magic through his system to see if it could reduce his fatigue. He pictured the magic reinforcing his muscles, supplying them with extra oxygen from his blood, stealing away energy from his fat stores and moving them to the cells in his legs, hips, shoulders, and barrel, breaking down lactic acid buildup in his muscles and, finally, telling his system to aggressively reinforce microtears in them. It wasn’t a far walk to town; maybe two, two and a half miles (about four kilometers), but with his short legs it was still a lot of ground to cover in only a few hours.

He was certain that the process worked and, to his surprise, barely seemed to drain him at all.

Okay, that took a lot less effort than changing that plant. I feel like I could keep running and supplying my body with magic for… quite a while, really. Am I actually even burning more magic than I’m gaining? Yeah… I think so, but it’s pretty close. So what’s going on here?

Well, clearly it’s MY body, so the magic doesn’t have to actually leave me at all to work. Oh! Duh! I have my mark now. I bet just having it lowers the cost of related magic uses. I told mom and dad to use that as kind of a casting/channeling focus, but I haven’t even thought to do so myself. Well let’s give that a whirl.

Still maintaining the “make me swol” process, as it shall forever be called in his head, Cure imagined a separate channel running back to his cutie marks MoD. He was not prepared for the flood of information and damn near face planted.

“Cure? What happened? Did you trip on a rock? I don’t see anything in the road, what did you hit?”

“No, I was dumb. I tried something that I should have first tried while not running down the road and almost ate dirt for my trouble,” he explained, getting back into the rhythm while keeping up with his dam. “You remember how I told mom and dad that if they used their marks as a focus they would probably gain insights about their work above and beyond normal?” he asked as they trotted along.

“Yeah, why? Did you try the same thing?”

“Yep. Should probably try new things while standing still. Or sitting down. Or laying down. Whatever. Either way, when I tried that it kind of expanded my perception of my body. It was like opening my eyes in a bright room after you’ve been asleep. Totally overloaded me with information and threw off my gait,” he explained. “I’m fine, didn’t twist anything, just kind of misplaced my hoof.”

“Okay. Well if you’re tired I can carry you or you can sit in the cart. There’s still room. I was expecting you to get tired by now since going to town and back is farther than you normally go in just a few hours. It isn’t much when you’re grown up, but to a colt your size you should be tired by now.”

“Before I messed up I had actually already been cycling my magic from my lungs, fat stores, and muscles, so the fatigue I was experiencing had already cleared up by the time I did that. Like I said, I was dumb. I’ll try it again when we get home, though. Kinda curious what all I can do, ya know?”

“Sure honey, just be careful.”

And so they continue until they arrive at home. The neighborhood kids had been summoned by various triangles, whistles, bells, and other “get home and eat lunch” methods, so they were able to arrive unmolested.

Author's Note

I have a few more pre-written but I'm probably going to move to a "one chapter every few days" schedule now that I've dumped most of the backlog. Chapter 9 will probably get posted on Thursday, give or take... then we'll just see from there on out. I have a million ideas, but many of them are quite a ways into the future, so I might have like chapter 40 planned, but I still need to get from 11 to 39 in there before you'll see that.

Hope you've enjoyed so far! Thanks for reading.