Cherry Drying

Chapters

Chapter 1: What Makes A Home
Chapter 3: Off To See The Wizard
Chapter 4: Puppy Dog Eyes
Chapter 2: Cherry Whirlybirds, LLC

Chapter 1: What Makes A Home

Anonymous was in a tough spot.

“Nope, go fish.”

‘Uh!’ She slumped in her chair, glancing towards the Earth Pony at the table who’s turn was now up.

Anon had never really liked Go Fish, truth be told, and this had hardly been the first time that they had played it since settling in. Four months of boredom had chipped away at their pool of entertainment dramatically. Why couldn’t they just play Ponopoly again?

“Uh, do you have any Princesses?”

“Nope.” replied the small green Unicorn sitting opposite of Anon, shaking her head. “You know, you girls aren’t very good at this game.”

Anon looked between her two friends holding cards across the table. It’s safe to say that most uninformed ponies would probably assume the three to be sisters. From a quick glance, they appeared identical. Closer inspection would reveal several key differences in temper and appearance, however.

“You seem awfully proud that you’re winning a kid’s game,” John Doe said.

“Well, yeah,” Incognito replied. “We are kids.”

“Dude, I’m twenty-seven!”

‘Oh God, here they go again.’ Anon wordlessly stood from her chair and paced around the impromptu classroom in an attempt to escape the bickering that was sure to follow. The monotonous nights of the last few weeks rattled through her head as she absentmindedly examined a set of mostly empty wooden cubbies that just a month ago would have stored nearly two dozen sets of textbooks, pencils, and notepads.

“You don’t sound twenty-seven.” Incognito retorted on the other side of the room, a small hint of smugness tainting her voice. “You sound like you’re ten. And a girl.”

Anon’s ears subconsciously swiveled back towards the argument.

While Incognito may have sounded like a ten-year-old girl, that wasn’t much of an insult for those that were present. Each one of them had been poofed into the woods outside Ponyville in the form of a small green filly. At first, the horde of mysteriously appearing — and unusually vulgar — fillies were distinguishable from each other only by whether or not they possessed wings or a horn. Over time, slight differences in speech, posture, and manestyles had given each one of them some degree of individuality, if only just a little.

Pausing by the teacher’s desk at the front of the classroom, Anon examined a small picture frame hung nearby on the wall. In it, a smiling, almost elderly mare with a coat the color of parchment paper stood in front of a class of rambunctious, duplicate foals.

‘Jesus Christ, we really are adorable.’

In the front row of the class picture, two small unicorns had wrapped their forelegs around a third earth pony filly, smushing the three together in a friendly hug. Just beside them, another smug looking unicorn flaunting a pair of black sunglasses sat on her haunches and gave her best attempt at finger-guns. It was an interesting choice, considering the lack of fingers.

What Anon’s sight lingered on, however, was a small group of Pegasi near the edge of the photo.

Above them, supported by the hooves of half a dozen of her sisters, laid a determined looking filly. At her sides, two small wings splayed outwards as if ready to glide through the air. The look was rounded out by two forelegs that extended forwards in an aerodynamic pose.

The increasing volume of the argument at the table drew Anon’s attention back towards her friends, who had yet to settle down.

“I don’t care about any of that! I liked having my hands! Stop projecting your own desires onto other people!”

Incognito rolled her eyes, exhaling through her nose. “Why can’t you just admit you like being a pony?” She gestured towards Anon before continuing, “She doesn’t complain and she isn’t an ‘extremist’ like I am.”

Anon finished making her way over to John and wrapped a foreleg around her friend’s shoulder in a clear attempt to defuse the argument. ‘For a soft filly, she feels pretty tense.’

“Maybe he just wishes we had a little more freedom?” Anon offered.

Incognito settled back into her seat, her face losing some of the annoyance that it had shown moments earlier.

“Well, that doesn’t mean she has to be such a sourpuss all the time. We have friends, a roof over our heads, and a nice old mare to teach us and cook us food. In a few weeks we’ll even have families to take care of us.” Incognito’s shoulders sagged. “I know people back home that would kill to have it this good.”

“I had a lot to lose!” John Doe shrugged off Anon’s hoof and shifted forwards, leaning onto the table before turning to give the pony that was just hugging her an accusatory stare. “And at least you guys didn’t get stuck as Earth Ponies!”

Anon glanced rearward to one of her pistachio green wings that were fidgeting as if they could sense the sudden attention.

In contrast to the lack of care that they had shown in the first few weeks after arriving in Equestria, her feathers now held a muted, glossy sheen left over from her morning application of Curly Whirlwind’s All Natural Wing Oil™ — The mares and stallions responsible for The Orphanage had supplied bottles and pamphlets to everypony with wings after it became apparent that none of them knew a thing about Pegasi hygiene.

“Hey, it’s not like it matters,” Anon grimaced through an unconvincing smile. Her wings relaxed and drooped downwards, the tips of her primary feathers lightly brushing against the worn wooden floor of the classroom. “These things are just dead weight at this point.”

John’s slight scowl fell away. “Yeah, and I guess the only thing Incog’s horn is good for is blocking hats and sword fighting with other boneheads.”

Across the table, Incognito bolted up in her chair.

“Actually, I used magic last night before we went to bed!”

Anon and John’s vision met, each searching to see if the other believed the nonsense that had just come out of their friend’s mouth.

After all, unless the top medical professionals of Equestria were wrong, her claim wasn’t possible. All the fillies that had been transplanted on the outskirts of Ponyville were noticeably deficient in magical ability. It had taken many hours with specialists shipped in from Canterlot, but their magical limitations were determined to be side effects of the absence of magic in their original “monkey” forms. ’Incog went through all of that pediatric bullshit just like everypony else, how could she say they were wrong?’

“You’re full of shit.”

“Yeah, I don’t believe you.” Anon added, retaking her seat.

The filly under fire sighed and shook her head before moving to grab the glass of water that she had been sipping since the start of their card games. Weakly grasping it with two hooves, she relocated it to the center of the table.

“I really did!” She answered, waving a foreleg in exasperation, “I saw it when I went to turn on the lamp in the bathroom!”

Noticing her non-Unicorn compatriots’ unconvinced faces, she pressed on.

“A little while after we went to bed last night, I woke up and really had to pee. I made my way to the bathroom down the hall, but after I got through the door I couldn’t find the light switch so I started fumbling along the wall to try and hit it.”

Disinterest radiated from John as she stared blankly at her blathering friend through half-lidded eyes. Anon, however, had shifted up in her seat and was paying slightly closer attention.

Incognito raised a hoof behind her head and rubbed the back of her mane in mild embarrassment. “I was kinda having trouble finding the light switch because of how high up it is, so I just kept trying to picture where it was in my mind and then I would try pressing where I thought it would be.

“Then, for a split second, I could have sworn that the wall near the top of my head had turned green! It was from my horn!”

“Look, I know how much you’ve wanted to learn magic since you’ve gotten here,” Anon winced, “but I think you were probably just a little tired from— “

“No! It’s true!” Incognito sprang up onto her chair.

“I’ll prove it!” She chirped brightly, intently eyeing the glass of water that she had just previously relocated on the table.

She just had to focus on the glass like her books said…

With a sudden girly grunt that emanated from deep within her diaphragm, Incognito’s face tensed and contorted. As the seconds passed without any noticeable effect on the cup, Anon and John watched as she began to shift from a cheerful green into a more concerning shade of red.

“Dude, I think you need to calm down a little.”

Incognito’s face continued to grow redder as her cheeks puffed out and a small vein popped on her forehead. She squeezed harder.

The cup stood still and her horn remained unlit.

She ceased her efforts and gasped, drawing in a few deep breaths. In the aftermath of the attempt, her face remained scrunched up in frustration as she took a short moment to recuperate.

“I saw it, okay? I’m positive that I saw it...”

Tap Tap Tap!

Three small heads spun towards the the door, as their ears perked to pick up the voice of an older mare calling out from the hallway.

“Girls? Are you still up? It’s getting a little late.” The door cracked open and the tired, mildly wrinkled face of their off-white caretaker poked through the entranceway and into the classroom.

“Sorry Madame Care, we were jus–“ Anon’s answer was interrupted by a tiny yawn that spread like a contagion to the other fillies seated at the table — Tender Care’s words had apparently made their bodies aware of just how late in the evening it actually was.

“Oh sweetheart, it’s alright. I know that you three can handle yourselves.” She made her way through the doorway and towards the foals’ table, taking a seat on an open bit of floor adjacent to them. Even while seated on the ground, the grown mare still towered a full head above her three fillies.

“I’m sorry that the meeting at town hall ran so late, but Miss Spring Rain from the Ministry of Education had some very big news, and I wanted to make sure that I gathered all of the information for you that I possibly could.”

The fillies sat staring up at their matron, awaiting the news.

“They’re concerned about us being cooped up in this old doctor’s office all by our lonesome, and I’d have to agree.” With a turn of her head, Tender Care’s eyes passed over the aged walls and flooring of the hastily-renovated orphanage that, until recently, had been slowly deteriorating on the outskirts of town.

“But we love living here with you!” John cried as her ears slouched. She was quickly swept up into a hug by their motherly caretaker.

“You girls have been the highlight of my life for these past few months.”

“Then why do you have to go?”

“Young ponies just need more opportunities to make friends, and to get out and play.” She smiled, her gaze shifting to meet the other two seated at the table. “With only us four, that just isn’t something that I can provide you anymore.”

Anon and Incognito remained silent, their faces projecting varying degrees of dejection as they listened to the mare consoling their friend.

Tender Care gently released John, looking down to meet her wide eyes. “Don’t worry, this isn’t going to happen immediately. We still have a number of details to work out. But over the next week or so I’m going to start arranging for a few different families to come in and meet you all. There’s so many nice ponies in town that have volunteered to help in any way that they can, and I’m sure that we’ll be able to find homes that are good matches for each one of you while we finish sorting through all of the adoption applications that we received.”

She stood and motioned for the three to follow her down the hall towards their bedroom, escorting them to one of several old examination rooms that had been converted with sleeping arrangements.

One-by-one, each filly jumped onto their bed and under their covers while she made her way around the room in order to personally tuck each one of them in. Moving to leave, she paused near the door.

“Are we still going to work on our project tomorrow?” Incognito asked from her bed.

“Of course! We’re not going to stop learning just because there are changes on the horizon!” Tender Care’s gentle voice rose an octave in her attempt to brightened the mood. “Have you all decided who in town you would like to follow for the day?”

Incognito roused from under her covers, sliding up the headboard with a genuine smile spread across her face. “Miss Twilight answered my letter from last week! She’s going to teach me all about studying Unicorn magic!”

“That’s wonderful! We can all walk together to the library tomorrow morning to drop you off.”

“I asked Mr. Ironsoles if he could teach me about blacksmithing,” added John.

“I’m sure that he was very excited to hear that a young pony in town has taken an interest in smithing.” Tender Care nodded from the doorway before focusing on Anon. “What about you, sweetheart? Have you decided who you would like to learn about?”

‘Shit.’

Anon sat up. “Um, is it okay if we look around for a little bit? I couldn’t really think of anything in particular that I wanted to do.”

She received an understanding look and the same gentle smile as her friends.

“Of course.” Tender Care reassured before backing out of the doorway and moving a hoof to the light switch. ”After we drop off John Doe and Incognito, we can go and look around for somepony that has a cutie mark that interests you. There’s no rush.” A small click was heard and the lights in the room went out.

“Goodnight, girls.”

“Goodnight, Madame Care.” Three tiny voices echoed.

The door shut and a set of hooves tapped their way down the hall. The room faded into silence.

She certainly wouldn’t have admitted it but, despite the news about the orphanage, Anon still felt a sense of relief as her head settled into her pillow. The last minute time extension for the project had given a small bit of reprieve from her own indecisiveness.

Still, lying there in the dark, the news of both Tender Care’s impending departure and the next day’s job hunt danced back and forth through her mind. She mulled over the same question that had bothered her all week.

‘What’s a good job for a Pegasus that can’t fly?”

Author's Note

cute ~~middle aged men~~ fillies

Chapter 3: Off To See The Wizard

Just on the outskirts of the town market, three green fillies and a weary looking mare sauntered past the bustling crowds on Main Street, as they made their way towards the Golden Oaks Library.

At the front of the group was Madame Care, followed closely by three pint-sized stooges. Tender Care pointed out the different stalls and stores as they walked, happy to pass the time with a little conversation.

"You know, the mare that runs that café was one of the first ponies I met when I arrived here? She's a real sweetheart."

"Who, Berry Punch?" John asked. "I'd have thought she made wine, or something."

Not particularly interested in their discussion, Anon scanned the street, taking notice of a group of ponies congregating around a small stand that seemed to be a popular attraction. Behind the counter, a magenta mare selling flowers delicately hoofed an assortment to a young couple. The corners of Anon’s mouth twisted into a small grin as she watched the young mare use her magic to pick a carnelian out of the bouquet and stick it in the mane of her coltfriend, who promptly snatched and ate it.

'Is that Rose's sister? Were they even officially related or was that just a headcanon thing?'

The marketplace started to slowly brighten and Anon tilted her head skyward as a sliver of Celestia's sun peaked out from behind the clouds. The shelter provided by the cloud lazily drifted away, leaving behind a blank spot of sky for the sun to shine through. While the heat of the Equestrian spring was far from unbearable, it was still starting to affect the younger portion of their little educational expedition.

Anon bounced from one hoof to the next, taking care to stretch her aching legs as she stutter-stepped alongside the rest of her group. They had been walking for only around an hour or so, having taken an impromptu detour through the market at Incognito's request. Despite that, the relatively short trip was starting to feel more and more like a hike to her tiny, muscularly underdeveloped body.

'This fucking sucks, I hope Incog is happy.'

Looking over to her friends, Anon watched as the other two trudged alongside Tender with equal amounts of discomfort apparent in their gait. From the looks of their dragging hooves and sweat-foamed faces, they were starting to feel the effects of the journey as well.

Since no one wanted to be the first to complain about the pace, the group soldiered on.

Just a short while later they found themselves outside the giant, hollowed oak tree that served as both the home and place of work for the studious Unicorn that they were seeking. The pleasant conversation faded as Tender Care turned to the side and gestured for Incognito to step up to the door.

"Well, go on and give it a knock! Miss Sparkle should be expecting us, and we wouldn't want to keep the nice young mare waiting!"

Incog gave a determined nod and bravely approached the entrance before raising a small hoof.

Knock Knock Knock!

"Coming!" called a familiar male voice, which was followed by the muffled scratchings of tiny clawed feet skittering towards them. The handle rattled for a moment before the door swung open.

"Hi! Welcome to—" Spike paused as his vision fell on Incognito. His brief look of surprise was almost immediately replaced by one of mild apprehension as he peered up at the young Unicorn's horn before meeting her eyes. With so many similar looking ponies appearing in such a short period of time, it could be difficult for a young dragon to keep track of them all. Seeing Tender Care standing behind her managed to put him at ease, at least. A split-second later and he was able to recompose himself enough to finish his introduction with the same chipper voice as always.

"Welcome to the Ponyville Library! What can I do for you?"

"Oh! Uh, we're here to see Twilight." Incognito responded, glancing back to her crew. "Well, I guess just me, actually. I wrote her a few letters asking about her magic studies?"

"TWILIGHT! YOU HAVE VISITORS!" Spike shouted over his shoulder before turning to face his guests. "She'll be down in a second."

"Um, yeah. I kinda pieced that together."

Spike shrugged and gestured past the entrance. "Well, feel free to come inside. It is a public library, after all."

"Thank you, we would be delighted." Madame Care spoke up from behind Incog as the four of them shuffled through the door and into Golden Oak Library.

The interior of the treehouse was familiar but different. Like everywhere else Anon had seen in Equestria, the cartoonish nature of the library was much more muted in reality. Floors that had once been represented as solid, rigid colors in the show were instead replaced with more interesting shades of stained wood. Noticing the rich, deep rings of the tree embedded in the ground, Anon couldn't help but be impressed by the quaintness of the space.

"Coming!"

Up at the top of the staircase, the mare of the hour finally appeared.

Twilight hastily plowed down the steps, a hair brush firmly grasped in her magic as she straightened a few loose strands of her mane. Arriving at the bottom, she quickly rubbed one of her eyes with a hoof before offering the group a polite smile.

"Good morning! What can I help you with?"

It was John that immediately spoke up. “Did you just wake up?"

Twilight's smile drooped a bit. "Well, I can be a bit of a night owl at times. I may have gotten a bit too absorbed in my readings last night..."

"Hey, woah, I'm not criticizing or anything!" John responded. "I used to stay up until like 3 AM in college to play Counter-Strike, so I, like, totally get it."

"Oh! Well, thanks? I think?"

"No problem."

Twilight's smile reappeared as she recovered some of her energy. "So, what can I do for you four?"

This time it was Madame Care that responded. "Actually, Miss Incognito here has told me that you agreed to let her shadow you for the day? Maybe show her some of the techniques that you use during your magic studies?"

"Oh, of course! How silly of me! You must be Incognito." Twilight said as she bent down slightly to address the small green and black unicorn. "It's nice to finally meet you. I must say, I was thoroughly impressed with the letters you sent. You have quite the vocabulary for a filly your age."

Incognito had never looked happier, her small face beaming with pride as she looked up at her idol.

"Is there anything in particular that you wanted to see?" Twilight continued, "I don't think I've ever had somepony ask for anything like this before, so I don't really know where to start! Oh! Why don't we get Spike to help write down a list of ideas. SPIKE! We n–"

"Actually," Incog interrupted, "I was hoping I could just watch you do what you normally do while you work? Then maybe at the end of the day you could help me with some exercises?"

Twilight nodded, a look of understanding appearing on her face. "I think that's a great idea. Why don't we start with some food? I usually help Spike make breakfast."

"Yeah," the small drake said, rolling his eyes, "sure you do, Miss Sleeps-til-Noon."

"Spike!"

"Thanks again for taking the time out of your weekend, Mister Ironsoles. John was just so excited when he found out that Ponyville has its own smithy!"

The absolute beast of a stallion grinned at Tender Care from the doorway of his house. "Aye, it's no problem at all, Ma'am. I'm always happy to give the foals a look around, doubly so if it's for such an impressive filly as this one. She sure must be a tough one if what I’ve heard is true!" He gave the comparatively tiny filly standing next to him a few unintentionally firm pats on her withers.

John must not have been prepared for such a friendly gesture, as her small frame nearly collapsed under the weight of Ironsole's monstrous hooves. Anon watched happily as each one of her four legs buckled further with each successive pat on the back, until the burly stallion finally relented his assault.

With the abrupt onslaught halted, John stood back up. “Are you on steroids or something? Holy shit.” She untensed her muscles and let out a huff as she stared up at her attacker.

“Sorry, missy, I’m not sure I follow ‘yer questionin.”

Anon chuckled at the display. It probably wasn't helping that Ironsoles was throwing her patronizing complements and constant verbal reminder of her nonconsensual sex-change. Hopefully he would chill out a little as their day went on.

"Well, we better get going! I'll be back around 5 o'clock to pick John up. If you need me, I'll be down where the old hospital used to be after I drop off Anon." Tender Care wrapped a foreleg around the Pegasus at her side. "Now, John, make sure you're taking notes as you go. You still have a project to do, after all."

"Oh yeah." John said with a dismissive wave. "Sure thing, Tendy."

"Splendid! See you two in a bit!"

With the second filly successfully dropped off at her destination, Anon and Tender Care turned to leave. Anon wasn't sure where to.

The pair walked down the path away from the house, aimlessly out onto the street. Anon stopped in the middle and paused to look both ways down the road.

"Looking for something, sweetheart?" Tender asked, "You seem lost."

"No I'm n–..." Anon started, "Well, kinda..." She stared down the street, away from the mare.

Tender Care sat down next to Anon and waited for her to continue.

"It's just, what am I supposed to do! It's like every Pegasus in Ponyville uses their wings to make a living! Look around!" Anon pointed upwards to a small group of Pegasi from the weather team flying above the town. "Or over there!"

Sure enough, another two Pegasi hovered down the street, their wings gently flapping to keep them a short distance above the ground as they chit-chatted back and forth. Tender Care casually inspected the two. One sported a rain cloud on her flank, and the other possessed a tornado — two more weather cutiemarks.

"Anon, those are just members of the weather team." Seeing that anon was about to interject, Tender held a single hoof up. "And while the majority of Pegasi in town may enjoy the employment of the weather services, there's still tons of Pegasus ponies that fill other vital roles in Equestrian society."

"Yeah, but it still seems like they all at least use their wings while they work..."

Tender slowly got back up gestured for anon to follow. "Why don't we see if we can introduce you to a few?"

An hour and a half later and the two were in the same exact position as before.

Talking with Fluttershy and Bulk Biceps had done little to alleviate Anon's concerns. Fluttershy seemed like a pretty good lead, but the poor mare was absolutely terrified of her. Apparently, some of Anon's 'sisters' had been rather mean to her a few months ago, or so Tender Care says, and she hadn't gotten over it.

Then they stumbled into Bulk absolutely tearing up a section of the park with his workout. Maybe she was just being picky, but Bulk Biceps wasn't exactly a conversationalist. After about five minutes of talking with him, even Madame Care had started to look less enthusiastic.

"Miss Care, can we take a break for a second? My legs are getting kinda tired."

"Of course." She smiled sweetly. "Why don't we go take a seat over there by the stream and catch our breath?"

Anon nodded in response, "Okay, that sounds good."

Thanking Biceps for his time, the two departed. After a brief walk, they made their way to the main source of water for the town’s inhabitants.

Anon took a seat right at the edge of the bank and stared down into the stream below. She was happily greeted by a crystal clear pool of softly flowing water, only a few hooves deep at its center. Looking past the aquatic grasses and water lilies, she stared down into the pool that was bubbling with life. Various freshwater fishes silently drifted along with the current, periodically darting from one spot to the next. Over in the weeds on the other side, Anon watched a large fuzzy rodent peer out from between the grasses at her. Giving a hesitant wave, she was fairly shocked when the cute looking animal gave a small one back before hopping into the water and swimming down the stream.

Tender Care took up a spot next to her and gently bent her neck down towards the stream. Her lips dipped beneath the surface and the mare took a few gentle sips of a water. Her eyes closed as she relished the cool sensation.

Standing to join her, Anon shuffled herself as close to the water as she could before dipping her head down alongside her teacher. The fresh water from the stream tasted more crisp than it had any right to. Despite being miles from the spring source, there was no funkyness at all. If anything, there was a slightly pleasant, natural flavor that she couldn't quite place — Like a LaCroix but with pineneedles or something.

It was just about as perfect as a mouthful of water could be. Anon picked her head back up and stared down at the freshwater life. She felt angry.

"I'm an idiot."

Tender Care's eyes opened and a look of concern crossed her face as she withdrew her mouth from the water. "Anon? Why would you ever think something like that? You're an incredibly clever filly, I don't think anypony that's met you would ever think you were dull. It isn't healthy to think about yourself that way."

"I know that. Just, look at all of this stuff." Anon turned towards the stream.

"I'm sorry, honey, I don't understand."

"This whole place! It's beautiful! It's almost perfect." Anon explained. "We're at what's essentially just a drainage canal running through the suburbs and it's an oasis. It's almost unnerving how nice it is, like someplace this good shouldn't be possible! It's wrong!"

"Well," Tender hesitantly answered, "I could see how that may be something new to get used to for you and your friends, but I don't really see what that has to do with you being stupid."

Anon shook her head before resuming her angry glare at the scenic body of water in front of her.

"That's just it! The whole town is like this! I bet all of Equestria is just as nice too!" Anon's voice was starting to sound frantic. "But my dumb ass can't just shut up and enjoy it! No! I can't be happy going to hangout with Fluttershy. That's just not good enough, apparently!"

Tender Care wrapped a foreleg around Anon and pulled the small filly into her side.

"And instead of just putting up with not getting my way for a fucking, little filly's school project, I have to get all upset about it! It's like it’s the end of the world, right?"

"I'm sorry that I didn't notice how upset it was making you." Tender Care responded as she gently held her filly, who was now breathing noticeably heavier.

"Is it hormones? It has to be, right?" She asked the ground as her eyes started to glisten, "This useless fucking body just can't stop finding ways to screw with me! So what? Now I just bitch and cry about meaningless shit in front of people?"

Seemingly done ranting for the time being, Tender care positioned herself behind Anon and pulled her into a full-body hug. Her soft, warm fur embracing the faux-child as Anon let out a few more pants to catch her breath.

"Listen to me. It's okay, Anon. it's completely normal for somepony in your situation to feel confused or upset with what happened."

Anon didn't respond, instead she just leaned into Tender Care's embrace. A few minutes passed without either of them speaking, until Anon once again broke the silence.

"I didn't even really care about flying before I got here." She let out quietly, her voice painfully squeaking into Tender's chest. "I mean, I thought being a pilot was cool when I was a teenager, but reality brought down that dream pretty quickly, so I got over it"

"But after seeing these wings? Honestly, it made me feel like I had something to look forward to again. Like I could go anywhere, or do anything that I wanted."

Anon exhaled some of the tightness in her chest, "I guess that sounds pretty dumb when you say it out loud."

"It's not dumb at all."

As the two sat by the creek, Tender Care held on gently, lightly stroking her back. It would take a moment for the wet tears on her chest to dry, and they had a whole day until they had to be anywhere.

With how small Anon was, and how tightly she was being held, it was easy for her to be obscured by her teacher's body.

Cherry Berry marched with purpose towards the parchment-colored mare sitting alone by the stream.

Author's Note

"I'm sorry, Mr. Incognito. No crippled retards allowed."

Chapter 4: Puppy Dog Eyes

The compacted dirt road cracked audibly under Cherry's hooves as she made her way through Ponyville, away from the town library. The street was mostly empty, barring a few straggling ponies here and there that were off to fill out their weekend with activities.

Her first attempt to find the orphanage mare had been a bust.

"Sorry Cherry! You just missed her! She dropped off one of the girls about an hour ago," Spike had said.

Spike had invited her in and described how Madame Care and her entourage had appeared at their doorstep, ready to leave one of the foals to spend the day the day with Twilight. Her discussion with Twilight and the filly had provided little information as to where Madame Care had run off to.

"Yeah," said the filly that had introduced herself as Incognito, "She's probably already dropped off John, but I don't really know where she and Anon were headed to. You could maybe wait a bit and try The Orphanage?"

So, after thanking the group, off Cherry Berry went to aimlessly wander around town.

Twenty minutes of blind searching yielded no results.

Cherry wrinkled her nose, glancing around the street that likely hid the target of her search. Scanning a particularly large herd of mares making their way out of a nearby antique store, she let out an exasperated sigh.

Amongst the busy weekend crowd, it would be impossible to single somepony out. No, her best bet at finding the old mare would be to get away from the hordes of shoppers. If that failed, she'd just have to give up and visit their orphanage later.

Breaking into a brisk canter, she set off again.

It didn't take long before she had circled half the town. The crowds had thinned out a good bit near the outskirts, reassuring her in her decision to move away from the market. Despite that, the mare in question remained just as elusive. Peering between a few sets of houses and seeing only an empty alleyway, she flicked her tail in irritation before trotting off again.

This was getting ridiculous.

Rounding another bend in the long line of houses, Cherry Berry was finally greeted by the apparent end to her search. There by the stream, with her back turned to the town, sat a pale, cream colored mare.

Cherry broke into a trot. 'Finally!'

With an upbeat in pace, she quickly made her way across the field to Mrs. Care. Only a moment after spotting her, she found herself just a few hooves behind the old matron.

Tender Care was sat on the edge of the creek, softly speaking into her own lap.

"Don't worry. We can stay here as long as you need."

Cherry abruptly came to a halt. In front of her, Tender Care sat upright on her hind legs, gently rocking back and forth. Was this mare talking to herself? Turning her head, Cherry scanned around the stream. Besides a few stragglers a good distance behind them, near the houses, there was nopony else around.

Cherry hesitantly took a few steps forwards.

Tender Care's ears perked and swiveled to better pick up the sound of the softly plodding hoofsteps approaching from behind her. Turning and spotting Cherry Berry, she offered a polite yet startled greeting to their new visitor. "Oh! Good afternoon, miss...?"

With the upper half of Tender's body now turned towards her, Cherry finally realized that the mare had, in fact, not gone crazy and begun having whispered conversations with herself. There in her lap, still somewhat obscured by the older mare's body, laid a foal with the signature green coat and black mane possessed by all of the orphans that Madame Care had been charged with taking care of.

"Sorry, you haven't met me before. My name is Cherry Berry. I think you may have spoken to my cousin a few days ago, Cheerilee?"

"Oh, of course! Cheerilee and I had a wonderful conversation about her foals and the local school." Tender responded, a smile lighting up her face. "And unless I have the wrong mare, I do believe that you came up once or twice during our discussion, as well."

A perfect opportunity to clear this up."Actually, that's part of the reason I came to find you. See, I–"

As Tender Care shifted to face her, Cherry Berry abruptly cut herself off. Tender Care shimmied and spun to better address their new visitor.

There, in her lap, laid a tiny Pegasus. Cherry Berry found herself suddenly speechless.

Anon's eyes were bleary, and her cheeks still wet. She had been crying recently — likely still as she had rudely interupted the two. The small filly was held tightly to her pseudo-mother's chest, and her watery gaze locked on the unfamiliar mare that had approached them. Two equally tiny wings sat curled up against her body.

"I'm sorry, you were saying why you stopped by?" Tender inquired, following Cherry's eyes as they flicked between herself and Anon.

She couldn't do this. "Uh, yeah, I actually wanted to talk to you about that thing Cheerilee had mentioned."

Not missing a beat, Tender Care nodded in understanding. "That's perfect, actually! We were just looking for some local ponies with jobs that wouldn't mind giving the girls a little inspiration on what they would like to do for a living. Would you mind telling us about what you do for work? If I understand if correctly, Anon here may find quite interesting."

A tingle of fear crept up Cherry's spine as she looked around for some sort of escape. The situation was deteriorating fast. Racking her brain for a way to politely shift the conversation back to the reason she had sought out Tender in the first place, she was blanking. 'Just bring it up later'.

"Oh... Uh, yeah! Totally! I run a little aerodrome out of my backyard. 'Got a pretty nice little hot air balloon that I use for sight-seeing trips and land surveying, for the ponies in town," Cherry explained.

Anon's ear's perked.

"I've also got this flying thing I built called a helicopter. It's sorta like a balloon or an airship, but it has these spinning wings on the top that lift it up off the ground. 'Mostly use that one for agricultural work, but I've been trying to expand into other areas, recently."

Anon squirmed out of Tender's hold and stood up her in lap. "Did you design the helicopter yourself?"

The filly that just a few seconds ago was a pitiful mess now sat a rapt attention, her tears mostly forgotten. A small glimmer of hesitant excitement flashed behind her eyes as she peered up at Cherry. For the first time today, somepony had managed to capture her interest.

"Well," Cherry explained, "I definitely didn't invent helicopters, or anything like that. The plans for the one at home are from two brothers out of Manehattan, but I've made a lot of little adjustments. Things like th– Uh, just some of the parts that make it fly." Cherry hesitated, struggling to simplify her work so that the young foal could understand.

Anon tilted her head, not satisfied with the explanation. "Like what?"

"Well, It's kinda hard to explain..."

"Go ahead and tell her, Ms. Berry," Tender took the opportunity to butt in. "She's very intelligent for a pony her age."

After shooting her an unintentionally dubious look, Cherry continued. "Well, the flight controls in the plans were pretty outdated. The Whirl Brothers were still trying to figure out the best way to setup the cyclic and – Sorry, the cyclic is the stick I use to point the helicopter up or down, or slide it left or right."

"How does that work? Does it, like, tilt the blades or something? Or is it some kind of magic thing?" asked Anon.

"No, you were right. No magic." Cherry paused, a bit taken aback by the series of questions. "How did you know that?"

Anon shrunk in Tender's lap and gave a small, sheepish look towards her caretaker. Madame Care, having quickly sensed the little filly's apprehension, gave her a curt nod of encouragement. Puffing out her cheeks slightly to steady herself for the discussion, Anon extracted herself from Tender Care's grasp to properly speak to the mare.

"There were lots of helicopters where I'm from, probably too many to count. Back home, they used them for all sorts of things. " She explained, "They were cool, but I never really got the chance to get any hands-on experience."

Cherry was flabbergasted. There were no more than two-dozen or so whirlybirds in all of Equestria – one less, if you didn't count Pinkie's pedal-copter – and there was about the same number of ponies that knew anything about them. To find somepony in Ponyville that claimed that they saw tons of helicopters at home was extraordinary. To hear it from a small, nervous filly was unbelievable. There had to be something here that she was missing.

"Really?" Cherry asked with a tinge of disbelief, "What kinds of things did they use them for?"

Anon scrunched her face in concentration and took a few moments to ponder the question. There were a lot of different directions that this conversation could go, and she'd have to tailor her answer if she wanted to keep it on track. "Mostly for the types of jobs that Pegasi usually do: Getting on top of high places like mountains, search and rescue, fighting forest fires, helping with agriculture, that kind of stuff. I think they were basically just fancy sky-chariots."

'Helicopters are not just fancy sky-chariots! I mean, I can carry as much cargo as four highly-trained Royal Guard Driving Pegasi, and carry it further and faster than them! I mean, sure, okay, it probably depends on what altitude we're operating at, and the maintenance is going to definitely be higher. But, with a small fleet that you could rotate out to work on, you could definitely keep enough aircraft functional for it to not be an issue!'

Anon watched as the mare in front of him mulled over his answer. Cherry's eyes rolled around indistinct portions of sky in some sort of strange contemplation of the facts presented to her. Further scrutinization of the mare revealed that she was biting the inside of her cheek.

Snapping out of her internal conniption, Cherry returned to the conversation. "So, were there not enough Pegasi to do those jobs or something? I'm sure your village could have put in a request with your Weather Services to get some ponies out there to help."

"No, not many Pegasi," Anon gave Tender Care a quick glance before continuing, "and I doubt we would have had much luck requesting any from the government."

Tender Care took that as her queue to chime in, "Ms. Berry, I know that this may be a bit last minute, but would you mind giving Anon and me a look at some of your machines? We've been looking around all day for somepony to show Anon their career, but unfortunately haven't had much luck until you arrived."

Cherry Berry analyzed the mare and filly in front of her. The gentle caretaker, politely inquiring on behalf of her foal. The small green and black filly peering up at her, ears perked as she awaited her answer.

'I'm gonna kick Cheerilee's ass.'

Cherry sighed, "Sure thing, I was just heading home now."

Author's Note

四月，不安的飛翔的水果母馬看到了一切

Chapter 2: Cherry Whirlybirds, LLC

Cheerilee’s head twisted around towards her rump as she nosed through one of her saddlebags, counting out payment. Her voice, muffled by the bag, echoed just loud enough to be heard over the commotion of the town market.

“Two… Three… And Four! Here you go!”

Delicately grasping the currency with her mouth, she withdrew the bits from her bag before setting them onto the stall table.

“Thanks!” The teenager working the market stall slid a jar full of honey across counter. “Here you go, Miss Cheerilee. Hope you like it!”

Not in any particular rush, Cheerilee carefully grabbed and deposited the jar into her bag with the rest of the day’s groceries, taking care to position them so that they didn't crush any of the perishables that she had picked up earlier.

After a quick exchange of pleasantries with her former student, she was off.

Walking along the dirt road leading out of the market, she couldn’t help but smile and bask in the atmosphere. Who wouldn't? It was an absolutely terrific day out!

Cheerilee noted the large number of ponies moving through the town. She glanced upwards and caught sight of a small group of Pegasi from the weather team weaving in and around a particularly rebellious looking cloud. In a sharp burst of speed, two of the weather Pegasi split off and crashed through the cumulus, breaking it into smaller, more manageable pieces. After rejoining the formation, the team took up positions along one side of squall and used their collective strength to push the larger cloud fragments over the town, providing a pocket of shade for some of the ponies that were out and about.

She trotted into the sunlight and took a moment to soak in some of the sun’s warmth as she looked around the crowded street.

In her short bout of pony-watching, her eyes briefly passed over a familiar group that was making their way past the crowds, towards the outskirts of town. Upon noticing the three green fillies and their caretaker, the corners of Cheerilee’s mouth tightened into an almost imperceptible frown. ‘Those poor girls sure do deserve some better luck…’

Watching as the four left, Cheerilee gave a small shake of her head before continuing down the road — her day slightly less joyful than before.

“Cherry! Hello? Are you home?”

“I’m out back!”

‘Oh, of course…’

Cheerilee followed the stepping stones around the side of the house — past a still remarkably overgrown garden — before arriving outside of a large sheet metal garage.

Well, hangar, really.

Spying inside and locating the pony in question, Cheerilee crossed underneath the hangar roof.

“Don’t you think you should take a break from work every once in a while? It’s the weekend!” She playfully chided her cousin. “Take the day off? Find a hobby? Maybe meet some stallions?"

“Oh hop off, I could count the number single stallions in Ponyville on two hooves. Besides, this is my hobby.” Cherry's response echoed through the otherwise vacant building.

The inside of the hangar was a bit of a wreck. Parts, pieces, and obscure bits of machinery laid strewn across the floor, and the air reeked of industrial solvents. Numerous workbenches and toolboxes ran along the walls, most of which showcased complex mechanical doohickeys and whatsits in varying states of disassembly. Near the door, the large wicker basket of a hot air balloon was resting on its side — its balloon and magical burner seemingly removed in order to facilitate some repairs.

On the far side of the spacious interior stood a grimy, hot-pink mare perched on top of a ladder. Her top half was buried inside the access panel of one of her flying machines, and the sounds of sharp metal on metal contact echoed from inside the aircraft as she worked. Only her rear half was fully visible as her grungy golden tail, mottled with oil and other mechanical fluids, whipped back and forth in annoyance.

“Having some problems?” Cheerilee asked.

“No I just–, this bucking piece of shit Thaumic Torque Generator that those Unicorns in Detrot sent me isn’t lining up with the mounts, even though I know that I sent them the right measurements. And knowing those jerks, they’re gonna give me the run-around when I try and get it replaced under warranty.”

“Well, that’s no good. Can you fix it?”

With a small grunt, Cherry Berry backed out of the open panel and began scurrying down the ladder.

“Nope. But on the bright side, I should be able to swap the old one back in pretty fast. I just won’t be getting that extra power from the new unit any time soon.” She jumped down from the last step, her confused face turning to meet her visitor. “Any particular reason you decided to drop by? Not that I’m complaining!”

‘This mare sometimes, I swear.’ Cheerilee rolled her eyes in amusement. “Just making sure my favorite cousin isn’t tucked away all by her lonesome on such a beautiful day.”

Here, want a snack? I just picked them up.”

Cherry happily accepted the offer of free food and was soon munching away on a fresh carrot. "How was your trip last weekend? I don't think I've seen you since you got back. Anything new back home?"

"Oh, you know how it is. Your mom was happy when I told her that your business is doing okay. She asked if I could get you to tag along next time I came in."

Cherry nodded, staring at the Whirlybird she'd been working on.

"Yeah, I need to. But with everything going on here –” she gestured a foreleg to the mess in her workspace “– I don’t know when I’ll have the time.”

Cheerilee didn’t respond, so Cherry took the opportunity to get a few more bites of carrot down.

…

“She also kept asking me when I thought you’d move back home to help out on the farm.”

“What did you tell her?” Cherry shot a worried looked over to her cousin.

“Oh, nothing you haven’t said before. I told her that you loved Ponyville and your work; that you seemed happy living here and hadn’t mentioned wanting to move anytime soon.”

Cherry bobbed her head in approval as she chewed on another bite of food.

“Although, I don’t really think she took that as an answer,” Cheerilee continued uncertainly.

Cherry Berry swallowed the last bit of her carrot before muttering a reply, her vision lazily drifting over her machines. “No, I’d be pretty surprised if she did.”

With that lovely news of home out of the way, a gentle silence reverberated through the workshop’s rigid metal walls. Looking through the hangar door to the outside world, Cheerilee watched as a soft breeze ruffled the somewhat overgrown flora of the backyard. Her focus shifted to the blooming pink flowers of the crape myrtle planted just behind Cherry’s house.

The impressive tree stood tall as a testimony to her and her cousin’s less utilized Earth Pony talents. In the singular year since Cheerilee had gifted and helped plant it, the small sapling had grown into a thick, mature tree that towered above Cherry’s modest home. Compared to the moderately overgrown backyard and garden, it was clear that a lot of care had gone into maintaining it.

Cheerilee spoke up, “I think your mom would have a heart attack if she saw how long your grass was.”

“You should bring your class around sometime for a snack,” responded Cherry, “It’d save me some work.”

“I think that might be a tough sell for their parents. It’s pretty difficult getting signed permissions slips out of some of them…” She paused, thinking over Cherry’s facetious request. “Maybe you could bring the balloon by one day?”

Cherry’s eyes dotted between her aircraft before turning back to her cousin. “Yeah, I might be able to do that. How are they doing? Not too much longer until summer break, right?”

“They’ve been busy working on their end of year projects.”

“Oh?”

“Yep!" The teacher immediately perked up. "Book reports this year. I let them pick any book that they wanted to write about.”

“Shouldn’t they be learning about history and math? Stuff like that?”

“It’s good to give them a little more freedom every once in a while,” Cheerilee explained. “You should see how excited some of them get when they get to read a story that they’re interested in, instead of one that I assigned for homework.”

“Wait. Are you trying to tell me they aren’t interested in the books you assign?”

Cheerilee chuckled and shook her head before adopting a mock look of disappointment. “Unfortunately, the youth of today just don’t appreciate the classic Equestrian novels like we did when we were their age: Of Mice and Mares, The Beautiful and Darned, The Princess and the Pauper…”

“Yeah, I think I remember getting in trouble for not reading some of those.”

The conversation lulled again, the two mares silently grinning at the memories of their own shared school years as they gazed at the plant life outside the hangar door that gently swayed with the breeze. As the branches and leaves shook, Cherry took a pause to appreciate the warmth of appreciation that Cheerilee had brought into the room. This was the way that their friendship had always worked, wasn’t it? One-sided support. What did she ever do to deserve it?

Cheerilee was the one to break the silence, her tone shifting up an octave out of apprehension.

“There’s something else I came here to talk to you about.”

“What’s that?”

Closing her eyes to think over her choice of words, Cheerilee slowly exhaled a full breath. The slight traces of a wince were visible on her face. “I may have put your name down on an application to foster one of the Nameless Fillies in town.”

“You did what?” Cherry Berry’s eyes widened and her head snapped towards Cheerilee.

“Oh… I’m sorry!” responded Cheerilee as she shifted her bodyweight side to side in a nervous little dance. “I hadn’t planned to, it just kind of happened!”

“What do you mean, ‘it just kind of happened’? Did you trip and fall with a pen in your mouth?”

Cheerilee stopped swaying in place. “No, it was what their teacher told me.”

A dubious looking Cherry Berry just continued to glare at her.

Cheerilee plopped her rump on the ground with a sigh. “She stopped by to talk to me about them. About the foals and their school work, I mean.”

“So? Why does she need to talk to you about that? Aren’t they getting adoption requests from all around Equestria? I’m sure there’s some big wigs in Canterlot that are picking apart every little detail about their education.”

“It’s because I’m going to be teaching them next year,” Cheerilee said. “They don't know it yet, but the last three fillies are probably going to be kept with families in Ponyville. It’s being finalized right now.”

“Oh, okay. That makes sense I guess,” Cherry replied with a look of understanding that was quickly replaced by one of confusion. “Wait, what do you mean by ‘probably going to be kept in Ponyville’? If their adoptions are being wrapped up right now, how is there any question about where they’re going to live?”

Cheerilee’s frown deepened. “Two of the three are being finalized. They’re having trouble finding a place for Anon. She's the only Pegasus out of the bunch.”

“What’s the issue? There may not be that many Pegasi in town, but with all the support those foals have gotten, I’m sure there’s still plenty of families that would be willing to take them in.”

“Sure, Tender Care told me that there were several would-be parents that could spare a bedroom in their cloudhouse.”

“Exactly! So what’s the problem?” Cherry asked.

“She can’t fly,” Cheerilee answered, “She can’t even walk on clouds. All of those fillies that turned up in the Everfree? They all have incredibly abnormal magic deficiencies. Cherry, they can't perform tasks that should be simple for ponies their age! Even the doctors that Celestia shipped in from Manehattan and Canterlot haven't seen anything like it before.”

Cherry Berry gave a dry, amused snort before standing and making her way back towards the helicopter she had been working on when Cheerilee first arrived.

Annoyed and confused by the mare's dismissive expression, Cheerilee got up and followed.

Moving wordlessly, Cherry grabbed a loose screwdriver off the floor with her mouth and climbed back up to the access panel she had been working in earlier. Setting the tool on the tray at the top of the ladder, she poked her head into the hole in the airframe before answering, “It’s alright, Cheer’, it kinda makes sense that you'd put my name down. I probably would have asked a few other ponies first, though.”

It was easier for her to hide the pain on her face up there.

Cheerilee stared up her, perplexed. An unfortunate number of seconds had to pass before the realization hit her. She had heard about a grounded Pegasus filly and her first instinct was to volunteer Cherry Berry.

Cherry Berry, the strong Earth Pony banging away on machinery in front of her.

The same Cherry Berry currently slaving away on a perfect Saturday afternoon so that she can experience what Pegasi do on a regular basis.

Cheerilee didn't respond. ‘She thinks I want to put the two broken ponies together.’

When Tender Care had shown up at the schoolhouse the Friday before last, the young teacher had been happy to offer her information regarding her current students. They had discussed which topics the class had covered recently, her teaching methods, how old all of the foals were, and a few other things regarding the school over the course of an hour. Likewise, when Tender Care had informed her that she would be getting three new students next year, Cheerilee was excited to get to know a little bit about the fillies she would be teaching in the fall. After all, it wasn’t every day that the fillies and colts of Ponyville got so many new classmates from out of town all at once.

Mrs. Care had spoken highly of the three foals. Her three little angels, she had called them. They were much more behaved than some of the others she had been taking care of a few months ago, from the sound of things. That didn't make their stories of home any easier to bare.

Poverty, war, corruption, plague.

A stark lack of friendship.

Most of the two dozen foals couldn’t name more than a few friends, some couldn't name any. Several no longer spoke with their families. The majority said that they felt alienated from those around them. That they were better off here, alone.

It was horrible.

So when Mrs. Care had asked her if she knew anypony that might be willing to take in one of the young mares, what else was she supposed to say? And it would only be for a few months! Just until they could find new living arrangements for one of the Pegasi couples that had applied to adopt.

If she didn't live in the tiny, one bedroom house behind the school, Cheerilee would have happily offered to take the filly in herself.

But she couldn't, so she recommended her somepony who could.

Cheerilee called out to the mare perched above her. "Hey, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have offered anything without your permission. If you want, I can go talk to her and let her know that you're n-"

"Don't worry about it." Cherry pulled her head out of the opening and gave a forced smile. "I'll go let her know I can't do it. Too busy with work."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely, I'll go find her as soon I can. Don't want her to get her hopes up for no reason, right? Does she live at the orphanage?"

Cheerilee brought a single hoof to her chin in thought. "I think so? Darn, I should have asked when I saw her on the way here. It looked like she was heading towards the train station, or maybe the library?"

"Perfect, I can work with that."

Cherry slid down the ladder and made her way for the exit as Cheerilee trotted alongside her. Outside, the two rounded the side of the house before making their way out into the street.

"See ya later." Moving to leave, Cherry hesitated. She stopped and turned back around before giving Cheerilee an awkward hug.

"Hey, uh... Thanks for swinging by, really. I'll get this sorted and we'll be good. It's no problem."

"I'm sure Tender will understand," Cheerilee answered while giving her unusually affectionate cousin a few pats on her withers. "Feel free to stop by to let me know how it goes."

The two mares split from one another and departed, each with a separate destination in mind.

Author's Note

mmmmmmmm undefended mare tummy and semi-rigid rotor systems