#mlp tf

“Told you!” they sang. 

Gorchard let out a sigh of relief. “I could have just carried it over, you know.” 

Ash practically waltzed past him, flipping their mane. Their tail flicked his legs as they passed. “Yes, but this way, you can say you helped me practice!” 

Gorchard rolled his eyes, turning back to the trunk. He’d have preferred to get the wood himself, rather than risk Ash dropping it over the side and scratching up the rental car, but it was hard to wrangle in the unicorns. Maru had had a pad and paper drifting somewhere near his head all day, and Ash kept trying to lift bigger and heavier loads to push themselves. Considering the fact that he would have been doing the same himself, Gorchard couldn’t really blame either one. 

Dusk hung in the air as the trio settled in for the night. Maru and Ash had been finishing washing and drying the dishes from their camp dinners, made on a small camping stove and served in small, tin bowls. It had been too hot for a campfire, but now that the sun was setting, it was the perfect time to get it going. 

A couple of weeks had passed since the last ponyfication incident. After some time getting used to it, Ash had texted (very slowly and carefully, according to them) and expressed interest in getting away for a while. Their main limitation was the hooves; it was, unfortunately, not easy to drive when you were barely four feet tall and not built to sit upright. A few hours later and the planning was in full swing, with Maru getting roped in as well. 

“You brought the marshmallows, right?” the pony called, horn currently dim as he’d stored away his notebook while working with the water. Gorchard expected it would be back out soon enough; he’d been unable to stop doodling as soon as he had figured out how to hold a pen without tearing holes through anything he tried to write on. 

“Should be in the food bag,” Ash grunted. Gorchard glanced over and saw them with their horn shoved under the plastic holding the pieces of wood together, twisting back and forth to try and rip through it. He sighed, turning back to the truck and grabbing the aforementioned bag himself. 

“We have knives too,” he commented, sitting down on a log next to the circle of stones. “You’re getting woodchips in your hair!” 

Ash paused for a moment to give him a sideways grin. “I’ve got a head-knife, what else do I need?” 

“Restraint?” Gorchard offered. 

With a quick jerk, they managed to tear through the wrap, a few strands of blond and blue hair getting caught on the wood. “OW.” They kicked the wood pile and a few logs tumbled out, over the lip of the fireplace, landing with a puff of ashes and charcoal. 

“Told you. You’re the fire expert, what do we do now?” Gorch asked, reaching out and standing the small logs upright in the pit. Maru wandered over from the tent and the folding table beside it they’d used for food prep. 

“How close are the smores?” he said eagerly. 

Gorch held up a log. “You tell me.” 

Now with two ponies and a human crouched around the firepit, it was getting a little crowded. Ash backed up, once again brushing against Gorchard’s arm. Their fur is so soft. It wasn’t like a regular horse’s; this was soft no matter which way you rubbed your hand along it, accompanied with soft feathers and a luxurious mane. Of course, this one was currently full of dirt and splinters, but after a solid brushing, it would be good as new. He’d never had long hair, but he reasoned if it had such bright colors, maybe he’d enjoy it. 

He’d been doing that a lot, lately—wondering what it was like to be a pony. With two friends now changed, everyone was probably thinking it. Hooves instead of hands, wings, tails….

Gorchard shook himself out of his stupor as Ash began speaking again. “...Like a little log cabin,” they explained. He’d missed a few words, but he figured it was still about fire building. Ash was scraping sticks towards themselves, carefully levitating them up and onto each other, crossing back and forth to make a square-shaped tower. “That way it’s got stability and it won’t choke itself out.” 

He nodded, turning back to the fire and rearranging the logs there to match the shape Ash had shown off. “Then we just have to light the kindling right?” 

“Right. After that the fire will do all the work.” Ash trotted away from the fire pit and went back to the truck, horn lighting up to see better. Had it really gotten dark that fast? “Anyone know where we packed the lighter?”

“No need!” Maru said, spinning a rock in the air beside him. 

Ash’s head popped up from the truck bed, wings flared. “This had better not be another illusion spell.” 

“Of course it’s not!” Maru retorted. “Fire is way different. Here, watch!” 

Much as he’d been wondering about being a pony, Gorchard had heard enough about Maru’s previous spell attempt to know that he probably should not be anywhere near it. He hastened backwards, letting the stallion work. 

On second thought… he quickly jogged back over to the folding table and grabbed a thick glove they’d used to hold the pots. He put it on and waved to Maru. 

“In case your mane blows up,” he offered. Maru frowned at him, and he shrugged defensively. “I’m not gonna be the one responsible for letting the whole fucking thing burn off!”

“I appreciate the confidence,” Maru grumbled. “Listen, it’s easy. You just gotta warm it up like this….” 

Ash watched from the truck, lighter held in their mouth, seemingly forgotten for now. Gorch held the fire glove at the ready; he’d been serious. If Maru was sticking his head into the fire pit, there was no way this was gonna go well. The purple pony crouched down, the ghostly glow from his horn lighting up the crooked stack of wood. There was a sound like a click, and suddenly the glow was filled with a warm, amber orange. Maru backed up fast, pulling his horn out of the wood stack. 

“Aha! Told you!” he called triumphantly. “I’ve been practicing that one for a week straight. Who’s ready for s’more’s?” 

The other two were too busy watching in mild horror to respond. Maru’s unicorn horn was lit up again, but this time, it was a ball of fire, not a magic aura. Gorchard felt his stomach drop. Of course.

“Should have practiced longer!” Ash yelped, dropping the lighter and scrambling from the truck bed. 

“Stay very still!” Gorchard said simultaneously, rushing forwards. He glanced down at the fire as he passed—it was, in fact, already crackling merrily, but once again, the use of magic was causing all sorts of accidents. “I, uh, I-I’ll put it out, just—”

“Wait, put what out?” Maru gasped, raising a hoof to his mouth. “It’s not my mane, is it?!”

“No!” Gorchard stuttered, weight shifting from foot to foot. How did one put out a fire that was already ON someone? 

“Then what? Am I—”

“You’re fine, it’s fine—”

“Just—just put it out!” 

Spurred to motion, he leapt forwards and grabbed the pony’s horn, wrapping it in the glove. It was fireproof; his best bet was smothering it entirely. It sizzled, and smoke twirled up from the palm of the glove. It had worked, thankfully. 

Of course, no one was expecting the glove to suddenly erupt into flames. 

Gorchard screamed, stumbling backwards. Ash bolted over, and Maru danced on his hooves, trying to find an opening to get in and help, but neither one could approach as Gorchard waved the flaming glove to and fro. He tipped backwards, straight into the fire pit itself. 

He landed hard, flames roaring up around him immediately. He’d already felt the burning heat through the glove; now it swarmed him on all sides, licking at his clothes and skin. He writhed, knocking over logs in his panic, trying to roll out, to stand, anything to try and put it out. 

It took him several more seconds to realize that, despite the intensity of the heat, it wasn’t actually burning. 

“I’M ON FIRE!” he shrieked, voice high and shrill. Through a haze of bluish smoke, he could see his friends staring with shock and horror. He managed to push himself up to his feet, legs shaking, surely from the campfire-gone-wrong burning away the muscles, and—

And… he was… okay?

“I’m—shucks, I’m on FIRE—I mean, shit! Shit! Shucks!” He ranted and raged, but his words came out strange, and his voice whistled and pierced the air in a way wholly unlike what he was used to.

Something is very, very wrong.

He looked at the fire he was desperately trying to swat off of his arms and legs. It roared blue and red around him in a vortex of heat. That wasn’t… right. An niggling piece of his brain told him to reach upwards. When he did, he heard a clink, and his head tilted sideways. 

“I… oh.” 

Gorchard dropped from the Nirik form onto all fours, standing directly in the middle of the campfire. “Oh—oh. Oh! Woah!” She lifted her hooves, watching coals cascade off of them, their cobalt blue reflecting the firelight. He skipped from the fire, prancing in a circle and laughing. 

This was… this was amazing. It was exactly as exciting as he’d thought it would be. His legs sprung him high in the air as he danced. They weren’t all the way under his control; he stumbled into the folding table, knocking it down, and bumped into the side of the truck at least once, but he didn’t care. His tail wagged and swiped back and forth through the dirt, and embers sparkled in his coat. It didn’t even matter that he was a girl. 

“Guys! Look! I—”

Her eyes went wide, two bright moons shining in the night. 

She stumbled into Ash, her legs going rogue, suddenly everywhere except where she needed them to be. The pony grunted, digging their hooves into the ground to stay upright. “Woah, hey, careful, we’re both gonna Fall Dawn like this!” 

Her left eye twitched. Something in her brain shifted. “W-what in f-fluffing Celestia’s name did you say?” 

“I said, you’re gonna knock me over!” Ash retorted, before their face softened. “Ooooh. Wait a second. He’s—”

“Fall Dawn,” Maru squeaked, hoof covering his shocked mouth. The name made her brain shudder. It was hers. It was delicious and terrifying and made her want to scream with every emotion in the world. “I am so sorry.” 

She felt Ash’s flank shift as they chuckled. “Welp, there goes our ride home.”

Fall stumbled a bit, pushing herself off of them. She attempted to walk forwards, but her hooves still betrayed her, and the heavy weight atop her head made her feel unsteady and unbalanced. She opted for very small, scraping steps to drag herself back to the side of the firepit, where the flames washed familiar heat over her fur and scales. Scales. She had SCALES! 

She took a deep breath, swallowing it. “C… can we, um…” her light, effeminate voice almost killed her as she spoke. It was perfect. “S’more’s. Can we s’more’s before I go Nirik again. I need my face stuffed with chocolate right now.” 

Ash followed and let out a little laugh. “It’ll be more friendly when we’ve got attendees to actually make a circle of chairs. Hard to do when there’s just two people in the book club.” They stepped past Maru, brushing against his fur as they scooted through the tight space and settled down in the chair, legs tucked up underneath them, almost like a perch. “I figured the couch would be better for you, considering you’re horizontal now.”

Maru scoffed, but he did trot over and climb up onto the cushions, settling down with his forelegs hanging off the front so he could face forward. It was a bit awkward to sit twisted, but it was better than nothing. He slung his bag off his back and slid it to the floor beside him. “Yeah, I don’t think I’d fit in any of your chairs at this point.” 

“Too long,” Ash agreed. 

Maru felt his face grow a little hot. “Not to mention the pony body.” 

“Yep, lanky pony body.” 

“It’s tall, thank you very much,” Maru retorted. He coughed, changing the subject. He may be lanky, but that was a mark of pride, thank you very much. “That seemed like a lot of mess to bake cookies for just two people. Er, person and pony. What kind did you make?” 

Ash grinned. “Oatmeal.” 

Maru groaned, rolling his eyes. “Seriously?” 

They laughed, shrugging. “What? I thought it was the best choice, given the circumstances. Plus it’s funny.” 

Maru shook his head, but he couldn’t help but laugh at least a little. Leave it to Ash to turn baking into a bit. “Well, they better be tastier than they are funny. You wanna start?”

“Sure.” Ash swung their legs out from beneath themselves and stood. “I’ll grab a few cookies and we can get going.” They exited the room, and Maru heard the oven creak open, cupboards rattling. His gaze wandered the room curiously. While he sat, he fidgeted, his horn lighting up once more and snagging a pillow on the other side of the couch with its aura. He lifted it up and down, spinning it while he inspected the rest of the room. He’d originally done this to practice his telekinesis, but it had rapidly become a habit, and he’d bumped his head against objects he’d forgotten he himself was floating several times at this point. On the plus side, it had genuinely helped him learn better control over the magic. He’d gone from using telekinesis like a numb hand to grasp at everything, straining as hard as possible just to lift it a few inches, to something decidedly more magical. He’d thought of it like a spectral hand, but as time went on, it was feeling more and more like something more ethereal. Letting it act as a force of will, rather than a hand that he could use as he’d done before he’d changed, helped the telekinesis be less stiff. That had been a very exciting and very, very nerve-wracking realization. It was like he had to let go of his old form just to get better at using this one. Or maybe he was just catastrophizing. 

“Yeah! You get that pillow!” Ash cheered. Maru yelped and firing it across the room, smacking it into the far wall. He spun and glared at the doorway, where Ash stood, grin plastered across their face once again. “Sorry to startle you, just thought I’d give you some encouragement. That cushion must have said something real nasty, eh?” They held a plate of cookies, and they dragged a spare chair to the space between the recliner and the couch, setting it down there. They jumped back into the lounge chair with a few cookies in hand, this time with their legs sideways, feet sticking up over one of the armrests. 

“You wanna talk about it?” they asked, biting into one of the cookies and promptly fanning their mouth. “Ow. Hot.” 

Maru grabbed one of the cookies with his horn, blowing on it before he responded. Did he? “Not… particularly,” he admitted. The prospect of getting into it all was daunting. Turning into a small purple pony came with a shocking amount of emotional weight. 

Ash nodded, seemingly content with that answer. “Gotcha. We can talk about something far more important instead.” Reaching behind themselves, they grabbed a small paperback book off the shelf behind the couch and held it up. The cover was a somewhat horrifying depiction of a teenager transforming into a lizard. 

“Animorphs!” 

~ ~ ~

Ash had been the one to suggest a book club. After all, they were the only one who had actually read Animorphs other than Maru, and they’d been keen to reread the series along with him. Maru was already several dozen books ahead, but Ash didn’t much mind; it would help refresh the beginning of the story for Maru, while they got to enjoy talking about each book with him. Plus, it’s not like they were going to get spoiled on the ending; one of the only Animorphs books they’d actually owned as a kid had been the very last one, so they were already long past that point. 

Unfortunately, Maru had texted before the first meeting, abruptly canceling it. Everyone had been worried, as it was radio silence for multiple days before word got out: Maru, their loving friend, was now an utterly adorable cartoon pony. 

No one had quite been able to wrangle the how out of him thus far, but frankly, the entire group was amazed enough at sudden change to be willing to suspend their questions until he was willing to share the information himself—even though several were desperate to find out. Fortunately, all of them were pretty used to talking about this kind of thing; mostly, they were shocked it was actually real. 

So, book club was rescheduled, which gave Ash the time to speed through a couple more books. They’d been meaning to only do the first, but it had gotten them into enough of a reading mood that books two and three had flown by in time for the first official meeting. They reasoned that was more than enough to talk about in an evening. 

“Yes!” Maru leaned forwards, smiling. The expression should have sat oddly on his muzzle, but somehow, it twisted in just the right way for it to come off as natural and friendly. Cartoon horses were just more malleable than their real life counterparts, Ash figured. 

“Okay, so, since we both read the book recently, I don’t think we need a summary or anything,” Ash began, leafing through its pages. “It was good, for sure. I remembered the basic plot from when I was a kid, but it was fun to go through it again. Been a bit since I read anything for kids, too, honestly.”

Maru laughed, his head bobbing up and down. “Maybe the first book is, but they go so crazy so fluffing—I meant, frosting—gah, you know what I’m trying to say. Ponies have a hard time swearing.”

“I got it,” Ash hummed. “I remember some wild stuff, plus everything you’ve mentioned. Most kids books don’t have the main characters kill Hitler. Lump it in with Warriors and Guardians of Ga'hoole under ‘books I should probably have not been allowed to read but completely changed my brain chemistry as a child,’ eheh.” 

“Right?!” Maru resounded, leaning forwards even further. He was tapping his hooves against the couch in excitement, tail flicking. “Like—they’re constantly almost dying, their families are involved, it’s all insane.” 

“Not to mention the sheer amount of alien nonsense,” Ash agreed. “Book four is like, Atlantis, right?” 

“Yeah!” Maru leapt up from where he sat, and Ash leaned to one side, avoiding the sharp end of his horn. He shoved his nose into his bag and came out holding a simple journal in his mouth, levitating another, fancier one with his horn. He set the journal down and searched through the opening pages. 

“I’ve been taking notes as I go,” he explained, distracted. Ash leaned forwards to try and get a look, but they weren’t wearing their glasses, so it was legible as chicken scratch from this far away. “Here—yeah, this is the one where two of them just start having visions for no reason, and then they have to go find Ax underwater.”

“Forgot about the visions,” Ash mused. “What else is going on there? I remember some crazy water animal, right?” 

“Mhm!” Maru’s horn literally sparked with giddy excitement. Ash reached out and extinguished a spark that landed on the oatmeal cookie platter; it was pleasantly warm between their fingers. “It’s this big whale thing that’s got like, thirty tails, and it’s all red. I swear I have a pen somewhere, I could draw—”

He was cut short by a sudden ripple in the air. Like hazy heatwaves, an image swam in between the two friends, flickering like a low-battery flashlight. It was a great, hulking thing, with ruby red skin and eyes that seemed to glare out of its realm of nothingness at the two. The whole thing was cast in minty green light that streamed from Maru’s horn, not unlike a projector. 

The room was dead silent as the image faded away, the unicorn’s horn going dim once more. Ash blinked the bright afterimage out of their vision, the dread gaze hanging in their mind. 

“Dude.”

“I-I don’t know how I did that!” Maru yelped almost immediately. “I’ve barely even started studying illusion magic!” 

“No. Dude.” Ash knocked a fist on the wooden chair, and Maru’s muzzle snapped shut. “That was awesome.” 

Maru looked like he might faint, but he gulped it down. “Yeah. Y-yeah, it was cool. It was just sudden, is all.”

“Two questions,” Ash stated, holding up a hand. “One, what do you mean by studying?” They held up a finger. “Two, think you can do that again?” A second finger went up, and they waggled them in front of Maru’s snout. 

In response, the book on the couch came to life, floating up in the air. “Uh, I found it a few days after… y’know. The whole thing. It’s a book of Equestrian magic, I think, so unless there are other unicorns out there, I can’t see it being for anyone else.” 

“Also awesome,” Ash interjected. That brought a smile to Maru’s face again, wiping away the shocked expression. Good.

“As for doing it again… maaaaybe? Like I said, I don’t even know how I managed it the first time.” Maru shoved his journal aside to make room on the floor in front of him, dropping it open to a bookmarked page. Complex diagrams covered it, labeled with what Ash could only assume were notes on casting technique and the like. That sounded… magic-y enough. 

“Do you want to try it again?” Ash pushed, unable to keep a hint of excitement out of their voice. It wasn’t every day you got to see magic purple ponies, after all. 

“I mean, yeah, obviously,” Maru sighed, tapping his hoof on the page. 

“Let’s do it, then!” 

“How are we supposed to replicate an accident, though?” 

Ash shrugged. “More book club, obviously. Here, I’ll get back into place…” they trailed off as they threw their legs back over the armrest of the chair, shifting back and forth to get comfy. “There. Then you can look at your spell book, but don’t focus on it; just keep talking about Animorphs.”

The pony gave them a baleful look. “I don’t know if Animorphs is the answer to everything, Ash.” 

“C’mooon, Maru, just give it a try. Look, I’m even eating another cookie. I swear you can’t even tell it’s a new one.” True to their word, Ash snagged another oatmeal cookie and took a bite, opening their mouth to show off the half-chewed mush. Maru stuck his tongue out, turning away.

“Fine, just never do that again,” he chided. 

Ash gave him a thumbs up, then swallowed. “Okay. Book four. The Animorphs are… what, on a boat? Stranded in the middle of the ocean? Flying above it? Where are our heroes?” 

Maru rolled his eyes at the theatrics. “Boat, yeah. So, Tobias and Cassie were having visions, right? And then they all saw these ocean ruins on the news and recognized the writing on them as Andalite language, and it gave them such a powerful vision that both of them blacked out.” Maru sighed. “Look, Ash, I don’t know if this is gonna work.”

“No, no, keep going!” they protested. “Seriously, now I’m just into the story. I wanna hear about it.” 

Maru shrugged. “If you say so. The Animorphs had to make it out to the middle of the ocean, right? But it was too far for the two hour morph limit, so they had to get onto a boat somehow…” 

Ash listened attentively, doing their best to look relaxed while keeping an eye on Maru’s horn. It was an experiment, sure, but it was also just fun to listen to him talk about something he was so clearly passionate about. Whether or not they got to see some more magic, Ash considered this a successful book club. I’ll have to catch up a bit further for next time, they thought. Otherwise it’s just gonna be a storytelling hour featuring Maru.

The pony’s explanation of the book trailed off. He squinted, attempting to readjust his glasses with a hoof, only succeeding in knocking them further off kilter. A bit of telekinesis righted them. “Uh. These words are starting to make more sense to me. Should I be worried?” 

Ash made a noise somewhere in between ‘probably?’ and ‘no clue, you’re the magic expert.’ “Try reading them, see if that activates the spell or something. Then keep talking about Animorphs, every time you get into it your horn starts glowing. I’m sure there’s some magic-pony-emotion-thing going on.” 

Maru stuck his snout basically into the spellbook, squinting harder. “The Animorphs are with Ax, under the ocean, right? This one’s like….” He pronounced a word in a language that made Ash shudder, the syllables slipping around their ear like water currents. “And Visser 3 knows they’re there. Um, ssslierat alethandra. They need to get out before the whole ship gets blown up by the Yeerks, and…” 

He kept going, but Ash was finding it hard to concentrate. The magic words interspersed in the story weren’t just impossible to understand; they were actually difficult to listen to. They kept knocking around in their head, taking up far too much space, drowning out the rest of the story. An ache began to pulse inside their skull, and they rubbed their temples, trying to ease the pressure. 

They could tell Maru had taken a breath, but Ash couldn’t manage to get out anything than a grunted “Uh-huh.” He immediately launched back into the story-spell, and their headache continued to get worse. Their hand bumped uncomfortably against their forehead; Ash pulled it back, vision swimming. 

What was in front of them was very clearly a hoof. “Agh. Maru?” they mumbled, head pounding. He didn’t seem to hear. With another one of the strange phrases, their back arched, hip bones reknitting themselves and making the seated position awkward to maintain. 

This was, of course, not a great situation. Whatever spell Maru had, it wasn’t illusions—it was turning Ash into a pony, too. They grunted as their shirt grew tight under the flannel, aching back consolidating into two oddly textured lumps that strained to be freed. Ash had to stop him reading it and fast—they couldn’t be a pony, because tomorrow, they had classes to attend, and the two were very likely going to be at odds with one another. 

“Yeah, yeah. Hey, Maru?” They tried to interrupt him again, but they were slurring their words, voice quiet under the strain of the changes. They coughed, and the cough turned into a hack that stretched their neck to twice its regular length. “Maru!” 

They twisted around, frantic now. Maru’s eyes had a silvery sheen over them, vision locked to the tome on the floor. His horn was alight with shining magic, brighter than Ash had seen it the whole evening, bathing the room in an eerie green glow. The sight would have been exceptionally frightening, had he not been relating the plot of The Message, book four of Animorphs by K.A. Applegate. That part made it only moderately-to-somewhat frightening. 

Ash nearly passed out as, with one word, the pain suddenly spearheaded somewhere near their prefrontal cortex, then blossomed outward. They held their face with a hoof and a hand, feeling as a horn sprouted between them, fortunately passing right between two fingers instead of stabbing into them. It was sharp. 

“Listen, Maru, I—”

Shhhrrrip! One shoe tore in half, another creamy blue hoof poking through it. Ash kept trying. 

“I really think—”

Another magic word, and Ash’s hair was obscuring their vision, fluffing out into a styled mane. The blonde faded to green, then a deep blue towards the end. 

“Would you stop reading?!”

With a mighty tear, two feathered wings BURST from Ash’s back alongside a long, flowing tail. With their already precarious choice of seating position, the shove from beneath was all it took to shove them up and back. They flailed four hooves as they tipped over the armrest. Their wings flared outwards to help, which accomplished exactly the opposite, unceremoniously dumping them right onto their head. Collapsed in a heap of shredded clothing, mussy mane, and bedraggled feathers, Ash let out a deep sigh. One final magical word made two pointed pony ears pop into existence, peeking out from their mane. 

Well, they thought. At least now I get to see if I like the oatmeal cookies more.

~ ~ ~ 

“...the sperm whales let them ride them back to shore, and Ax… oh.” Maru blinked as he reached the end of the spell. His horn was glowing, but no alien fish swam through the air this time, glowering at its real compatriots. “Nothing? I swear I said it right….” 

He glanced once more through the spell. That really was all of it? The story idea had been interesting, and he had an easier time making out the runes now, but it really had been for naught. He sighed; Ash’s ideas were usually too silly to work, and half the time they were jokes, anyway. 

A whinny somewhere behind him stopped him dead. Maru’s stomach dropped, ears laying back. Oh no.

He spun around and clapped both hooves to his mouth, suppressing a shriek. A large alicorn was propped up against the couch, upside down. One he knew well—he’d drawn this alicorn, back when he’d had the ability to hold a tablet pen. 

“Ash?” he gasped, horn sparking again. One of the motes of light drifted down and rested atop their brand new snout. They blew it away, clearly exasperated. 

“That would be me, yes,” they said sardonically. 

“But you’re—”

“Yes,” they interrupted, sounding grave. “It appears my ass is, in fact, a horse.” Based on the unfortunate positioning, this was an easy fact to confirm. The deadpan delivery was even enough to push past the usual cartoon censorship. One of their shoes dropped off a hoof, smacking into their horn and bouncing away. “Along with the rest of me. Help me up, yeah?” 

Maru nodded and rushed over, tripped over himself in his haste. He braced his shoulder against the lounge chair and pushed, sliding it over the floor, only stepping on Ash’s wings and mane once or twice in the process. They wriggled all four legs, trying to right themselves. Maru helped tilt them and got smacked with a wing as they came rightside up, a wobbling mess. 

“Now then.” Ash stood up, taking a step towards Maru. Or, well, they tried. They only succeeded in throwing themselves face-first back to the ground. They quickly sat back up and coughed. 

“Ah. What I meant to say was this.” They reached out a hoof, pawing at the Animorphs book that had been dumped to the floor along with themselves. They made a motion as if picking it up and raising it into the air, and seemed surprised at how ineffectual this was in accomplishing anything whatsoever. They sucked in an annoyed breath, raising an eyebrow at Maru. 

“Look, the page SAID illusion, I swear,” he said, but the excuse sounded a little lame. “I… don’t even really remember casting it. I said it exactly like it was on the page.” 

Ash sighed. “I’m sure it said illusion. I trust you, Maru. However—” they raised both wings. “—I am also a pony. So something went wrong. You looked like you’d been possessed when you were casting that thing.” 

Maru opened his mouth, but Ash continued before he could speak. “Not actually possessed. Sorry, I don’t think my apartment is haunted. Maybe next time though.” 

Even despite the panic, Maru sighed, a little disappointed. “At least that would give an explanation. I’m sorry, Ash.” 

Despite the situation and all the awful feelings swirling around in Maru’s stomach, there was a deep-seated relief. At least I’m not alone. It was something of a selfish thought, but it was true.

Ash clicked their tongue. “Yeah. I bet. Listen, bookmark that page for later and stop working on illusion spells for now. Book club only goes until 8 and I need to learn how to move things with my mind before your ride shows up.” They tapped their horn with a hoof. 

“I can help!” Maru agreed readily. “It’s the least I can do. It’s not that hard once you start to figure it out.” 

“Sweet. Y’know, Animorphs kinda got it right with their transformation scenes, honestly. Felt like I was living the book.” Ash cracked a grin, and Maru groaned internally. He knew that grin. “On the bright side, I can think of a few people who are gonna be sooo jealous.” 

“Ash, I forbid you from gloating,” he snapped. 

“Oh, come on! You know I gotta. Just think of the funny pictures I could send!” They pushed themselves to their feet, shaky, but didn’t fall this time. Maru propped them up against his shoulder, and despite their extra alicorn height, he was pleased to see he still stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the other pony.