Chapter Text
Something went wrong. Pomni didn’t really know how it happened, but somehow, she was in…unicorn land? The journey to getting there was, well, confusing.
They had gotten Caine to drop in some ice cream for all of them, though Jax didn’t accept any.
Button seemed troubled at the fact that Jax didn’t want any, so - bless her little heart- she had offered Jax all of her ice cream, well, it was more of a persistent urging, which Jax only took a small bite, and gave it back to Button, who seemed satisfied that Jax had taken a bite of her ice cream, and waddled off to Ragatha, who scooped the little baby deer into her arms lovingly.
Pomni observed all of these events happening, and found herself smiling at the scene. She was extremely surprised at how Jax seemed to chill with Button, getting out of his comfort zone to appease the little girl. It was satisfying to see.
And then her gaze went to Ragatha, and her heart melted. She knew Ragatha was more of a motherly figure, especially when Pomni had first arrived, but this was extra special. It looked like she had finally found a purpose.
“You’re such a pretty baby, yes you are! Yes you are!”
“God Ragatha, you sound like you’re speaking to a dog.” Jax groaned, crossing his arms over himself.
Pomni looked at Jax when he spoke, and frowned. “Leave her alone Jax…she’s actually happy for once.”
Jax simply rolled his eyes, but stayed quiet, even though Ragatha seemed to not hear what the two were talking about.
Button was extremely happy in Ragatha's arms, though, happy moments wouldn’t last forever.
Caine suddenly appeared, his big smile still as haunting as ever. “WELL WELL! LOOKS LIKE OUR NEW MEMBER IS ADJUSTED! TIME FOR AN ADVENT-”
“No!” Pomni yelled, cutting him off, knowing that Button was terrified of Caine, but it was too late.
Many things happened at once. Too many things happened, that Pomni didn't even know where to start.
Button's cry was loud. Like, insanely loud. Pomni may be biased because she never had ever heard a baby cry in real life, only on TV, but that was the loudest she had heard a child cry.
That was her final thought before everyone got teleported to loo loo land.
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When Pomni woke up again, she was a unicorn. She wasn’t even exaggerating. She had a horn, hooves, and a tail. Okay. Okay. This was fine.
She sighed, and walked around and was faced with rainbows and sparkles. Everything had a smiley face, very kid-like fantasy.
That's when she realized, this was most likely not Caine, but the second most powerful person here. Button.
In the distance was a herd of My Little Pony.
Yes. A herd of My Little Pony. She wished she was making this S#)T up.
The setup was like the actual show she had been forced to watch while her parents were babysitting kids, though the thing was, it was the off brand version.
She saw a pony that resembled multiple people from the circus. They weren’t exactly hard to spot, but the mere sight of them horrified Pomni a bit.
As Pomni approached the ponies, she realized that she herself was walking differently. She wasn’t walking on 2 feet…no, she was walking on four. To be more specific, hooves.
She just wanted to scream. What the F-!K was going on?
The Zooble pony made their way towards her, and looked the same way Pomni imagined herself to be looking right now.
“What the F=!k?” They asked, looking up and down at Pomni’s avatar. Pomni had no idea how to answer that question, as she herself had no idea what the f=!k was going on.
Before she could answer, a familiar looking little deer appeared before everyone, looking extremely frustrated, and scared, curled up in the air, not knowing what she had been doing, so she did the only thing she knew how to do. Curl, and hide.
Pomni looked around, trying to look for Caine, but found no sight of him, or his little side kick gremlin bubble.
Great Pomni concluded. He pus)!Id out. Of course. Of f=!king course!
“Oh, that poor honey…” Pomni heard a voice next to her, which was the pony version of Ragatha, which strangely enough, was a bit endearing.
“Poor honey? What about poor us?” That voice clearly belonged to a certain rabbit- yes, rabbit, he still was a rabbit, though very cartoonish, and realistic, with a side of grumpy.
“I just- she’s already so traumatized already…I mean, she’s a kid Jax. Take some pity on her. I thought you two were bonding?”
Jax almost seemed offended in a way, bouncing back on his two rabbit legs that he had been given in this alternate world. He was conflicted, though only for a second, before going to his normal facade. “Me? Bonding with…that? HA no way!”
Pomni frowned. She knew he had been bonding. There was no other way to describe what had been happening. He had never treated anyone in the circus with that amount of kindness, well, that she could tell since she had been there. Jax was definitely bluffing.
“What do we do now?” Gangle asked quietly, not as loudly as the others, as she had been hiding slightly behind Zooble. She actually looked pretty cute as a pony, long white hair streamed down at her sides, as a red bow accompanied it.
“I-we need to speak to Button. To get her to fix this.” Pomni said, determined, looking up to the sky, trying to see where that baby deer went. “Though, I don’t know where she went. “
As the rest of them looked up to the sky, they saw that, as Pomni stated, she was nowhere to be seen, but there was a firework coming from the north side of the circus tent.
“I…I don’t think that's a good sign.” Ragatha muttered.
“Oh yeah, like fireworks in the sky that aren’t supposed to be there is never a good sign!” Jax scoffed, crossing his little rabbit arms.
Ragatha frowned, which made Pomni a bit protective. “ Hey, let's be nice. We all have a problem, it will probably take all of us to fix it.”
Jax seemed a bit surprised at the fact that Jax was siding with Ragatha instead of him, which made him even more agitated, but he didn’t say anything.
“Now, let's go to where the fireworks came from. It may have answers.”
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As they came close to where the fireworks had come from, they saw the little dark figure of the baby deer criss-crossed on the door, her back turned to them.
Even though she had been huddled and faced away from them, it was quite obvious the child had been crying, and upset.
They all looked at one another, and they all seemed to agree on something. Be quiet, and that Jax should go comfort her.
“Wait me?” Jax asked aloud, which made the deer turn fast to check behind her, but when she turned around, nothing was there.
Button stayed looking around, before going back to singing a small tune while spawning another firework.
Pomni let out a sigh of relief when they were cleared, and looked back to the rest of them who had been squished together to hide, and gave an apologetic smile, before looking to Jax, and gesturing for him to go forward.
Jax looked the most awkward he could have ever looked, but he eventually nodded, and started making his way to the deer.
As Jax did this, the rest of them watched silently behind the pillar they had all squished to. They weren’t exactly aware of how much Jax cared for that child, though they had to have some form of connection, or else Jax wouldn’t have agreed to this, and Pomni was insanely grateful for that.
As Jax approached the child, he rethought all of his decisions. Why was he doing this? He was basically exposing himself? But as he came closer, he realized she was sort of like him in a way.
As he approached the little girl, he noted that she was much smaller. Of course he knew this when hanging out with her earlier, but now seeing her upset, and curled up into a tiny ball, it just made her look incredibly small.
“Hey kid?” He asked tapping the girl's shoulder which he immediately regretted because she got spooked, and set off a huge firework, which put fire to his tail. (Well at least he had a tail)
Though after she did that, she immediately snapped to Jax’s tail, and frowned apologetically. “Jaxxy! I'm sowwy! I- I didn’t mean to- I, you scared me, I, I’m trying to help-”
Jax frowned, looking at himself, and then back at the others, who were perfectly hidden, before looking back to Button. “I- thank you? But how exactly are you helping?”
Button looked troubled, but kept her composure, and looked confident with her reply. “ You now look like uh those people!” She exclaimed, pointing to the other ponies, who were Npcs. “Teeth no find you!”
Jax didn’t exactly have words, as he was a bit speechless. That would have been smart, except for the fact that for 1, Caine could snap them back, and that they all looked like their character designs. But otherwise, this deer was sort of smart. He respected that.
“Why you look like that?” She questioned, pointing out Jax’s expression, in which he thought he hid well. “I can turn you back.” She offered, thinking that was the problem. Poor girl.
“I mean, that would be nice, though wouldn’t Caine just know it was us due to, well how we look?”
The girl seemed to ponder this for a little bit, before biting on her lip in defeat. “Hmm, good point Jaxxy! Mmm, I could turn you all into small beans!”
Jax made sure to immediately shake his head at the suggestion. “No, no I think that's fine. I-” He hesitated in speaking. He looked back to where the others would have been hiding, before continuing with his sentence. “I appreciate you helping Button, but we can handle Caine. I don’t want him getting mad at uh, you, you know?”
When the others volunteered for him to go up and help her, he didn’t understand why, but perhaps now he did. He was the funny one. He will even admit it, he was a manipulator, and he was definitely doing the same thing that he did with everyone else to Button, to get what he wanted, yeah, definitely, he didn’t care about this deer.
Though the deer seemed to see through his mask that he hid behind, which he hated. He would be seen as weak, and he wasn’t weak. He cared about no one.
Button wiped a tear from her eyes, and looked up at Jax, before putting her hooves together. “Is everyone mad at me?” She asked with the most utter innocence in the world. The rest of the group heard that part, and they all would be lying if they said it didn’t hit them in the feelings.
“What? No kid, we’re mad at Caine, the teeth guy. He’s a complete and utter meanie.” Jax couldn’t believe he was saying those kinds of words, but hey, this was a kid, might as well play into it.
“You want me to turn you backs?”
Jax nodded quickly, so eager to be turned back to normal. “Yes, we would very much appreciate that.”
She nodded, and focussed a bit, and everything turned to normal, everything that was fun and cutesy turned into the circus, and all the pony npcs just disappeared.
Jax looked down at himself, and was grateful to see his normal purple body of a rabbit. Good.
“Dat better?” Button asked, still on the ground. She was still scared, but she was more nervous.
“Yep! Thanks kid! Uh, want me to get you back to your uh, parents?”
Ragatha sighs, and face palms, before coming out of the hiding spot, and goes to Button, which makes her break out into a hopeful smile.
“Mommy!” The little girl exclaimed, running and jumping into Ragatha's arms.
Ragatha had to admit, she was pretty caught off guard when the little girl called her ‘mommy’ but it felt natural in a way.
“Hi! You have a fun time uh-” She looked to where Jax was, and saw the fireworks. Oh. So that's what was lit off. Ragatha did not like that this child was lighting fireworks, but she supposed if it was digital…it might’ve been fine? Though she didn’t really wanna bring that up. “Talking with Jax?”
She gave a thumbs up, and just tucked her head in Ragatha’s shoulders. “No more teeth guy.”
“Honey, I can’t control if or when Caine appears. He just…does that, and talks loud.”
Button let out a whimper, but didn’t say anything regardless of that.
Pomni soon approached, though, a bit awkwardly. Ragatha was already adapting so well to being the caretaker of this child and Pomni- she was pretty sure this kid didn’t even acknowledge her. At this point Jax has connected better than she has.
At that thought, she frowned to herself, and shuffled a bit away from everybody else. Ragatha seemed to have it handled, no need for her, right?
She soon found herself on the couch, dangling her legs back and forth, stuck in her thoughts, not even realizing a presence was approaching.
“You good Pomni?”
Pomni looked up, and was surprised to see Zooble, looking down at her. Pomni was kind of not expecting Zooble to be the one to check on her. Yes they were mutuals, but they didn’t really talk much. Well, not as much as she and Ragatha talked. Zooble was mainly with Gangle, so that also played a part in her not speaking with Zooble.
“Uh- yeah! Yeah, I’m fine.” She muttered, before smiling to Zooble. “Just uh, regaining my bearings from being a…you know, horse.”
Zooble nods, but doesn’t look fully convinced. “Yeah. Well, you looked a bit- well, upset a few minutes ago, and then went away from the group so, I know that usually means someone is upset.”
Pomni let out a small groan, before giving up the whole act. “I’m usually the one comforting people.”
“I can tell.” They said, “Spill, what’s on your mind?”
Pomni continued kicking her legs. She honestly didn’t know what was wrong. Never in her life had she ever thought about feeling like this. Honestly she didn’t even want children, it wasn’t a thing she had dreamed about or wanted, let alone the feeling of…what was this, jealousy?
She immediately felt a pit in her stomach. She shouldn’t be feeling jealous of Ragatha’s connection to Button. It wasn’t Ragatha’s fault she bonded better with children.
Pomni realized she was spacing off, and apologized. “I-i’m sorry. It’s just- I’m not so good with my own emotions. With others, yeah I’m good, give me all that trauma, but me personally? Yeah, nooo.”
Zooble nodded, understanding what Pomni was saying. “I get that. I’m like that too. Gangle helps a lot though. I suggest opening up to the people who will understand you. For example, me and Gangle share that we have these…avatar gimmicks.” And to show what they meant, they detached their arm, before putting it back on.
“Right.” She nodded, looking to where Ragatha was.
Zooble observed where Pomni was looking, and hummed. They were a good at reading people, and Pomni did wear her feelings on her sleeve. “Is this about Ragatha and uh- what was her name?”
“Button.” Pomni replied easily, before nodding to the question. “That obvious?”
“Not really. The most obvious thing is the jealousy.”
Pomni immediately whipped her head to Zooble. “Wait! What?! How did you-”
“I read people like- insanely well. Like how Jax obviously has some shit going on, and how Ragatha has mommy issues that influences how she treats people and you-”
“What? I what?” Pomni yelled, though, not meaning to. Her mind was just all over the place at the moment.
Zooble was a bit taken back by Pomni’s outburst, but they kept their composure. “You are a love sick baby.”
“What-!”
“You heard me. You’re pretty much head over heels for Ragatha, and seeing her with that baby does things to you, but also, you feel like you should also be forming a connection with Button, since you got appointed mother of a child you just met. That’s pretty overwhelming for me to even think about, I can’t imagine how it is for you.”
Pomni looked a bit shocked that Zooble knew that much. She was pretty sure she hid her emotions well but- she supposed not. “Woah, you got all that just now?”
“Technically it’s been forming a bit now, well 2 hours or so, but yeah.” They shrugged, they could tell Pomni most likely needed to talk with Ragatha, but they would have to ease Pomni into doing it.
“You know, Ragatha wouldn’t be upset if you told her this. She’s quite the jealous person herself. She would be quite the hypocrite if she yelled at you for being jealous.” They supplied. That was quite true. Ragatha was always trying to get Pomni’s attention, and when she didn’t get that and someone did…it was quite obvious to everyone that she was frustrated.
Pomni sighed, thinking about it. She knew what they were doing. They wanted her to talk with Ragatha. Why was the thought more terrifying than her feelings? “Y-yeah, you’re right. Just- I shouldn’t be jealous of this! It’s a kid, obviously they won’t like people as much as others.”
Zooble was now confused. How did Pomni know the kid didn’t like her? “Wait, how do you know that? Did she state that out loud?”
“No, but…”
“Well then you don’t know that. Honestly Pomni, just tell Ragatha all this and I can probably promise Ragatha will guide you through it. It just takes time for people. Some can get along with others fast, while some people…” They look down to themselves subconsciously. “-need more time to understand the person.”
Pomni bit her lip. That…actually made some sense. “I- okay. Thanks Zooble…I know we never, you know, talk as much, but if you need a free therapist that isn’t Gangle, hit me up.”
They got a sudden shiver at the mention of a therapist. They got flashbacks to when Caine was their therapist and shuddered. “I think Caine made me traumatized of therapists. But, thank you.”
And with a final smile, Pomni got up from where she had been sitting, and made her way to where Ragatha was. At least she was making relationships.