//------------------------------// // The Road to Baltimare, plus first date! woo! // Story: New Horizons // by Nugget27 //------------------------------// The next morning, none of us wasted any time getting a move on. We brush our teeth, Cadance and Chrysalis brushed their manes and tails, and the three ponies present had a quick serving of canned flavored shit(aka canned apples), and we were about ready to get a move on. When we all hopped back into the wagon, Shining armor looked around before his eyes inevitably fell upon me. He noted how despite this being a horse pulled wagon, there was no ‘horse’ pulling the wagon forward.   “So, Ostri, how are we going to get moving if we’re all in here?” He asked. “I thought you were pulling the wagon.” “No, I wasn’t. Blaze was.” “But… she is in the wagon too, you’re using her as a pillow while reading a Daring Do book.” I looked it over before humming.  “Hey Blaze, wanna pull the wagon?” “It is my job, Ostri, so yes I do.” Her eyes lit up and our wagon started moving down the road. “Will this suffice until we reach our first destination? And no, it will not be Ponyville; this road stops there first for some reason. We’re heading west towards Baltimare as soon as we are done here. That’s our first stop,” she said. Both of our new traveling buddies were just staring at Blaze in pure shock. Not too long after the wagon started moving, I was just laying there, idly stroking my fox’s jaw. “Ostri,” I looked up at Cadance the moment she spoke up. “Whaddup?” I asked. “Are you sure this is fine with Blaze? Most unicorns that end up doing this, stuff like this, tire out quickly.” “You see… Kitsunes are a lot stronger than the average unicorn. I’d say if Blaze were pissed off enough, she could probably beat the shit out of Twilight. I think. Never really got a gauge on how strong Blaze’s magic is, but in a battle of raw attrition, you aren’t beating her. From what I’ve been told by Blaze, as kitsunes get older, they become more magic-based and not… well, flesh and blood-based. Blaze is a thousand years old, and is an entirely magical entity at this point; she doesn’t get tired. “Granted, she loves sleeping, and eating occasionally, and clearly enjoys physical contact,” I nodded to how Blaze was now laying her head on my neck. “Bud,” I chuckled and nuzzled her. “She’s gotten a lot cuddlier after I returned from getting sent through time and space against my will.”  Cadance tilted her head, like she was gauging the two of us. “You do know what I’m the princess of, correct?” “Love?” I asked. “You are correct. I help ponies find love, I can tell a pony if there is no love in their relationship off the bat, and if there will be no love in that relationship. Sometimes my emotions do cloud my judgment, like when Luna lied to me about how you two broke up,” both she and Shining Armor snorted. “And I can even sense just platonic love. If it’s love, I can sense it; I am an empath, basically. I believe my abilities will never be anywhere near as robust as… Chrysalis, for example, since she literally eats emotions, but I can sense others’ emotions, with love of any form being the one I can pick up the most.” “Huh. So…” “It’s also why I’m leaving Canterlot. After seeing the lengths Luna has gone to, just to keep you in a loveless relationship for ‘war knowledge’ or whatever. Then she and Auntie Celestia have the audacity to come back, after already breaking you down in so many ways that you’re almost emotionally dead, to ask if you’d like to fight a war for them. After saying things to you that clearly stung in a different way for you than it would’ve for others… ‘undeserving of love’?” She asked. “What does that mean to you, if you don’t mind me asking?” “I’m an orphan. Never really had anyone to love me up until I started dating Luna a thousand years ago.” I chuckled humorlessly. “God damn, we were awful. We did every little thing together besides any oddjobs I had, I fought a battle for her, kissed at every opportunity. It was lovely. Fuck, hearing the voice that used to whisper to me about how much she loved me, to that? Ah, any love that I did have for that woman died. All I’ve wanted is somebody to call family, and now I’ve got Chrysalis and Blaze to call family. “I didn’t want to get dumped into the future of a world where I’ve found a family in, I didn’t wanna fight a battle. I didn’t want to fight a war. I didn’t wanna get emotionally beaten and slapped around to the point of me no longer caring about others around me, aside from these two,” I felt Chrysalis creep up behind me just to wrap her forelegs around my neck. I laughed as she pulled me off of Blaze and started showering me with kisses, nuzzles, nips, the whole shabang.  Once we calmed down, Blaze took the time to climb up on both of us, draping her torso across mine and Chrysalis’s sides, while her tails wrapped around us like a protective little barrier. I sighed and rested my head on the changeling’s neck while we stared at the royal couple. Shining started chuckling. “Boy, I never thought I’d see the day where Chrysalis is more affectionate, genuinely affectionate, for another creature in my life. And then she’s more loving than Auntie Luna and Auntie Celestia?” “I know. What a bizarre time to be alive, is it not?” Chrysalis shrugged. “I just care about not being alone anymore. Believe it or not, but changelings are highly social creatures, relying on a weird mixture of a pack and herd structure. We either need another changeling, or we need another creature to bond with. So imagine how I felt when Ostri showed me genuine affection when we first reunited. And then I get this little hunk of stallion all to myself… romantically, at least. Blaze wouldn’t let me fully keep custody over this little morsel.” We watched the wagon as it slowly pulled out of Ponyville. Luckily, since Twilight and her friends were stuck in Canterlot for the time being, we weren’t bothered. We did get a few looks, since the wagon just looked like it was moving on our own, but it took us no time to just fully get away from Ponyville; it was basically a one stop-shop town. You stop, you get gas or call a local a dumbshit, and leave. Chrysalis stuck a hoof out the wagon, which quickly took the form of a human hand, as she flipped off… Starlight Glimmer. “Yeah!” I laughed. “Vete a La mierda, perra!” It took two years of Spanish class for me to learn how to say that properly.  “What the buck did you just say?” Shining Armor asked. “Called Starlight a bitch. Is that not accurate?” “Well, she was one until she reformed…” Cadance admitted. “See? A bitch,” I chuckled. “Ah, I shouldn’t be too mean. She actually felt bad about not being able to send me back to my time, before I got yoinked from it… Do you guys not speak a lick of spanish?” “No… what even is Spanish?” Cadance asked.  “Ostri, stop speaking strange languages from your old homeworld. It is strange.” “No. Me gusta hablar de maneras que confundan a los ponis.” I got hit with a newspaper. Two, actually. Cadance and Chrysalis blinked, realizing that both of them had newspapers. They smirked, before they started to promptly assault me at the same time, with their newspapers while I did my best to shield myself.  “Blaze, save me!”  “Got it,” Blaze threw me into the middle of the wagon, where the newspapers followed… only for Blaze to jump, land on top of me, and keep me pinned under her big, fluffy butt. It wasn’t heavy, Blaze is a magical entity, but like… “I saved you from being assaulted by newspapers, did I not?” She glared at Shining Armor who was snickering. Within moments, both he and I were pinned under the kitsune. “Mec, c’est vraiment nul.” I grumbled. “Ostri, stop speaking in ‘French'. These ponies only know of the language that you’re referring to as ‘English’ in your head. In fact, most creatures on Equus will only know English.” We remained somewhat quiet for the rest of the trip. Shining Armor, despite us not getting started on the right hoof, was actually pretty chill. Apparently our favorite royal couple started seeing just how manipulative their mother country’s diarch is, and were just dying to get away. Granted, there still was a war going on, apparently, but like, none of us particularly care. Well, Shiny did; he is a guard at heart and wants to keep ponies safe, which is completely fair to him. He just agreed with the argument that Equestria, for all intents and purposes, can easily mop the floor with the Yetis.  Halfway through the day, we ended up stopping around a small lake. I hummed… Fish sounds good. I hopped off the wagon and made my way down to the pond and took a nice, long look in it. The fish in this bitch are huge! Oh… I have no idea how to cook a fish, but Blaze might. Chrysalis and Blaze were watching me while Cadance and Shining were getting the camp set up. Only when Cadance looked up, did she urged Shiny to join us by the lake. “Do you plan on swimming again, Ostri?” Shining asked.  “Mmm. I’m tempted. But also, fish. It has been so long since I’ve had any form of meat, and fishsticks sound good right now.” I hummed. “Or just a slice of salmon.” “...What were you before you became a pony?” Cadance asked. “You should not be having urges for meat. Ponies can eat meat, but only do so if they have protein deficiencies; I’ve never seen one crave meat before.” “I was a hairless, omnivorous ape. I didn’t like fish all that much, but I can’t get KFC, and I can’t eat a steak since that would require eating a sapient creature. Fish is the next best thing!” I pulled my knife out and started watching the water. Shining became more interested in my knife skills after that, as he watched the water with me. In a heartbeat, my hoof shot forward, and my knife caught a knifely-I’ll kill myself now- sized fish. I looked it over, while Blaze started sniffing it. “I can teach you how to get the parts you want to eat off of this one,” Blaze shrugged. “Cooking it would be another story, but Chrysalis and I can probably tell when it would be safe to eat just with our magic…” Blaze took the fish from me before walking into a nearby bush. Not too long after she walked out with a sliced up, perfectly butchered fish. “I figured I would just save you the hassle, Ostri. No point in making our pony travellers more uncomfortable.” “We don’t even mind,” Cadance waved a hoof. “I’ve seen griffins eat, everypony needs to eat, and have preferences for what they want to eat. I do know how to cook a fish should I ever get a griffin ambassador on short notice. I even like fish in small amounts. I can get that cooked up real quick, and we can have a nice lunch.” “Offering my mate a lovely lunch, Cadance? Your husband is right there, you know,” Chrysalis said with a shit eating grin. “Oh shut up, Chrysalis, you’re right there and I would like to think that I know better than to take your mate from you.” “That you do. It is why I haven’t jumped you. If I knew how to cook, however, I would be more than willing to offer my stallion a nicely cooked dinner.” “I can show you how to cook a fish,” Cadance offered. “At least then you can do it in the future with the fish. It’ll just smell really bad.” “I can live with that.” The two trotted on over to the fire while me and Shining looked at our respective marefriend and wife as their hips swayed. They actually swayed a lot more than usual. Chrysalis looked over her shoulder and grinned; she knew exactly what she was doing, and Cadance definitely knew what she was doing to Shiny. The two of us sat there while Blaze rolled her eyes and jumped in the lake to wash the blood off.  “Those are the nicest set of hips on anypony ever,” Shining Armor whispered. “I didn’t think I’d be watching a horse’s ass sway in my life, or be turned on by it, let alone a bughorse, yet here I am.”  “We’re the luckiest stallions in Tartarus, Ostri. You know that, right?” “That we are. It’s a good feeling, ain’t it?” “That it is, my guy, that it is.”  “Hey Shiny, where’d Cadance get socks from?” Our respective girls were wearing socks. “Uh… yes.” We joined the girls at the fire and were promptly snuggled up to said girls while Cadance taught Chrysalis how to tell when a fish was cooked thoroughly. Soon after, us ponies were eating fish on skewers while Chryssy had a nibble of mine just to see what it tasted like. It ended with me and Chrysalis sharing our skewer. It was a bit of a surprise, seeing just how much we all got along after a day, but like… especially Cadance and Chrysalis. They had to coordinate that hip swaying thing. They just knew it would break mine and Shining Armor’s brains. Then the whole sock thing. “I think you two are just gonna take this whole roadtrip to torture us stallions with your lady-charms,” I noted after we finished our food. “Well, what else are me and Cadance supposed to do? We’re running tests to see which of you two are cuter, what turns you on the most, all that fun stuff. I’ve been alive for a thousand years, and Cadance believes she can learn a thing or two from me. So far, it has been rather exciting, especially when you started watching my hips, you naughty little stallion.” “In all fairness, I have no excuse. They’re nice hips.” Cadance giggled. “Oh dear, you two are getting along so much better than I would’ve expected.” She hugged Shining Armor. “I’m glad we left Canterlot when we did; initially Celestia and Luna told us to go along with you, since we needed to head home anyways, so that we could try and manipulate you into coming back to Luna’s embrace. I don’t see myself doing that, it’s messed up and unfair to you, and…” She pointed at how Chrysalis started looking angry. “You want to-” “If I see Princess Luna again, I am going to kick her flanks so hard that it’ll send her flying to the moon!” Chrysalis vibrated in sheer rage for a moment. “You were at least upfront with what those old hags were trying to do, which I do appreciate. I assume you two are just here to enjoy the ride and get smuggled home because of the impending war?” “Yeah…” Shiny rubbed the back of his head. “Luna rubbed us both the wrong way after what she had said to Ostri, on top of all the other things she’s apparently been doing to him. Poor fella just needs a moment to relax and unwind.” “And this road trip helped me do that,” I noted as I sipped on ‘canned coffee’. “I’m having a blast at just having some peace and quiet.” The next few days were pretty much the same, travel a few miles west, take a detour if necessary, then we stop, have lunch, and keep moving. This repeated until we reached Baltimare. Much like Baltimare, it was on the coast, but not of the ocean. Baltimare was on the coast of a huge lake that was more akinned to an inland sea than a lake. It essentially took up the spot where Ohio should’ve been, and Baltimare was on the coast of that. We stopped when we reached a small suburb, stretched our legs out at the park, and started walking. “How do you know nopony will steal your wagon?” Cadance asked. “Blaze hit it with an invisibility spell. Nopony’s even gonna know it’s there.” “Huh… I never thought about doing that before.” “That is because we Kitsune are masters at hiding things, or ourselves, and are naturals in spells that conceal us, or whatever we wish to hide. My kind likes to remain elusive for a reason, Cadance. This is how we continue to remain elusive.” She hummed. “Though I am not doing that good of a job at it myself; I am only the pet of a pegasus, traveling with a rather… renowned Queen.” Now was a good time to mention that everypony was staring at our group. With a kitsune, the Crystal Empire’s princess and prince, Chrysalis, and myself, we were an odd little group. “How… is it demeaning for you to be Ostri’s pet?” Cadance asked. “I know you love him, but you’re clearly a sapient being.” “It does not. I am more animalistic than you think; using telepathy is still rather difficult for me. It’s hard conveying animalistic thoughts into that of the Equish language. I rather enjoy being petted, I like playing fetch,” now was a good time to mention that Blaze was carrying her rubber ball in her mouth. “And I love being around Ostri, so it’s a win-win. We’re also soulmates, literally soulmates, so there’s also that. If I wanted to be treated with respect, I wouldn’t demand belly rubs at every opportunity. However, I do not care for such things.” “...Soulmates?” Cadance asked.  “Don’t question it, Cadance,” I waved a hoof. “Basically me and Blaze are best buds.” “Alright, then, Ostri. So why did you want to stop in Baltimare, and why did we stop so far away from downtown?” We were only a couple miles south of downtown, it was still kinda far, but I guess that was a fair question. “You saw the map I’ve got in the wagon, right?” Cadance nodded. “Well, Equestria is mostly centered around the mountain range that Mount Canterlot happens to be on,” Chrysalis chose now to give me a more pocketable, if I had pockets, version of the map of Equestria. I pointed at where the Appalachian mountain range was. “It just happens that Mount Canterlot is surrounded by mostly flat terrain that allows for places like Ponyville to exist. In my world, which is very similar to yours, just different sea levels and slight differences in geography.” Cadance and Shining Armor were looking over my shoulders as we watched. Chrysalis, because of her beautifully long legs, could easily see what I was pointing at without looking over my shoulder.  I pointed to where Maryland was, which was almost untouched by Equestria. “This is where Baltimore, the human equivalent of Baltimare is located.” I pointed to the Great Buckeye Lake, aka where Ohio should be. “Baltimare is right here, though. With that said, I wanted to see this place, since it’s also on the way to the Badlands and Manehattan; two other places I wanna stop at.” I noted how the streets stopped suddenly and went down to a little dock, which led to the complex canal system that Baltimare was apparently renowned for.  “This is where I wanted mine and Chrysalis’s first date, me, trying to row her down a canal in a gondola, failing while Chryssy makes fun of me, and we have a good laugh… and dinner after all is said and done. That, that is why I want to come to Baltimare, Cadance.” Cadance’s eyes widened before drifting to me and Chrysalis. “By the Sun…” she whispered. “I think it just now hit me that you two are genuinely dating now,” Cadance chuckled. “Well, I always did want to explore the city back when I wasn’t a princess. Me and Shining Armor can watch Blaze for you while you and Chrysalis get started on your date.” “That would be awesome. This is why you’re the best princess, Cadance.” Blaze immediately started flanking the pink alicorn.  “Enjoy your date!” Blaze said before picking Cadance up by the scruff of her neck and started carrying her deeper into the city. Shining Armor was shaking his head, but followed the kitsune along like an obedient puppy. Once those three were out of sight, Chrysalis nuzzled me. “I didn’t think you wanted this place to be the spot for our first date,” she whispered. “Is… this bad?” “No, I’m quite pleasantly surprised. Usually the female changeling, or female pony making date plans.” “Mmm, usually with humans, it’s kinda impressive for the guy to come up with plans for the date. I think. I dunno. This is only my second time dating anyone; I’m only mentally about nineteen, Chrysalis.” “...What?” Chrysalis asked. “Nineteen!?” “Yeah. I was mentally eighteen when I first started dating Luna. I will admit, I was a bit of a prick during that time. I like to think that I’ve improved, but I probably didn’t-” “Ostri, you’re barely nineteen, you are an adult, but you are quite young. I still wish to try dating you, but do know that I am going to be cautious. I know how easy it is to manipulate somepony so young. I want this to be my first, genuine relationship, not a manipulation…” Chrysalis snarled. “Those two assholes had to know how young you were, and ruined you. If I had enough love, I’d beat Tartarus into Celestia and shove Luna’s head up her own flanks!” Chrysalis shook her head before nuzzling me. “Sorry, Ostri. Even though I have standards, and while I know I am not a good changeling, I just… “What Luna did is wrong even to me. I am the same changeling that almost took over Equestria, at the expense of every mare, stallion, and foal. The fact that Celestia knew what she was doing, and urged Luna into helping, and Luna doing what she did without questioning her sister?” Chrysalis pulled me in for a nice, long hug. I blinked a couple of times, before leaning into it. “Come now, this is a date, not me talking about how I will personally beat the flanks off of those two horrid ponies. Let’s enjoy our afternoon. Shall we, Ostri?” We proceeded to find a place where we could rent out gondolas, and we were promptly denied service because of Chrysalis being Chrysalis. So we were just sitting on a bench, on one of the many docks for the canals. I was sitting like a human, holding my head in my hooves as I was grumbling about ponies being racist. Chryssy was rubbing my back, in a way Luna never did; a comforting away that made me feel good about myself. “You don’t need to give me a ride in a boat, Ostri, you are aware of that right?” “I still wanted to. It would’ve been such a good date too!” I pouted. “I was looking forward to this and everything!” “I know, dear. I’m disappointed that you couldn’t pull through on your plans, but take it from me, Ostri. As a mare that has had many plans literally blow up in her face, just let it go. We can still possibly get a gondola if I transform and rent one out…” She paused. “Nevermind, that stupid stallion required an ID and proof of citizenship in Equestria to rent a boat.” She hugged me. “We can get ice cream, you tell jokes as stallions like to do, and we can share stories. That is rather typical of pony courtships.” “Mmm, alright. I do have a really fun one my Dad used to tell me.” “And what was it?” Chrysalis asked. “I dunno the joke. My Dad never told me that.” “...Why is that?” “Dad left before I was born. My Mom did tell me the joke…” I pointed at myself. “It was me, since I’m a shitty joke; she did drop me as soon as I was born too.” “Oh my, bucking, Hive, Ostri. That is messed up.” “Hey, it’s not all that bad. At least what Luna did to me was… only the third worse thing to happen to me? Or second? Being a horse isn’t too bad.” “Ostri, ‘horse’ is a slur for ponies.” “I know. Still, being dumped by Luna was the second worst thing to happen to me, an orphan.” Chrysalis smirked. “Hey, it’s making you smile at least.” “You are lucky that I enjoy a little dark humor. Do you know what the loudest noise in the emergency room is in hospitals?” She asked.  “The heart rate monitor flatlining?” I asked. We both blinked, before we started giggling like a pair of idiots. “God we are awful.” I leaned into her while she let out the cutest little giggle I’ve heard in a hot minute. “Wanna go grab dinner somewhere? We’ll have to get takeout.” “I wouldn’t mind eating physical food right now, as long as there are no apples; I’m a little allergic. However, why must we get takeout?” Chrysalis asked. “I like seeing your gorgeous face over whatever disguise you can come up with. So we need to get takeout so I can keep looking at it while we eat dinner.” “...Ostri, that is the cheesiest, most botched attempt of flirting I’ve ever heard from a stallion. And I’ve been told my hooves are sexy.” “...But they’re hooves.” “I know.” I guess foot fetishes are a thing in ponyland too. “I do appreciate the effort. Though I doubt I can be the prettiest thing you’ve ever seen.” “You are very pretty, though. And awesome!” I gestured to all of her. “Cute, floppy little ears, lovely mane and tail, badass fangs? The horn being jagged? Fucking nice. You look badass, and you’ve got nice legs, and beautiful eyes. She lowered herself so I could properly position her head with my hooves. “You’re beautiful, Chryssy.” “I don’t think I’ve heard anypony say that to my natural form before,” Chrysalis giggled. “It feels nice, being called pretty, you know.” “I sure hope you like being called pretty; if you didn’t, I’d question my approach of dating anything female.” “Way to ruin the moment, Ostri! You could’ve stayed silent, we kiss, and then we go get dinner! Dammit!” “What can I say? I ruined parents’ lives so much that they died to death… I think.” We chuckled and shared another kiss. Meanwhile. “I knew they’d kiss on the first date!” Cadance hoof pumped from a rooftop. She and Blaze had been following the couple to the gondola rental shop, up until they sat on a bench. Shining Armor got dragged along for the ride, while both the alicorn and kitsune were placing bets.  “They aren’t kissing, they’re nuzzling each others’ noses now. Though they were kissing for a brief moment. Nothing more than a peck,” Blaze clapped her paws. “Oh, this is going to do so much for Ostri!” “I know! After what my… they aren’t my aunts anymore, but those two. Well, after what Princess Celestia and Luna have done to him, Ostri needs every bit of good he can get. Chrysalis… admittedly has been getting mentally deranged since her latest defeat; she deserves this too. I’m just glad that the two of them seem to be getting along nicely.” She watched as Ostri walked into a nearby restaurant and walked out with two takeout boxes, one entree, and one box full of breadsticks. The entree was spaghetti. “And… he is stealing an idea from a story in his world,” Blaze rolled her eyes as Ostri and Chrysalis accidentally kissed after they both got ahold of one magically long noodle.  No, Chrysalis did not magically make that happen; she only planned that out the moment she realized that they were going to a Poman restaurant.  “Can we go get ice cream like we planned?” Shining asked. “Or are we just going to follow those two around like a bunch of creeps?" “We will, after Chrysalis and Ostri… phewy, Ostri fell asleep on a bench…” Chrysalis turned one of her wings into that of a pegasus, before slowly draping it over her stallion. She nuzzled Ostri, and glared at anypony that so much as glared in her general direction; they might want to harm her and possibly hurt Ostri in the process. Though Chrysalis made it clear; Ostri was hers, and hers alone.