//------------------------------//
// Chapter 21: Back to Ponyville  
// Story: The (Mis)adventures of Nava: Book One 
// by Navanastra 
//------------------------------//

                                                                                            Chapter 21: Back to Ponyville
Edited by: Chrome Masquerade
Proofread by: Midnight Gear 
PanzerBrony Metallicom 
Darkwip   

“Thanks for letting him stay here for a while, AJ.” Dash thanked the orange farm pony while she gave a nod of approval.

“No problem Dash, a friend o’ yers is a friend o’ mine.” she then turned to me. “But, of course, that will mean that y’all will have t’ work at the farm from time to time as well to earn you keep here, friend.” Applejack explained.

I nod. “No problem for me, really. Honestly I could probably use the exercise.” I replied with a smile.

“True, true.” AJ replied with a nod as she seemed to observe my hind legs.

“Well, anyway. I gotta go. See you in the morning Nava.” Dash announced as she gave her wings a few test flaps.

“Sure thing. See you tomorrow as well, RD!” I told her back, to which she gave me a nod before taking off.

AJ and I watched her for a while as she quickly disappeared into the night sky. AJ’s attention swiftly turned back to me after Dash had left our line of sight.

“Well then, no point in standing here in the dark. C’mon, let me show you our home and the room where y’ can stay.” AJ suggested before leading the way and gesturing me with a hoof to follow.

I did so.
As the two of us made our way to the family farm house in the middle of the orchard, taking this moment to mentally reflect back on all the events that had happened today so far.

After Flitter and Cloud had returned from Cloudsdale with all my stuff, they had decided to not go with Dash and me back to Ponyville simply because they had to go back to work the next day. Which was a bit of a shame, really, but they also promised to come visit me in Ponyville whenever they had free time in their hands. Hooves. Whatever.

That in the end simply left just me and Dash to return to Ponyville via hooves and even managed to get there long before it was dawn.

The first obvious choice was for me to stay at RD’s place, but that got scrapped when it was clear very, very quickly that my lack of flight could become a major problem. That and we both agreed that having her constantly carry me up and down would be both incredibly burdensome for her and very awkward and embarrassing for me.

Which eventually lead to AJ’s place, where I am now following the orange mare through her family orchard to their home.

“There it is, our home and our barn right next to it. Can ya see it?” AJ announced while gesturing at the direction she was looking at with a hoof.

I followed her gaze, and to nobody's surprise I did manage to see the Apple Family’s farmhouse in the distance.

I gave her a nod. “Yes, I can see it. Quite the cozy looking home you and your family have there. It looks very lovely.” I replied kindly which made her chuckle at my choice of words.

“Well, thanks fer thinkin’ so. Most city folks actually don’t think so when they ever first lay eyes on our residence. Yer already alright in my book  just for sayin’ that.” AJ replied with another chuckle.

I just smiled before Applejack suddenly leaned in to whisper something in my ear. “By the way, if my little sister Apple Bloom ever gives ya too much trouble during your stay, just tell me. I’ll just send her off to keep her busy, or have her do chores.” Applejack whispered, which in turn made me chuckle a bit.

“Don’t worry about It, AJ, I am somewhat good with kids. But I will keep that in mind regardless.” I responded, which made her nod before we finally reached the open area in which both the house and the farm are located.

Once again, it was yet another picture-perfect image compared to the show, though a more realistic version, of course.

AJ and I stepped onto the front porch before she went ahead and opened the door, gesturing for me to get in first as she held it open. “Gentlecolts first.” she said.

I gave her a thankful smile and nod as I entered her home. Again, the interior was another picture-perfect illustration, though my thoughts were quickly stopped from making comparisons any further as AJ stepped into the house as well before closing the door.

“WE GOT A VISITOR EVERYPONY! COME ON OUT AND GIVE HIM A WARM APPLE WELCOME!” AJ suddenly shouted with a lot of enthusiasm in her tone.

The very first pony to show up after her announcement was an old looking mare, emerging from what looked to be the kitchen on the other side of the room. She had a green coat and snow white mane and tail, both of which were braided into buns.

I immediately recognized her as the old Apple Family member Granny Smith herself.

She slowly made her way over to us before greeting me with a warm and welcome smile that, only a grandmother could give.

“Well hello there, young’un, I see that AJ finally brought a stallion over. Was actually about time, if you ask me. A mare only stays fertile for s’long before her years are finally past her. So what is your coltfriend’s name,  Applejack?” Granny Smith announced which, cause both of me and AJ to look at her in both surprise and utter shock at the sheer boldness of her claims.

Both me and AJ immediately started to frantically attempt to salvage whatever was left of this seriously awkward situation as we both started to tell her at the same time that we were not together, dating or even considering the activity that the old mare in front of us had proposed.

Our mix and match words quickly got silenced when old Granny Smith began to chuckle.

“Calm down ya two, I was just joking. Even an old mare like me deserves to poke fun at my little granddaughter some of the time.” Granny Smith announced with another chuckle at the end, a revelation that really didn’t help our situation as both AJ and I simply looking off to the side with embarrassed blushes on our cheeks.

“Did somepony say we have visitors?” A very young voice suddenly perked up before a small yellow filly with a red mane quickly poked her head around the corner above a set stairs on the second floor.

“Applebloom, aren’t ya supposed to be in bed?” Applejack questioned while giving the filly a deadpan look.

The filly rolled her eyes at that before answering. “Well I was until somepony shouted and woke me up.” She countered which made AJ’s gaze soften.

“Oh yeah… right.” AJ commented while rubbing the back of her head.

I simply shook my head and smiled. This could possibly be a family where boredom in their lives would be something of a rarity.

“Anyway, I am sure our guest here is mighty hungry. I would be rude not to offer a new guest anything drink or t’ eat. Would you maybe like some pie and some apple cider young’un?” Granny Smith suddenly offered with a kind smile, which I returned with sincerity, as I can already tell that I am going to really like her company. That and she does kind of remind me of my own grandmother, who had long since passed away, sadly.

“That would be very kind of you, miss Granny Smith, but I don’t want to be rude in immediately asking for food and emptying your fridge on my first day.” I replied with a shy smile which was immediately countered by Granny Smith waving a foreleg dejectedly.

“Nonsense, dear. We Apples take hospitality very serious-like. Our home is yer home, so please come, follow me t’ the kitchen so’s I can give ya two some of my homemade apple pie and family cider.” Granny Smith countered, in a friendly tone before trotting of back to the kitchen where she came from. “Also, just call me Granny or Granny Smith. None o’ that miss stuff.”

I was about to object once more when my own stomach decided to betray me on the thought of sweet apples waiting for him. I mentally scolded my belly as AJ began to snicker beside me.

She tapped me on the shoulder, which made me lift my head to look at her. “Come on. Granny Smith’s pies are some o’ the best -if not THE BEST- in all of Equestria. I promise ya will just love ‘em.” AJ suggested before heading over to the kitchen herself and motioning for me to follow her.

I shrugged before following her to the kitchen.

The kitchen itself was very simple. You had your basic looking country kitchen on the right side, while most of the left side was occupied by a large single dining table with a couple of chairs and a few wooden cupboards and paintings alongside the walls. There was even a beautiful looking 19th Century style clock hanging on the far end on the room.

Again, a very simple but cozy looking setup with a 19th Century vibe to it.

I’ll spare you the long details, but overall the late night dinner went off without a hitch. Applebloom was quickly sent back to bed after she came down to see and meet the new stranger (A.K.A me), while i, with the other two Apples simple ate and drank our fair amount of apple pie and cider. I decided to skip the cider simply because I don’t drink any alcohol, which i told them.  both Applejack and Granny Smith, thankfully, were more than happy to bring up some of the non-alcoholic variety, which i gladly accepted.  The apple pie was good as it was, though. I mean sweet heaven up above this was by far THE BEST and SWEETEST apple pie I have ever tasted in my entire life. The sweet juicy taste of freshly picked apples mixed in with a hint of cinnamon was just to die for. Again, i needed to remind myself not to go TOO crazy on all the sweets in this place. no matter how hard it would be to resist otherwise I might have to book a doctor’s appointment very soon or go to the dentist to get my teeth pulled out.

Again, I have no idea how pony metabolism (or alicorn metabolism to be precise) actually works in this world when it comes to sweets or just overall food in general. But unless I can find some definite answers to these questions I am going to stick with my human knowledge of eating and drinking.

Overall, beside the pie and cider, the rest of the late night dinner was pretty quick and straightforward, with Applejack simply introducing me to her elder while also explaining the situation I was in at the moment.

Granny Smith, as expected, had absolutely no troubles with the idea of me temporarily living with them, and even went so far as personally offering that I could stay in their home as long as I wanted to, if I reconsidered the idea of taking her strong and independent granddaughter out on a date, the little old joker.

Besides that, she was happy to announce that their home would be my home as long I was willing to help out at the farm from time to time, which I, of course had zero problems with.

With all of that out of the way, AJ, myself and Granny Smith promptly excused ourselves for the night. Granny tiredly stumbled her way to her room, which was right next to the living room behind the main stairway, while AJ and I climbed up to the first floor.

We passed a couple of doors until we eventually made it to the one on the right side of the corridor (who was also the very last door of it) with a large window at the end of it.

“Alright, Nava, this’ll be yer room while ya stay here.” AJ announced before looking back down the corridor where we just came from. “And that very last door at th’ other end o’ the hall is the bathroom, in case you need it in th’ middle o’ the night.” AJ added while pointing a hoof at the very back end of the hall where indeed another door was.

“But please make sure to always politely knock before opening it, alright? Nopony wants somepony to just suddenly waltz in while you’re takin’ a shower or committing to nature’s urges, if’n ya take my meanin’.” AJ quickly added while looking back at me.

I gave a quick nod to that before my focus went back to the door as AJ opened it.

After a soft *click* sound and a sudden flash of light that immediately illuminated the previously pitch-black interior, I was immediately greeted with a very well furnished and quite cozy-looking bedroom. It basically had everything my room had back in Cloudsdale, only with more knick-knacks and the constantly seen 19th century vibe to it. And also the floors and walls weren’t made of cloud.

As i followed Applejack in, I decided to have a more in depth look around the room. The walls were covered in green-striped wallpaper (Actually, at a closer glance, that was paint, it just REALLY looked like wallpaper) while the floor retained its wooden look with a single large circular rug in the middle of it. A single large window was on the other side of the room right next to a simple-looking bed with sky blue curtains covering it.

Again, overall this room looked, and felt very cozy and welcoming. A very nice place to stay in for a couple of days, or weeks, for sure.

“Well, what d’ya think so far?” AJ suddenly asked, which forced me to end my thoughts and observations to look at her.

I gave her a smile before replying. ”This room looks amazing. Really warm and cozy looking. I love it. Thanks again for allowing me to stay here for a while, AJ. It really is something.” I responded sincerely, which in turn made her smile grow.

“Oh, it's nothin’. Don’t worry about it, sugarcube. As I said, a friend o’ Rainbow Dash’s is a friend o’ mine. Plus it would have been just plain rude of me to not offer you a stay at the farm knowing full well that you don’t have any other place to stay while being here in Ponyville.” AJ responded.

“Anyway, don’t let me hold ya up too much longer, it’s already gettin’ late and I’m sure ya probably have a long day ahead of ya, just as I do. So goodnight, and see ya in the morning.” AJ quickly added before quickly excusing herself from the room and giving a final “goodnight!”, as she closed the door for me.

With all that out of the way, I sighed, giving off a small yawn as exhaustion had finally kicked in, right on cue. Taking off my hat, scarf and glasses then placing everything on the small nightstand right next to the bed while keeping on my jacket (for obvious safety reasons) I climbed myself into my borrowed bed.

“Crap, first got to turn off the lights, though.” I muttered as I quickly got back up. On impulse, i clapped my hooves twice.

Nothing.

“Worth a try.” i sighed as i went to hit the light switch right next to the door before swiftly crawling back into bed.

“Well, here we go Nava. Tomorrow will be the start of me learning magic and possibly getting myself found out by perhaps the second last individual I want to get found out by.” I thought to myself as I simply laid on my back while staring up at white painted ceiling.

I yawned. “Let that be future Nava’s problem and not mine. Let’s just try to get some sleep before I kill it with all my mental worrying and musing. I’ll definitely need my full strength in the morning if I am going to be spending it with the purple OCD mare.”  I mentally told myself as sleepiness was finally taking its full toll on me as I slowly closed my eyes to drift off.

It didn’t take long for the gentle and peaceful embrace of sleep, to finally take me off back to dreamland, or Silver land to be honest.

………………………………………………………………………………………

“Are you sure you don’t need any help with your apple bucking AJ? I am sure that 4 ha- I mean, eight hooves are better than four.” I tried to reason while watching her do the job she is known for doing on her family farm.

It was more of an excuse, really, to postpone my meeting with Twilight as much as I possibly could. I do not know how and why it works the way it does, but you're confidence always automatically wavers at the very last second, when in the days prior to this I was all about the idea of going to meet Twilight and getting my magic fixed up or something. Kind of like agreeing on going with the operation your doctor recommended you take and then having second thoughts on it the day it's scheduled to take place, because that is exactly how I felt today.

“Nope, not today. Me and Big Mac got it covered. Perhaps tomorrow when we hafta harvest a ton o’ apples fer a buyer all the way back in Manehattan. Havin’ some extra hooves helping us with that would be a huge load offa our flanks. So you just go ahead with Dash over there to whatever place you two are planning to go.” AJ answered before kicking yet another tree and watching the shiny red goodness rained down into pre-placed baskets below them.

I was about to say something, when Dash suddenly tapped me on the side impatiently while giving me a slight annoyed look as well.

“Come on, dude. stop beating around in the bushes already and let’s go. Why the hay do you suddenly feel so nervous anyway? We are just going to Twilight's.” Dash questioned while giving me a curious look.

I was about to answer her as well before it was AJ turned to interrupted me. “You two’re going to Twi’s place? Why the hay would ya two go there anyway?” AJ asked curiously as she moved herself to another tree next to her.

“Oh, just personal reasons. Nothing special.” RD answered quickly, which probably carried a completely different meaning, as AJ’s expression suddenly turned into a dangerous looking smirk.

“Oh, ah see what th’ problem is now.” AJ responded while grinning at me. “Good luck on ya though. It’s actually pretty hard to get her off her books and studies and what not unless there is some sort of crisis or problem in town, even with your good looks and what not. But still, good luck though.” AJ responded while keeping her grin.

I immediately began to blush as the misunderstanding of Rainbow’s answer hit home.

“WHAT? NO! IT’S… IT'S NOT LIKE THAT AT ALL! WE WERE JUST PLANNING TO- ugh, never mind, let’s just go I guess.” I responded in panic before simple sighting in defeat, while keeping my head low.

“There we go, that’s the spirit.” Dash announced happily, which only made me grumble.

“Well, have a nice day then, you two and please keep out of trouble.” AJ announced before looking over at RD with a sudden serious look. “No, seriously. Please keep outta trouble. I know how you work and operate sometimes.” She swiftly added before bucking yet another tree with the same previous results.

“Yeah, yeah I know. Whatevs.” Dash replied while rolling her eyes before leading the way out from the orchard.

I quickly followed her after just waving my final goodbye to AJ. We eventually made it to the front fenced gate of the orchard and started trotting down the road to Ponyville.

After I made sure that me and Dash were alone and out of earshot from the orange farm pony, I immediately decided to confront her about the strangely worded answer she gave AJ.

“What the heck was that weird answer of yours back there? it obviously carried a wrong message and now AJ thinks that I have a crush on Twilight.” I questioned while glaring at the blue Pegasus mare beside me.

She simply scuffed some dirt before punching me on the shoulder playfully with a smirk. “Hey, at least it’s better than just telling her straight the truth now isn’t it?” She explained before her smirk quickly grew. “Besides, if you could somehow get her to really, really like you then explaining yourself in front of her about your alicornhood might be a bit easier than it is now. You should give it a try. You already got the good looks to back it up anyways.” She added with a sly smile which in turn was greeted with me giving her a deadpan look instead.

“For that matter, there’ every possibility that Applejack might know, that Dash wasn’t telling the truth back there.” i thought.

“No, I am not seducing an OCD mare.” I replied. Plus I am still not ready to accept the idea of another species relationship, yet,  despite the fact that I am currently a pony too.

RD simply chuckled at that before the two of us continued the rest of our trek down the hill in silence.

We very soon crossed a small bridge going across a brook connecting the town proper with the rest outside world. It’s actually quite surprising how a supposedly quiet little town in the countryside can have so much buzz and activity happening on its street during midday.

Ponies were walking all around town, going places, talking to other ponies and just going on with their day to day life. Not as busy and full as Cloudsdale, of course, but still you can very much feel the life when walking through these dirt roads. Which was even more true when we passed by the local marketplace which really was more like a hornet's nest of ponies and activity. I even managed to spot Rarity somewhere in the distance talking to a random pony I have never seen before.

But that isn’t really my issue at the moment, though I do have to say that it feels nice to be ignored now, for a change, unlike the first time I was here. Most we passed by where just too busy with their own stuff to ever truly pay me or even Dash any attention.

I think I noticed one or two of them looking our way, but all they did was giving me friendly waves and smiles, which I politely returned. The biggest bonus, though, was the serious lack of pink as I was far from being in the mood for more of her shenanigans.

Again, it didn’t take that long for us to finally reach the iconic golden oak’s library as Dash and I approached the front door.

“Wait… I got an idea.” Dashie suddenly announced, while looking at me with a smile.

“Which is?” I relied while curiously raising my eyebrow at her.

“Let’s greet her in Germane.” She quickly offered with a grin.

I took me a few moments to think on her offer before I nodded and gave her a smile as a reply.

She nods back before getting ready to knock on the door before she suddenly stopped herself as she looked back at me with a bit of worry etched on her features.

“Are you sure you are going to be ok with this?” She questioned. “Once Twi opens this door and sees you for the first time there will be no turning back at that point.” She added, which in turn made again think about my decision and the obvious risk it was going to have.

I started to feel nervous again and having second doubts on my plans, but I quickly shook them all out of my mind as I gave RD a nod to answer her.

“I’m already standing at the front door of Twilight’s home anyway. Might as well go through with this and hope for the best.” I thought to myself as RD started to knock on the door a couple of times before standing back.

“Spike, could you maybe get that door for me?” We heard a muffled voice say, undoubtedly Twilight judging by the femininity of that voice.

“I can’t Twi, I am currently busy with the dishes.” We heard another voice shout back, no doubt Spike, for obvious reasons.

“I wonder what she might be doing that would keep her so busy as not to open the door herself?” I whispered to Dash as the little exchange behind the door continued on.

“Probably sticking her muzzle in a book as usual. I did once told you that she is a real studying buff.” RD whispered back before we heard a muffled groan coming from the other side of the door.

“Fine, fine. I will get it then.” We heard Twilight moan out as we heard a set of clip clopping hooves moving closer to the front door.

I quickly stepped to the side a bit so that Twilight wasn’t able to see me right away when the door suddenly opened and reviling the purple bookish unicorn herself.

“Guten tag, Twilight! Wie gehts wie stehts?” Rainbow dash greeted which immediately caused the unicorn to pause and look at her sideways, confused.

“…what?” I simply heard her reply which was basically my cue to step in and add my two cents as well.

“Genau wie geht es den so twilight altes haus, wie läuft den so seit du in ponyville eingezogen bist?” I added with a smile after I revealed myself by stepping to stand next to Dash.

Twilight at this point just had a completely dumbfounded look with her head slightly tilted to the side as her mouth hang wide open.

“…HUH?” Was her only reaction after a few seconds of just standing there which finally caused us to laugh out loud at her expense.

She eventually shook her head as our laughter continued, glaring at the both of us before we eventually calmed down.

“Oh man you should have seen your face, Twi.” RD chuckled while still trying to catch her breath. “I have never, ever seen a pony look so lost and confused before in my life. Oh, mare. Priceless.” RD added as she finally managed to get control of herself with a few more breaths.

“Well, at least it’s good to know that somepony is having a carefree day.” Twilight commented with a deadpan look which immediately made me stop and think on why she looked somewhat stressed out today.

“She must probably be doing some sort of study again and probably getting frustrated when she wasn’t getting the answers she was looking for.” I thought to myself as I moved my head a bit to the side to have a sneak peek behind Twilight, and wouldn’t you know it I was right as the main library room was nothing but a mess of papers and books laying on the floors.

Twilight's gaze suddenly landed on me when I did that, which quickly forced me to retreat my head back while looking off the side awkwardly as I felt a sudden sense of nervousness wash over me.

“Uhm… Rainbow Dash, who is this stallion with you?” She asked while eye me curiously.

“He is a friend of mine, and actually the main reason why I am here, before you start asking.” Dash replied while stepping close to me.

“Also, you already met him before.” She quickly added which suddenly caused Twilight to sport a look of realization before her gaze swiftly fell back on me.

“Hey, yeah! I remember you.” Twilight announced. “You were with Rainbow Dash during the Summer Sun Celebration when we bumped into each other.” She swiftly added before her gaze suddenly rose, most definitely focused on my horn, which was confirmed when her eyes suddenly went wide.

“Dear Celestia, how is it possible for a unicorn to have such a long horn?” Twilight suddenly shouted out which caused me to flinch away a bit.

“A simple ‘hi’ would have done fine as well, Twilight.” RD complained as she too was affected by her friend’s sudden outburst.

“Quickly, come inside.” Twilight suddenly blurted out before we suddenly found ourselves getting gripped by Twilight’s magic before being forcefully pulled into the library as the door behind us closed.

The magic on us was quickly released as the two of us fell flat onto our flanks. I groaned in discomfort as I picked myself up to rub my sore flank. RD did the same as a highly annoyed look was present.

“Twilight, what the HAY was that for?” She questioned, with a glare aimed at the unicorn.

Twilight simply ignored the blue Pegasus as her gaze was still very much fixed on me. More specifically, my horn.

Suddenly I regret my decision in going to Twilight in the first place. I really should have stayed in AJ’s instead.

“For a unicorn to have such a long and sharp looking horn should be impossible, even with the sometimes rare natural occurrence with some unicorns being born with longer horns.” Twilight commented to herself as she began to circle me a bit like a hungry shark.

“Curious Twilight is worst Twilight.” I thought to myself as she continued in her disregard for personal space, with her even starting to poke my horn with her hoof which was really uncomfortable.

Now I know why she had no friends prior to her arrival in Ponyville, when Twilight is like this she is absolutely horrible in the social category.

I was really starting to feel nervous and uncomfortable at this point which was luckily noticed by RD as she came up to break the tension.

“TWILIGHT THIS IS HORRIBLE!” RD suddenly shouted which immediately caused the both of us to flinch but thankfully that also meant that Twilight’s attention was finally diverted away from me and instead focused on the rainbow mare behind her.

“What is it, Rainbow Dash? Did something suddenly happen? What is wrong?” Twilight asked with an alarmed look.

“Oh this is just so incredibly horrible, I can’t believe it.” Dash continued on dramatically while holding her head with her hoofs in a very distressed looking manner which only caused Twilight to almost panic even more.

“What, what is it Rainbow? WHAT EXACTLY IS SO HORRIBLE?” Twilight shouted in the end in panic.

“That my friend is acting like a complete CUNT RIGHT NOW!” RD suddenly announced as her fake distress suddenly changed into a glare aimed at the now shocked unicorn in front of her. Most probably from the harsh swear word RD used on her, which I honestly didn’t expect either.

“Wha…what?” Twilight stumbled back.

Dash, still glaring at her, continued. “We originally came here to ask YOU for help with a problem, my friend over here has, but instead of just simply saying ‘hello’ or ‘what is your name’ you start treating him more like as a source of your endless research rather than as a pony.” Dashie ranted on as she slowly advanced at the now timid looking unicorn.

I was honestly shocked and surprised at Dash’s hostility as well, but decided to just keep my mouth shut as I knew from a fact that a pissed off Rainbow Dash is a Rainbow Dash you’d rather not want to stay in the way of, at least according to the show and fanfics back home. Element of Loyalty and all that i guess.

Spike at some point must have noticed the sudden commotions within the main room as well as he stood there at the kitchen entrance with an interesting looking pink apron on him. Just like me he was wise enough to just keep out of the way as he slowly retreated back into the kitchen to continue to do whatever he was doing before.

My focus swiftly went back to the two mares in front of me as Dash was still slowly advancing towards Twilight while she was fearfully backing off before her flank eventually made contact with the opposite bookshelves behind her and trapping herself for the blue Pegasus in front of her.

RD stopped in front of her as their snouts were just millimeters away from touching one another as she continued on with her rant.

“ALSO, didn’t the princess personally instruct you to study the social effects of friendship? Wouldn’t a new pony entering your home be the perfect opportunity to actually learn more about friendship by-oh I don’t know- being friendly to him and not start questioning the length of his horn -despite the fact of how kinky that may sound to some-. Also this place reeks. Have you ever left you home or even took a shower today? Because I know you definitely need it. Spending all of your time barricading yourself inside your home is the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of what you are supposed to be doing according to the princess. So stop doing whatever nerdy stuff you are doing, get out there and start hanging out with ponies especially with me and the rest of the girls since it already has been DAYS since we last ever saw mane or tail from you.” RD finally finished her rant before she took a few steps back, panting slightly, to give the now shocked unicorn her personal space back.

I was beyond shocked as well, not just because of RD’s behavior, but also at how much sense and how many good points she made during her rant.

You know what, I like MY Rainbow Dash WAY more than the original. She is vastly more observant and more intelligently towards her actions than the Rainbow Dash from the cartoon show.

Twilight eventually relaxed and sighed as she sat down on her haunches. Her ears were splayed back as she looked down onto the floor in shame.

“I’m sorry.” Twilight began before lifting her head and looking at both me, dash and the cluster fuck of a room before sighing again. “You’re right. I did behave poorly and neglected anypony for the last couple of days for the sake of more research which was not friendship related at all.” She continued before looking back at me.

“Also sorry for.. .getting all up close and personal and treating you more like a thing rather than a pony. Sometimes my own curiosity can really get the better of me and the way I look and present myself to anypony, especially new ponies.” Twilight apologized while giving a genuine look of guilt towards me.

I simply gave her a smile to show that there were no hard feelings which thankfully seemed to work as she eventually gave me a sad smile in return before quickly switching her attention back to Rainbow who was still standing at the same spot.

“You are also right about me spending too much time bunkered up in here and not spending enough time with you and the girls. I will try to make a personal mental note to fix that so we can all “hang out” some more, as you always like to say it.” Twilight announced to RD with another sorry look which she accepted as she finally gave off a smile of her own before rubbing the back of her neck.

“Nah, its cool Twi. We all have things that keep us busy, I guess… I just went somewhat overboard back there with my yelling. I guess I was just incredibly annoyed by getting forcefully pulled in and dropped onto my ass without warning and then-. Well, the point is that I am sorry for yelling at you back there.” Rainbow Dash offered while looking off to the side with a sheepish smile.

“It’s ok. I guess I deserved it somewhat, and was a good wake up call for me to not keep myself locked up all the time.” Twilight replied with a smile.

“So we’re good then.” RD answered, to which Twilight replied with a nod.
RD trotted over to Twilight to help her back up on all fours before the two mares shared a quick hug together and chuckled.

I smiled at this scene. Personally witnessing just how strong their friendship has already grown with one another was cheesy but also kind of heartwarming as well. I wanted to say something in between all of this but rather decided against it so these two could have their little private moment together. When suddenly an interesting realization quickly entered my head which I only managed to notice now since the tension has been lifted.

“Is it just me or does Twilight also somewhat have a different feel to her?” I thought to myself which didn’t really go far as I noticed Twilight herself trotting up to me with her usual dorky smile that everybody knows and loves.

She cleared her throat. “Well anyway, my name is Twilight Sparkle. I am Ponyville’s librarian. Who might you be?” Twilight introduced herself while reaching a hoof out.

I meet her hoof with mine as I gave it a friendly shake while introducing myself as well. “Well uhm it’s nice to meet you Twilight Sparkle. My name is Nava… just Nava.” I introduced myself, a bit awkwardly, though, because… well, new pony and none other than princess follower herself, which she seemed to notice as she giggled a bit to herself as we let go from one another.

“Again, sorry for my completely uncalled for behavior earlier. Really, I feel quite ashamed just because of it.” Twilight commented while scuffing the ground with a hoof awkwardly.

I again just shook my head and gave her a smile, which eventually made her smile as well, pretty much defusing whatever tension was left.

“So uh… about the reason why you two are here in the first place?” Twilight suddenly started, getting straight to the point, by the look of it.

“Well, here we go.” I thought to myself as I mentally prepared myself for what was to come. Why? Because at this point I have mentally decided to just get clean and truthful with her. I don’t know why this is the decision I came up with, but I have decided to just throw caution out the window and hope for the best, again. Will this bite me in the ass? Probably, but at the same time I am slowly starting to get tired of all this secrecy and lying. That and I know for a fact that she will eventually find out one way or another, so let’s just get it out of the way now and save myself a lot of headaches later on.

“Let’s see how this goes then.”

………………………………………………………………………………………

“Well here we are, the quiet little country town of Ponyville. Don’t know why the captain felt it necessary to send ME out here in state of one of her fellow guards I would seriously rather in my shop then have to go to a town...full of strangers." Gear thought to himself nervously as he exited the train. Once again the captain has kicked her out of his comfort zone to do something other than sit in his shop all day to quot ‘get rid of his ridiculous introvert problem’ that he has.   


“These Equestrian trains are so slow, weak and weirdly colorful, just like the makers. Ugh, I am so tempted to talk to the train conductor and ask him to make SERIOUS upgrades on these slow primitive things, it’s almost comical in just how far behind these ponies are in terms of actual advancements compared to the outside world. But...i guess that is the price you have to pay for a 1000 year of harmony and peace and whatnot. Which is nice but...it also caused stagnation in both magical and technological research” Gear mentally mused as he made sure that the brown cloak he was wearing was perfectly covering his form.

Seriously, the first thing ponies do when seeing an actual Thestral… -or anything else that is not pony in general- is to slowly back away or run into the closest building and barricade themselves in. For a predatory species like Thestrals he can understand since it is just natural for prey to run away from anything that has sharp eyes and sharp teeth. But she even once heard tales of Zebras and Minotaurs getting the same treatment half the time, which even someone as shy and secluded like him finds it ridiculous.

Gear shook his head. “No time in self meddling, time to actually get some progress done so i can get out of here and back to my sweet, sweet dark and little workshop.” Gear thought to himself as he reached into his saddle-bags to pull out one of his own inventions that he was given prior to her departure.

His Magic detector, in layman's terms.

The needle and the crystals gave away a soft glow when he held it up to him, telling him that it was working perfectly before placing it back into the bag before refocusing his gaze back at the bustling town in front of him.

“Need to find a hotel or an inn to stay in as well while I am forced to stay here for a while, so i can hide in and continue my work in peace. If this town is even large enough to hold such establishments that is.” Gear once again mentally noted as he made his way off the ramp in the train station and trotted his way into the town. The needle on the magic detector giving of soft twitches as if it was detecting something.