//------------------------------// // Parents Meet Ponies // Story: Eris' game // by Java Joe //------------------------------// "Celestia!" Rick said nervously, " what are you doing up?" "Up? I came to see your filly. There was a note on the door that I couldn't read but figured that it was okay." She turned to Rick's parents and introduced herself, "good evening, I'm Twilight Sparkle's teacher and mentor Princess Celestia." "Pleased to meet you Princess, I'm Rick's father Walter and this is my wife Mabel." He turned to Rick and Twilight and said, "you didn't tell me you had other guests here?" "Yeah, sorry about that Dad. Uhmm, she came down with us from the commune and wanted to stay a few days with Twilight before heading back. She's like Twilight's big sister in a sense." He turned back to Celestia and asked, "are you hungry? We still have some pasta and stuff left. I can heat you up some if you'd like." "That would be nice, thank you Rick." Celestia pulled out one of the chairs and sat down a little awkwardly. "So is your name 'Princess Celestia' or is that a kind of title?" Mabel asked. "Oh it's my title. I along with my sister Luna rule the day and the night. I help to raise the sun, and she helps to raise the moon and the stars." "Raise the sun and the moon?" "Yes, it's a ceremony we perform every day and night, " Twilight said trying to steer this conversation back to normality. "Celestia?" Rick called from the kitchen. "Do you mind coming in here and showing me how much you want?" Princess Celestia excused herself as she went into the kitchen. Meanwhile Rick's parents were feeling a little worried about this strange woman who just showed up at the table. "Who is she and what's going on?" Mabel asked. "As Rick said, she's like my big sister and she's also my teacher and mentor. She's really into nature and uhm..." Twilight brought her thumb and index finger to her lips to indicate her liking for recreational drugs which she hoped would answer some of their questions. "I see. But what was she doing downstairs?" "She was a little tired when we got here and we have a guest suite down there so we gave her that room for the time being, " technically there was a guest suite downstairs but it was currently empty so provided nobody took a look downstairs they should be okay. Once in the kitchen, Rick turned to Celestia and told her simply. "Okay, I need you to follow along with us. Those are my folks and they don't know anything about Equestria and I want to keep it that way. If they ask, you're Twilight's teacher and mentor from a commune where she grew up. You guys are totally cut off from the outside world, do things your own way and are what we like to call "hippies". So I'm begging you to keep your answers short and to the point and maybe we'll be able to get out of this without too much trouble. God I'm hoping I'm not forgetting anything." The microwave beeped, surprising Celestia who looked at it like it was magical. Rick grabbed her plate and ushered her back outside to the table. Of course, in the process of doing all this, Rick forgot one thing. Celestia, as an alicorn, had probably never used a fork before and her hands might not be all that useful. Celestia proved surprisingly adept at her use of cutlery, actually adept was not the right word. It was more competent than anything else. She held her fork much like a child would and was a surprisingly messy eater. Rick and Twilight shared a look as if to ask if it was possible for anything else to go wrong. "That's an interesting outfit you're wearing Celestia, " Mabel said. "Why thank you Mabel. It's been a while since I wore it and I didn't know how much styles might have changed since last time." "Why whatever do you mean dear? When did you wear that dress last?" "Oh it was a long time ago, about the time we had... visitors to... the commune and they gave me this as a token of their esteem. I'm happy to say that it still fits." "That's a matter of opinion, " Mabel said under her breath referring to the very short toga that barely covered anything. Changing her tone she asked, "Celestia, you say you're Twilight's teacher?" "Yes, she's one of my finest students, " Celestia said fondly looking at Twilight. "So what exactly is it you teach her?" There was a moment of silence, as this was not something the three had considered. After a moment of silence Celestia said, "modern dance?" "Okay. That does it. I'm not moving from here until I get an explanation that makes sense!" Mabel said, crossing her arms and sitting back in her seat. "But Mom, what's there to tell? Celestia is Twilight's teacher from the commune, we invited her back to come down and stay with us for a few days then she's going back home." "Richard, please. I'm your mother and I might not be as smart as you are but I'm not stupid. This woman is barely older than your wife, she's got multicoloured hair, wearing some kind of toga that barely covers the tattoo on her bum and I can see she's not wearing underwear." Walter took that moment to surreptitiously try to check out Celestia's legs but couldn't do it without being too obvious about it. "No, really. I am Twilight's teacher and have been for a long time." "Richard. If your wife works in the... adult entertainment industry you don't need to hide it from me. I'm a grown woman, it's the 21st century and I know these things exist. It's obvious that something is going on here and it's obvious that this Celestia woman is a stripper or possibly she also works in porn." "Mom, please. There's nothing quite so sordid going on. It's actually a lot more wholesome than you would think, " he looked at Celestia and Twilight. "Do you mind if I tell them the truth? It's going to come out anyway especially if Twyla starts talking next month." Celestia nodded and said, "I'm sorry Rick. I never meant for this to happen. I just wanted to see your filly and couldn't understand what had been written on the door." "Yeah, I guess that's my fault trying to write in Equestrian when I still can barely read it." Rick took Twilight's hand in his, looked in her eyes and she nodded before he answered. "Okay, this is going to be difficult for you to understand so I'm going to tell you then I'm going to show you." Rick took a deep breath and said the words that his parents would never have imagined. "Twilight and Celestia are actually ponies from another world in a land called 'Equestria'. That's where I met them, and that's where Twyla was conceived." Both Rick's parents sat there totally at a loss for what to say next. It's not like something you can prepare for like telling your parents you're gay, your wife used to be a man, you're a member of a cult or you just won the lottery but you're giving the money to the Hare Krishnas. No, telling your parents that your human wife is actually a pony from another world and you had sex with said pony is not something you can prepare for. After a few moments Mabel broke the silence. "So what kind of drugs were you doing with all those hippies on the commune? Because that's the only thing that makes any sense here. You took some drugs, thought you were in a different world and had sex with a horse who turned out to be your wife." "As I said, you wouldn't understand so I'm going to ask you to follow me if you both could?" Rick stood up and led his parents down the stairs to the basement where he opened the door for the portal hallway. "C'mon in, it's a bit of a tight squeeze I know, but you're going to have to trust me on this. And I apologise in advance for having to do this." On saying those words, Rick began to disrobe but had the foresight to keep his shirt in hand so he was at least covered. "I want you both to take a look at my butt and the coffee cup you see there. Now, look closely at what you're going to see on the other side of this door." He opened the doorway and there beyond it was the library. "Now, keep your eyes on me at all times, " Rick then stepped forward through the doorway and landed on all 4 hooves. He turned to face his parents, "see? The same mark is there on my butt, it's what they call a 'cutie mark' here in Equestria." "Hey Big Bro, who're you talkin' to?" Spike asked. "Hey Lil' Bro. Wanna meet my folks? C'mere, " he motioned the young dragon over and introduced him to his parents. "This is Spike, he's Twilight's little brother which makes him my little brother. Spike, this is my Mum Mabel and my Dad Walter." "Hi! Pleased to meet you, " Spike said and without thinking walked forward with his claw outstretched. What appeared on the other side was not what Rick expected. Instead of being a child under 10 years old, was a young man of about 16. "Look out!" Rick cried as his Mom started to swoon and his Dad caught her in the nick of time. He jumped back through the doorway, threw his clothes on and passed a robe to Spike for the time being before helping his father carry his mother up the stairs. They deposited her on the couch and his father sat down heavily on one of the chairs. Rick went to get a cold cloth to place over his mother's forehead and handed a root beer to Spike on his way back in. "Hey Twilight! Celestia!" Spike said as he wandered into the room, cracking the can and taking a long drink. "Spike!" Twilight said as she went over to give her brother a hug. Stepping back to get a good look at him she was impressed at how he turned out. "Looking good Spike." Spike blushed a bit from the compliment but told Twilight, "you're looking good too, so you are you Princess." "Princess? " Walter asked from his seat. "You mean to tell me you're a pony princess?" "I'm an alicorn actually. Think a cross between a pegasus and a unicorn." "There are unicorns and pegasuses... pegasi over there as well?" "Well yes, and I'm a unicorn as is your granddaughter, " Twilight said a little shyly. She liked Rick's dad. Up until now he had treated her nicely and had welcomed her into the family a lot more easily than Rick's mom so his reaction to all this was a little upsetting. Mabel came awake, looked about the room and promptly wished she had never woken up. Her son had married a pony, what's more he not only had sex with this pony but had knocked her up and her innocent granddaughter was caught up in all this. Now that pornstar with the multicoloured hair was holding her granddaughter and was going to corrupt her with her hedonistic ways. "Hey Mum, how you feeling?" Rick said on seeing his mother wake up. "Don't talk to me you... you... pony fucker!" Assorted cries of "hay!" came from around the room at this including from Walter. Yes, technically she was right but her comment made it sound so sordid. "Look, Mum. We need to talk about this, " he took Twilight's hand in his. "In this form, Twilight is 100% human just like anybody else in this room. Over in Equestria, we're 100% pony. The body changes, but the mind doesn't." "Rick, maybe you need to start at the beginning and tell us how this all started, " Walter asked. Rick sighed heavily and sat on the couch, He motioned to Twilight to sit next to him. "Okay, this all started back in June of 2012. I woke up, wandered to the bathroom and found myself in Equestria facing a pony version of Twilight and a dragon version of Spike. Twilight had tried to create a spell that would link the library in Ponyvilel where she was with the royal library in Canterlot." "Hold on, " Walter said raising his hands. "Ponyville? Canterlot? Magic?" "Yeah, she's a unicorn and unicorns can do magic. Twilight here happens to be one of the strongest magic users of her generation which is why she's the personal student of Princess Celestia. And the names of the towns and cities have pony type names. You might find this interesting but there are a lot of parallels between their world and ours. But we'll get to that later." "Anyway, she wanted to create a portal but something went wrong and it linked my old bedroom with her library. We talked, found that it only existed there and she wanted to pick my brain to get some more information on my world. We had breakfast, I showed her the internet and we developed a friendship." "Mabel, when I first saw your son walk through that door I was scared but at the same time fascinated. Here was a being that walked on two legs, had hands instead of hooves and yet had a brilliant mind and wicked sense of humour which only added to the interest. At first he was an alien but as time went by he became a friend." "But you said that you were a pony over there, how could you have hands and walk on two legs if you were a pony?" Mabel asked. "That's because at that point the portal didn't change our forms. I'll get to that later. Our friendship grew and as it progressed I honestly saw her as less and less of a pony and more and more as a person. I actually started to make excuses to go see her in the library when I didn't have to. And I was overjoyed when she'd come and see me although I didn't know at the time she was making the same excuses to do so. Yeah, I realised during that time that I was falling in love with a pony, " Rick turned to Twilight with a smile and she smiled back at him before kissing him gently. Rick sighed and continued. "You know how it is when you first meet somebody? You notice how they look, then you notice how they are? " Rick asked and his parents nodded at that. "Then as you get to know them, and you get to like them, they actually start to look more attractive? Well, that's what happened with Twilight. The more I knew her, the more I fell in love with her and the prettier she became. It no longer mattered to me at that point that we were a different species. What mattered was she was a woman with a brilliant mind that I could discuss heavy intellectual subjects with and then in the next moment get totally silly." "And you? How did you see Rick? " Walter asked Twilight. "He was unlike any pony I had ever met before. I used to refer to him as a 'walking dichotomy' because he was so smart and mature when it came to a lot of things yet retained this childlike glee for so many other things. It was refreshing to see somepony so at peace with this, he simply didn't care how silly he might look or what somepony would think of him. And I followed his example and freed myself. I was always a bookworm, reading all the time and learning everything from books. Rick helped to show me that there was a whole world outside of the books and yes, I also made excuses to start to see him more and more and realised I was falling in love with this human as well." "Then one evening I invited her over for a movie night, things happened and uhmm... well we kinda became inseparable after that." "So you two did do it when you were human and she wasn't?" Walter asked. "Yeah we did. And I wouldn't trade it for anything. Look, the whole species thing kinda freaked me out the next morning but I realised that it didn't matter. Her being a pony was secondary to her being a person." "But I don't understand. You were human then, but why did we see you turn into a pony then?" "That was the old portal, long story short it... uhmmm... vanished one day and we were stuck on our respective sides. Celestia and Twilight were able to force one open and Twi came back here as a human. Then on our honeymoon, we happened to be driving to Tuscany and came across an ancient & forgotten portal between Equestria and Earth. We went through and both of us were changed into ponies. For a while it looked like I couldn't make it back so we decided to stay there until Celestia made us an offer which allowed us to recreate a permanent portal as you saw downstairs. That one changes you as you walk through it, it's actually very old magic or something." "What about the money? You said that Twilight's grandparents gave her the money to buy the house and redo this one which is why you're not working right now. If she's from another world, then where did you get the money for this." "From my good friend Rarity, she's a pony in ponyville and Spike's girlfriend. Her special skill is to find precious gems. Well, one day she found out that I gave Twilight a massage to help relax her, she wanted one as well and I managed to create a kind of part-time job in Equestria as a masseuse. Made some reasonable money, enough to pay for things over there and some ponies paid a premium for getting a massage from the only human there. Anyway, one day I notice she had an old trunk of gems, I asked if I could borrow a couple of them and she just up and gave them to me. I had them appraised and they were rather valuable so I had them auctioned, made a lot of money and was able to pay for not only the old house but get this one redone and take an all-expenses paid honeymoon for a month. In fact, " he went over to one of the shelves in the living room and pulled out a book. Opening it revealed a ruby, sapphire and emerald. He passed these to his parents and had them take a look. "You say you got these from a pony?" "Yeah, Rarity and I had an arrangement before I left. She'd get a half-price massage once a week and I'd get a bunch of gems on top of that. Those gems paid for all of this, " Rick said throwing his hands around the room. His father passed the gems back to Rick but he said they could keep one. He then turned to Spike and passed the rest of the gems to him. "And wait until you get back to Equestria before eating them, you'll wreck your teeth in that body if you try to chew on those." "Thanks Bro!" Twyla started to cry at that point and Twilight said she was probably hungry so she carried her upstairs. Celestia excused herself and said she'd see Rick and Twilight soon while bringing Spike with her back to Equestria which left Rick alone with his parents. "He's going to eat those gems?" Mabel asked. "He's a dragon, they're like candy to him." "I honestly don't know what to say right now, " his father said. "Well I know. We're going to sleep, leaving tomorrow and forgetting we ever had a such a sick son that liked having sex with animals and made friends with dragons, " his mother said. "Now just hold on and listen to me for the first time in your life mother!" Rick said finally having enough of this. "How dare you speak to me like that!" "I'll speak to you any way I want, you're not in charge of me and you've been trying to run my life from as far back as I can remember. I'm not a child anymore mother and I can make my own decisions and make my own mistakes. But marrying Twilight and having a child with her are not mistakes, if anything they're a fucking blessing. She's human and she's also a unicorn. Twyla is human and she's also a unicorn. I'm human and I'm also an earth pony. I love them, they love me and that's all that matters. Fuck, 100 years ago had Twilight been black then people would have reacted the same way but we've moved beyond that in today's enlightened world. She is a living, breathing, thinking, emotional, absolutely beautiful woman that I feel privileged to have known and I thank my lucky stars every day that she agreed to marry me. I'm not going to give her up simply because you can't handle this. If you're so narrow minded and can't be happy for me, her and your granddaughter then I have nothing left to say to you. You're welcome to spend the night as I'm not going to kick you out when it's dark but unless you are able to accept this then I'm going to ask you to leave tomorrow." "Rick..." his father called after him. "We're done here tonight. If you need to say anything you can tell me tomorrow. I'm going to bed." And with those words, Rick made his way upstairs. Discord reveled in all this. This is what he wanted. The family were at each other's throats, a wedge had been driven between that damned human and his family and all their delicious anger tasted like the sweetest wine. He was happy, so much so that he didn't bother Twyla for the rest of the night although she did need to be fed at some point. It took a long time for Rick to fall asleep, he felt tied up in knots and wasn't looking forward to tomorrow. He had lost his cool, but maybe this was for the best. Twilight and Twyla were his life, he couldn't give them up any more than he could stop breathing. Twilight lay next to him, her soft snores almost comforting. He reached out and put an arm around her, she mumbled something, drew herself closer and sighed before going back to sleep again. He just lay there in the darkness staring at her until finally he fell asleep as well. Morning came much too soon. Rick reached over to where his wife was sleeping but found her side of the bed empty as usual. He heard some muffled voices down the hall and went to investigate. What greeted him was a bit of a surprise. In the baby's room he found his mother holding Twyla while having a conversation with Twilight. "Oh, good morning Rick, " Twilight walked over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He put his arm around her and asked, "you okay?" "I'm fine, but you look like hell." "That's good because that's how I feel right now, " he turned to his mother and was about to say something but she decided to speak first. "Rick, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for last night. I don't really know what came over me. I was confused and angry and I didn't know how to react to the news. Your father and I talked about this last night and this morning when I got up I came in here to look at Twyla and couldn't get around the fact she wasn't human. She's a perfect little girl in every way. Then Twilight came in to check on her and everything finally made sense. She's a mother, you're a father and you both have a responsibility for this precious little one, " she said and gently ran her finger over Twyla's cheek. Twyla yawned broadly at that point before settling down again. "And also you were right. I've been too controlling of you your entire life. I never saw you as a man and still saw you as my little boy even if you're bigger, stronger and smarter than I am. I still felt the need to protect you from what I saw as people trying to take advantage of you. I guess it took a shock to break me out of that." She looked out the window for a moment before continuing. "I also understand Twilight a lot better now and her motivations and provided she makes you happy, it doesn't matter what she was born as. You're right when you say she's a human and I'm happy to call her my daughter." Twilight smiled and said, "thank you Mabel." Mabel raised a warning finger and said, "none of that. You have to call me Mom." Rick walked over, gave his Mom a hug and a kiss on the forehead and simply said, "thank you for understanding. I want you and Dad in my life and I want Twyla to grow up knowing her grandparents." "I don't think there'll be a problem with that. No, this sweet little thing is going to get spoiled rotten by her Grandma and Grandpa, " she said looking at Twyla who was staring right back at her. Handing her back to Twilight she said, "well, since everybody is up except your father, I guess it's time for breakfast. Do you mind if I make breakfast this morning?" "Please, be my guest," Rick said. Mabel went down the stairs, humming happily to herself. "I'm like shocked, this is a complete turnaround. What did you say to her?" Rick asked Twilight. "I found her here this morning, just looking at Twyla and gently stroking her. She looked sad and confused so we talked, mother to mother. She loves you a lot and that's why she got a little freaked out last night when she found out. We then talked about things, plans for the future, where we'd plan on spending our time and how no matter what happened, Twyla would still be her granddaughter. I think that cinched the deal." "Twi, let me tell you once again how awesome I think you are. Thank you for doing this and thank you for putting up with me." He squeezed his wife hard and kissed her gently. "I love you so much." "Ditto big guy!" They stood there for a moment then slowly the delicious smells of breakfast came wafting up the stairs. "Smells like pancakes, " Rick said. His stomach growled in anticipation. "I guess that's our cue to go downstairs." As they walked down the stairs Twilight asked, "shouldn't we wait for your Dad?" "Nah, he'll be up once he smells it." Sure enough, once they were seated at the table Walter stumbled in to the kitchen with a sleepy "good morning". Everybody was served and they all dug in. "Mom, these are great. Even better than Rick's, " Twilight said to her mother-in-law. "Thank you dear. Yes, Rick is very good in the kitchen but things like cakes or just about anything involving flour and he just doesn't have the right touch for it." "I've said it before. If cooking is an art, then baking is a science. You can mess around with a recipe and make it work by changing the ingredients. You can't do that with baking, the amounts need to be exact and since I never measure anything I'm always off." "Then why don't you measure dear?" "That takes the fun out of it. Besides, I can make good pancakes, they're terrible however compared to yours." "Thank you dear, " Mabel said with a smile. When breakfast was done, Rick suggested they make the trip to Ponyville. After all if his parents knew about it, why not show them as well as introduce them to the others. They agreed and once the breakfast dishes were cleaned up, they along with Twyla made their way downstairs. "A few things. It might take you a moment to get adjusted to walking on all fours and trying to manipulate things with your hooves is going to be tricky. I had major trouble when this first happened but eventually I did learn even though I've got a long way to go. And, we'll go first and wait for you on the other side. You will need to get naked for this, clothes are going to literally get in the way once you cross the portal." Twilight walked on through and was transformed into her lavender unicorn form. Rick pushed the basket with Twyla through to the other side but something was preventing it from passing. That was odd, it was almost as if the portal wouldn't allow the basket to pass. "Twilight, can you came back here a minute?" Rick asked his wife who trotted over to his side without issue. "Okay, now can you go back?" Again, she passed without a problem. Leaving the basket where he was, Rick also passed the portal turning into his pony form and back turning human once again. He picked up Twyla in his arms and pushed the basket through without issue. But when he tried to pass her to Twilight hand to hooves, again she couldn't pass the portal. It was as if a barrier had been placed there, much like when they came to Equestria through the Italian portal and they were unable to get back. For some reason, Twyla was unable to pass back into Equestria. Twilight came back, more than just a little worried. "Is something wrong?" Mabel asked. "Right now I don't know but I don't think it's any good, " Rick said. He turned to Twilight and said, "I think we need Celestia. I'll go over, talk to Spike and he can send her a message." "What's going on?" Walter asked. "Don't have a lot of time Dad and I'm not sure but we need Celestia's help. She's the one that set up this portal and maybe she can fix whatever the problem is." Stepping through to the library Rick called out for Spike and the young dragon popped his head out of the stacks. "Hey big bro, good to see you." "You too Spike. I need you to do me a favour. Can you send a message to Celestia? I wanted to show my folks around Equestria but for some reason Twyla can't go through. I've got a really bad feeling about this but I need Celestia to make sure. When you get a response, c'mon back and let us know." They made their way back upstairs and it wasn't long before Spike showed up with a letter. "I think you need to read this, " he said a little ominously. Taking the letter from Spike, Twilight read it through then blanched when she was done. "It can't be!" "What?!? Twi, what's up?" She took a deep breath and said, "Celestia says that the only way the portal wouldn't work is if somepony had bad intentions towards either Earth in coming here or Equestria in going there. That means that Twyla has bad intentions for Equestria." "How is that possible? She's just a baby. And we passed through to here without a problem." "Unless it means that she doesn't have bad intentions coming to Earth but does have bad intentions going back to Equestria, " Twilight said. "I'm lost right now, what's going on?" Walter asked. "Not quite sure right now Dad, but something is up. Hold on..., " a memory replayed through his mind and he suddenly felt his blood turn to ice in his veins. This couldn't be the case but it suddenly made sense, but he had to be sure. "Twi? When was Twyla conceived. Was it before or after the Trojan apple cart?" "I don't know the exact date but it was around that time. Does it matter?" "Very much. If this happened after you defeated Discord then we're okay but if it happened during the rutting spell then you were pregnant when you fought Discord." "Right. But what..., " Twilight trailed off at that point as she came to the sick realisation that Discord might not have been defeated after all. "You think that maybe...?" "Right now I don't know what to think, but it's entirely possible and it would explain the trouble we had yesterday." "Please, can somebody tell us what's going on?" Mabel asked. "The Reader's Digest version is Twilight and her friends defeated an evil... spirit of sorts in Equestria that had taken over the body of an old adversary of hers who had literally lost her mind. We thought it was destroyed, but I thought the battle was over too easily. What if Discord had jumped at the last minute to the closest empty vessel? And what if that empty vessel was Twyla?" Twilight started to cry and Rick had a hard time fighting back the tears himself. If this was real, it was too cruel even for Discord. There had to be a way to fix this or at the very least find out if it was true. But right now, they had no idea and no options on how to continue. Over in the basket, Twyla just appeared to lay there being a baby but Discord was happy. Oh yes, they would test the child and maybe just maybe he'd be able to upgrade his current form to something larger and more powerful. "Hmmm, the human or the unicorn? Which one would suit me better?" Discord thought.