//------------------------------// // Welcome (back) to Ponyville // Story: My Life as a Bipedal Quadruped // by Snakeskin Ducttape //------------------------------// I don’t get seasick. I don’t get carsick either. In fact, I find traveling by car to be very calming. Not as much as by boat but if I relaxed a bit, both train and car had a sleep-inducing effect, though not as much as by boat. I was occasionally doped up when recovering and that helped me sleep as if I was on a boat as well. You know, because everything was gently rocking… It might also have had something to do with just being doped up, but I digress… Anyway, I had taken Twilight’s advice and squeezed in a nap before the train arrived in Ponyville. It was short, but I refuse to call it a "power nap." I looked up what a "power nap" is once and found out that it was a short period of sleep. ‘So, a nap?’ I had thought. I felt the term was much more appropriate as a slang for an energy saving mode for computers and stuff, or a nap that’s so great that you wake up and go "YEAH!"... but I digress still… “Had a nice rest, Gabrielle?” Twilight asked as I yawned and stretched my legs. “Yup,” I said and looked down on my book lying open on the small table in front of me, somewhat relieved that I hadn’t fallen asleep on top of it and drooled all over the pages. “Are there gems to enchant with in Ponyville? Like, do you buy those at a hobby store or something?” “Not at a hobby store but, yes you can buy them both in Ponyville or by mail order. Besides, Rarity has lots of them.” “Oh,” I said and looked pleased at the news. “Also,” Twilight said. “When you get some practice, you can enchant things besides gems. It’s just that gems are forgiving to work and practice with, and they can more easily hold potent enchantments in small physical forms.” “Yeah, I actually just got to that part before we got on the train,” I said. “It’s just that I’m getting a bit antsy to trying this out.” “I can imagine,” Twilight said. “I have some supplies at the Golden Oaks I can lend you.” “Thanks,” I said. “But what’s the Golden Oaks?” “That’s the library where me and Spike live.” I blinked at that. “A library?” “Does it surprise you that I live in a library?” she asked. “I guess not,” I said after a pause. “I just haven’t seen a library and residence combined.” ‘Well, pretty much all people lived and worked at the same places way back when, and Equestria has some pretty olden times style to it.’ “Oh that’s right, I keep forgetting how advanced the city you lived in looked. Yeah, Ponyville’s not like a big city, it’s pretty rustic and ponies often live in their shops and so on, but it’s still nice,” Twilight said, mirroring my own thoughts. One thing worried me about that. “How rustic are we talking here?” “Uh,” Twilight started. “Pretty rustic, I guess? Why do you ask?” “I, uh, mostly wanna know if there’s indoor plumbing,” I said. “Oh! Hehe,” Twilight said. “Okay, not that rustic. We’ve got plumbing, electricity, and things like that as well.” “You also have a power grid? And the reason that the hospital had light bulbs when the castle had torches and candles is because…?” “Because medical facilities need to be sterile, and be able to be well-lit at a moment’s notice of course,” Twilight said and giggled a bit, like I had just asked a silly question. “But I wouldn’t call it ‘power grid’ like you know it.” “Uh-huh,” I deadpanned. “But why doesn’t other places?” “Right, sorry, I guess you haven’t noticed yet. Most places have either electrical or magical lighting available as well, torches and lanterns are mostly for aesthetic reasons,” she said. “Oh, now I get why you’re so confused. If there’s no magic on Terra, and if you can’t regulate the weather, it makes sense that humans would focus on electrical lighting.” “Yeah, we do. And I don’t know if ponies are nocturnal or if the night sky here is magical as well, but it’s a lot brighter than back home.” “Well of course the night sky is magical,” Twilight said. “What does it look like on Terra?” “Well, it differs depending on where you’re at, geographically. Where I lived, depending on the weather and season and stuff like that, it was very muted compared to here, or practically pitch black.” “Oh. Then it makes sense that humans would create electrical lights, that would be the only convenient option. But don’t tell Fluttershy about Terran nights.” “Sure.” ‘Sounds like a David Bowie album or something.’ “I actually think it sounds a bit scary as well, having a sky that’s that dark at night. It’d be like always being in a dark forest,” Twilight said. “Hmm, yeah,” I said. “I’m pretty sure that human mythologies and folklore would be a lot different if our nights were this bright.” “I can only imagine how ponies would see Terran nights. You’re the only pony- uh, human from Terra I’ve met, but it makes sense that you’re as brave as you are, considering how scary your home world seems and how you didn’t have any magic.” “B–” I started, taken aback and holding back a laugh. “Brave? Me?” I asked. “Well, sure,” Twilight said. “You found yourself in another world and another body, and as soon as you were conscious, you helped Zecora fight off a pack of timberwolves.” Armor had been quiet for a while, but he was obviously paying attention now. I was about to question that when I realized that, strictly speaking, that was correct. “Well, yeah, I suppose that’s true,” I said. “I just… never thought of myself as very brave.” “That’s what I mean,” Twilight said. “You don’t consider yourself as brave, but speaking as a pony, that’s very brave. Now, I know about human ages, but I still think it’s amazing that somepony only twenty-six years old does that.” “But what does that make you, though?” I asked a bit impishly. “Considering all you’ve done, if I’m brave then you must be… I’m not sure I know a good word. ‘Heroic’ doesn’t seem to cut it.” Twilight blushed like a schoolgirl on stage at that. “Oh, uh. Thank you,” she said and chuckled nervously. ‘Alright, careful there, princess. I’m not hitting on you.’ “She’s right, though, your highness,” Armor said. “Anyway, you may want to continue this conversation another time. We’re pulling up in Ponyville.” I leaned over to the window to take a look at the small town. It was the most scenic place I had seen since… since a few days ago when I looked out at Canterlot through the window in the hospital. But it was still very scenic, and looked very charming. “Cool,” I said in a low voice. “Oh, I’m glad that you like it,” Twilight said. “I was worried you wouldn’t appreciate a small town after living in such a big one.” “It wasn’t that big,” I said. “But no, this looks really nice. This is the cosiest looking town I’ve seen since Puerto Pollo, and that’s not even a real place. Does that bowling alley have a sod roof?” “Since the train has stopped, let’s take a closer look in person,” Armor suggested. ‘I wonder if that should be “a closer look in pony?” I hope not, because ponyally I think that sounds stupid.’ “Alright.” Armor took the package and Twilight took me in the wheelchair. I was about to object, as I wanted to train up my magic, but figured that I might as well do that in locales I was familiar with. “Alright, let’s drop this package off at the library and go get something to eat. What do you say?” “Will you guys bring some back for me?” I asked with a small smirk. “Oh,” Twilight said a bit dejectedly. “You don’t wanna eat out?” “Uh, no that’s fine. It was supposed to be a joke,” I said and looked back at Twilight’s confused face. “You know, like you referred to me as the package.” “Wha- I’d never do that!” Twilight said in a horrified voice. I sighed and waved my hoof in the air. “Yeah, I know. That’s what’s supposed to have made it funny.” “Oh. I’m sorry, but I don’t understand the humor,” Twilight said. “That would come from how absurdly unlike you it would be, but whatever, forget it,” I said. “Oh, alright. But what would you like to eat?” Twilight said. “I don’t know what kind of stuff that’s available around here. You guys can decide. I think I need to get used to the cuisine here.” “I’m fine with whatever,” Armor said, this time free to use his mouth to communicate. We moved into the town proper and I took in the scenery. Bushes and trees were growing between the outlying houses without making the place look wild and overgrown, and many cottages had little gardens in their yards, some growing produce, some growing flowers (which I guess could be produce as well). I hadn’t considered how well the wheelchair would work on a dirt road, but to my relief, it rolled along smoothly. There were a few weathervanes on the roofs, which seemed superfluous to me. By now we had started drawing attention to ourselves. A princess, a stallion with a mysterious-looking package and a little filly in a wheelchair were apparently peculiar here as well, and unlike Canterlot, I also saw a pegasus or two look up from whatever they had been doing on a few stray clouds. ‘Alright, more stares, but note that there’s fewer people here. Also, new person in a small town might be a big thing in itself, and you’re in the presence of royalty, it’s not just your handicap. C’mon, you can handle this. You better, you’re gonna live here,’ I thought to myself as we made our way through town. Twilight helped quite a bit by drawing attention to herself and waving to ponies sitting in patios and such, when a big rainbow-colored streak flashed by in front of us. “Hey, guys! How’s it going?” Rainbow said as she seemingly popped up out of nowhere. “Hi, Rainbow,” Twilight said and smiled. “And personally I’m doing fine.” “Great! How ‘bout you?” she said and turned to Armor and leaned down against him with a silly look on her face. “How you doin?” “I’m, uh, fine, ma’am.” Rainbow looked taken aback by this. “‘Ma’am’?” she said skeptically, and then laughed. “Hah! Yeah, sure. That’s me alright. Champion of Equestria.” “Yes, ma’am,” Armor said. “Although I have a request.” “Sure. Shoot,” Rainbow said and placed her front hooves behind her head in midair. “Is it to not be so awesome that I’ll put you out of a job?” “Uh,” Armor hesitated. “No, it’s that I don’t want it to be public knowledge that I’m a Royal Guard. Wait... Did you recognise me, ma’am?” “I sure did,” Rainbow said casually. “You were in Canterlot when we left a few days ago. You’re supposed to help Gabe getting used to being a pony. Hey, Gabe.” “Hey,” I said casually. “Uh, yeah,” Armor said. “I’m not here because Gabe’s in any danger, but we might as well not draw attention to the fact that she’s got a guard.” “Gotcha,” Rainbow said. I had only paid attention to the last part of that conversation with half an ear (which is still lots of ear when you’re a pony) as most of my attention had been focused on the giant tree we were heading towards. “What’s this place?” I asked a bit slowly. “This is the Golden Oaks Library,” Twilight said jovially. ‘Is this where you live? This doesn’t look like a royal residence to me… but nevermind that! I gotta see the inside of this place.’ “Awesome,” I said absentmindedly. “Yeah, it’s kinda neat,” Rainbow commented. “I never used to spend much time in libraries, myself. But there are a few really good book series that I could show you.” “That’s nice of you, Rainbow,” Twilight said. “But we’re just planning on leaving our baggage here, perhaps giving a small tour, then we’re gonna have something to eat.” “At Sugarcube Corner?” Rainbow asked. “I thought I’d let Gabrielle and Armor decide,” Twilight said. Rainbow flew a bit to the side so that she could address us both at the same time. “Well, you gotta check out Sugarcube Corner, it’s the best place around and I’m gonna be there later,” she said. “So are you gonna come?” I looked at Armor and when he noticed he just shrugged and gestured invitingly to me. “Sure,” I said with a shrug of my own. “Cute name, by the way.” Rainbow groaned. “I thought we- oh, you mean Sugarcube Corner,” she said and chuckled. “Yeah, anyway, see you there then,” she continued and flew off. As we walked up to the giant tree I tried taking in every detail I could. It seemed a bit much with this many balconies, though I guess one was more of an observatory platform, but it still looked awesome. Twilight wheeled me up to the three-part door and opened it with her magic. “Well, this is my home, and yours as well for as long as you want. I hope it’s to your liking,” she said as we entered. “Let me introduce you to my assistant.” “You have an assistant?” I asked. “Oh, right, Spike, yeah?” “That’s right,” she said as she wheeled me in. “C’mon, Armor, wheel that in here please and I’ll unpack it then put it in the basement.” As Armor carefully lifted the cart across the threshold, I took in as much as I could of the interior. I was in some sort of stupor when Twilight’s voice snapped me out of it. “Spike!” she called. “We’re back!” “Uh, hey, Twilight,” said a voice coming from a doorway to the side. “What do you mean ‘we’?” Out walked a short, purple reptile with just as huge eyes as a pony’s, but slitted. I wasn’t sure how a dragon was supposed to look, but to me it seemed like he had pretty generous juvenile "energy reserves". ‘With Twilight a magician and scholar, I guess I was expecting a miniature D&D style dragon or something, like a familiar. Not a slightly chubby reptile boy.’ “I mean myself and guests, of course,” Twilight said. “So, have you been okay?” “Yeah, fine. It was getting a bit boring here, watching this place by myself. But Rainbow and the Crusaders came by a few times,” Spike said before turning his attention to me. “That’s great,” Twilight said before gesturing to me and Armor. “Anyway, Spike, let me introduce you to Gabrielle Desrochers and Studded Armor.” Of the two of us, I was the one closest to him and Armor gave the sense of being preoccupied despite not moving the package around anymore. Spike carefully approached me while fiddling with his claws. “Uh, hey,” he said hesitantly. “Nice to meet you.” I realized that processing both his appearance and my surroundings hadn’t left me with enough self-consciousness to have put on another expression other than a slight frown. I shook my head a bit and leaned down towards him with a small smile and extended my hoof. “Right back at you,” I said. He nervously grabbed my hoof with his hand but seemed to freeze there until he managed to jerkingly shake my hoof, which unfortunately meant that he pricked me in my frog with a claw. “Oh, I’m sorry!” he said as I let out a hiss. “It’s okay,” I said and waved it off. “It was mostly from surprise anyway. Don’t worry about it.” “Gabrielle is going to be staying here for a while, Spike,” Twilight said. “Uh, okay,” Spike said. “But why?” “Because I brought her here,” Twilight said and seemed to struggle to not let out a forlorn sigh. “It’s my fault she’s here, and I’m going to accept my responsibility, and help her adjust to her new life. By the way, this is Armor. He’s a guard from Canterlot and he’s here to help out, too.” Armor walked up to Spike and held out a hoof as well. “Good day.” “Uh, hi,” Spike said and shook the hoof. “Are you gonna be staying here, too?” “Well, we’ll see,” Twilight said. “You said you know some ponies here in Ponyville, didn’t you, Armor?” “Uh, yeah, my uncle lives here,” Armor said. “But I haven’t been to his place in years.” “Well, we can all squeeze in here if need be,” Twilight said. As this conversation was going on, I inspected my hoof a little discreetly. There was a bit of blood slowly growing around where Spike’s claw had stung me. I pointed it upwards so as to not drip anything on the floor. It didn’t really hurt, but I had to hold back a sigh as I remembered the times I hurt my hand, however slightly. I never had long nails, but one had broken once anyway. That really sucked. “Anyway,” Twilight said as I tried pressing my magical hoof fingers against the pin prick, which just smeared out the blood across my frog. “Let’s get this stuff down in the basement. I prefer to keep these things where I can lock the door.” “Uh, Twilight?” I spoke up before she got to work. “Yes?” “Could you help me with something?” I asked and tried waving her my hoof as discreetly as I could to her. She seemed to pick up on it and turned to Armor and said, “alright,” before turning to Spike and Armor. “Can you two wheel this down the stairs to the basement? Just be careful with it.” “Of course,” Armor said. “I thought you said you put a cushioning spell around it?” I asked. “Of course I did,” Twilight said. “But be careful anyway, okay?” “We’re on it!” Spike said enthusiastically. “C’mon, Armor, the basement’s over here.” When they, or more specifically, Spike, was busy, Twilight wheeled me into a bathroom. “Was it Spike who did that?” Twilight asked cautiously. “Mmm. I uh,” I started while trying to figure out how to ask what I wanted to ask inoffensively. “He’s not… venomous, is he?” Twilight looked surprised at this before laughing it off. “Sorry, Gabrielle, but that got me. No, Spike’s not venomous.” “Alright, good to know,” I said as Twilight started turned on the sink. “Still,” she said and got a somber look on her face. “I can only imagine how difficult this is for you.” “Twilight,” I said as I dipped my hoof in the flow of water. “You’re blaming yourself again, aren’t you?” “Well of course I do,” she said with a rising volume before stopping herself. “... It’s my fault.” “Yeah, I suppose it is,” I said as I inspected my hoof in the water. It was a small cut, aside from a dull ache the pain had gone away and It would probably be all sealed up on its own in a few hours. “Hold on, though. Exactly what are you blaming yourself for?” I asked and turned to her, sounding inquisitive with just a trace of accusation. She looked taken aback by this. “For bringing you here, of course. Thanks to me, you were almost killed by timberwolves, and then you came down with Wisp-Shimmer syndrome.” I removed my hoof from the water and looked Twilight in the eyes for a while before shrugging and saying, “all is forgiven.” “But I...” Twilight started then looked down on the floor and said, “thank you,” with a small smile. “Oh? What was that?” I asked. “You hesitated.” “I,” Twilight said before trailing off. “It’s just… It looks so difficult, being…” “Disabled?” I suggested. “Yeah.” “Well yeah, It’s not always easy, but that’s hardly your fault, is it?” “But you said that you could take care of yourself when you were a human, and now...” Twilight said. ‘Hm, does that sounds offensive? Ah, whatever, she’s probably just not very familiar with the finer nuances of discussing disabilities. And frankly, neither are you.’ “Yeah, I suppose,” I said. “But you’re doing everything you can to help me adjust.” “Of course I am,” Twilight said, still looking down with droopy ears. I studied her for a moment before deciding on breaking out the big guns. “Twilight,” I said slowly. “Yeah?” she said and looked up. “There’s been a lot more hugging than I’m used to lately,” I said and held out my foreleg invitingly. “But…” Twilight hesitantly accepted the embrace (after I wiggled my hoof a bit). “I forgive you, Twilight. I’ve told you that already, haven’t I?” “Uh. I don’t think you have before now. I only remember you saying that you wouldn’t hate me.” “Heh, yeah you’re probably right,” I said and took a breath while trying to figure out how to make this sound genuine. “Alright, so here it is: Getting used to a new disabled body all over again is… Well it’s horseapples, as you say around here. But I still forgive you, and I’m very grateful for your help, and your friendship,” I said before I could stop myself Twilight tightened the hug. “Oh, thank you,” she said. “I’m so relieved.” I couldn’t see her face from here, but if I had to guess, she had an expression of relief. My own face, however, looked like I had just taken a big bite out a lemon. I groaned and said, “Yeah, can we just pretend that last thing I said was something less sickeningly sappy?” Twilight just let out a mix between a sigh of relief and a giggle. “Sure. Now let’s make sure that your hoof’s okay,” she said and broke away from the hug. “Yeah, thanks by the way,” I said as Twilight thoroughly dabbed all the water out of the frog of my hoof with a towel and slipped on a small band-aid from the cabinet above the sink with her magic. “No problem,” she said, an undercurrent of worry gone from her voice. “Let’s go make sure that Spike and Armor haven’t caused any trouble. I was about to vouch for Armor’s competence when I remembered the incident with the last wheelchair. “Yeah, let’s,” I said, also looking forward to seeing more of Golden Oaks. If someone described a basement to me by saying that it was filled with tree roots, I would’ve thought of John Bauer paintings. The basement of Golden Oaks wasn’t like that, exactly. Even if it was, the old-school sciency-looking devices, and magical instruments would’ve ruined the image. I never had any kleptomaniacal tendencies, but I still had a fleeting worry that I might fall into old gaming habits in here, and try and swipe some of the magical-looking tomes and potions lying haphazardly in and around the shelves. “So you’re a guard?” I heard Spike ask as we made our way down the stairs, which I made a note of being careful around, as they didn’t have any railings. “I don’t recognise you.” “I haven’t been assigned to Canterlot for very long,” Armor answered evenly. “Oh, okay. So what is this stuff, anyway?” “It’s uh, machines from Gabrielle’s homeworld,” Armor said. “Really advanced stuff as I understand it.” “Whoa!” Spike said. “Like what? Beam bows? Transmogrifiers? Robots?” “Uh, I don’t think so,” Armor said as they came into view. “It looked like, uh, some sort of uh… like a movie screen that you could tell to do things.” “Wow! So they are like robots?” Spike, who seemed to be getting lost in his own world, said. “Can they fly around and foalnap ponies and turn them into other robots?” I had to hold back a laugh when I saw Armor’s expression. “Sometimes you’d think so, considering how fanatic some people seem about their particular brand of computers,” I said. “But no, they can’t make robots. I wish they could, though. I could’ve used some spare parts.” “Hey, yeah!” Spike said enthusiastically. “Just like Radiance in Power Ponies!” Twilight looked confused at this. “What do you mean?” “Radiance lost all four of her legs in her origin story,” Spike said in that special way that I’d recognize anywhere as a fan showing off. “But she’s got pockenholz legs hidden under her suit that she moves with her magic jewelry.” “Huh,” Twilight commented. “Rarity never said anything about that.” “Yeah,” Spike said, now also looking thoughtful. “Maybe she didn’t notice. Or maybe she didn’t actually turn into Radiance. Masked Matter-Horn is a normal unicorn but you were still an alicorn back then.” “Oh, of course. The enchantment on that comic was pretty impressive but not that powerful,” Twilight said before noticing mine and Armor’s questioning looks and waving it away with a smile. “Spike had this enchanted comic book once. We’ll tell you the story another time. Anyway, Gabrielle, can you help me make sure that I got everything from Canterlot?” “Sure,” I said. Twilight used her magic to open the large package, which was lucky considering how much time it would’ve taken for Armor to use his hooves and mouth to do it. She laid out all the things on the table and I did a quick inspection. “Alright, so, big metal box with wires and lights that beeps sometimes,” she said as she gently lifted out the stuff onto a table one item at a time. “Black window thingie with wire, miniature power speakers…” “Power speakers?” I asked “Yeah, I thought I’d differentiate them from others. I’m not a sound engineer but these seem to have a much greater capacity than normal ones,” Twilight said before continuing. “And, uh, this, uh, red light input thingie and these two boards with lots of buttons.” Twilight’s expectant look turned confused when I was too busy chewing on my hoof and trying to stop myself from laughing at Twilight’s description of the mouse. “Aheh… heh, yeah, it’s all here,” I eventually managed. My own personal stuff I had decided to leave in Canterlot. Both the photos and the guitar were things that I didn’t need with me all the time anyway, I was just happy they weren’t lost forever. “Alright then, let’s give you two a tour of the place,” Twilight said. I looked at Armor, who seemed like he had been lost in thoughts up until that moment before he scrambled over to me to help me with the stairs. The Golden Oaks Library was awesome. J.K. Rowling had really managed to relay how both luxurious and cosy the residential areas of Hogwarts were, but it was a dump next to this place. “Alright, I thought you could stay in this room, Gabrielle. What do you think?” Twilight asked as we neared the end of the tour. “Gabe. And I think it looks great,” I said, perhaps a bit absentmindedly as I took it in. The room looked just as cosy as the rest of the library. I wheeled around a bit on my own volition, something I hadn’t really done all that much so far, to inspect it closer. ‘Closets… why?’ “It’s a bit empty, of course,” Twilight said. “I cleaned out some things when I had to make room for Discord when he stayed here. But there’s space for some more additions, like a desk and things like that.” “Discord? As in the spirit of chaos?” I asked and closed the closet, which was empty except for some old-looking ice skates stuffed in the back for some reason. “Yeah, that’s the one,” Twilight said with a small sigh. “I don’t know if he’ll be curious about you or not, but if he gives you any trouble, just tell him that Fluttershy won’t like it.” “Alright,” I said and looked away from the window, the view of which I had been inspecting. “Well, this looks great, but I need to practice a bit with the stai–NG-GUGH!” There was an owl perched on the handle of my wheelchair. “Owlowiscious!” Twilight said sternly. “Don’t frighten our guest!” “Who,” the owl hooted softly. “The filly who’s chair your sitting on,” Twilight explained. “Who,” the owl said. “Her name’s Gabrielle. Gabrielle, Armor, this is Owlowiscious. Owlowiscious, this is Gabrielle and this is Armor,” Twilight said and gestured to us. “Now, apologize.” “It’s okay, Twilight,” I said. “You can’t really blame an owl for being quiet.” “Who?” Owlowiscious said. “You,” I said and smiled. “Though you seem pretty chatty.” “Who?” “Heh, you got pretty good comedic timing,” I said. “Who?” “Yeah, exactly,” I said and extended my foreleg, not sure how to otherwise greet seemingly sapient avians. “Nice to meet you.” Owlowiscious softly nibbled the keratin of my hoof a bit then rubbed his cheek against it. “Who,” he said and took off before setting down on the bed frame next to Armor. “Uh, nice to meet you,” Armor said hesitantly. “Well then, I think we’re done with the tour. Armor, I’m not sure where to fit you in on such a short notice,” Twilight said a bit ruefully. “Uh, I’m expected to stay here until Gabrielle feels that she can, or uh, until she feels that she’s adjusted to being a pony,” Armor said. “So it might be best with a temporary solution.” “Well there’s a sofa,” Twilight started hesitantly. “Uh, actually, Twilight,” Spike said. “It’s still at Quills & Sofas after that thing with Twilight Time.” “Oh, then uh,” Twilight said and looked nervously at Armor. “I’ll go check in with my uncle in the meantime,” he said confidently. “Oh, great,” Twilight said, relieved. “I’m sorry about this, I didn’t have any time to make a checklist of all the things that needed doing.” “That’s okay,” Armor said. “Speaking of things that needs doing, I think Rainbow Dash is waiting for us at Sugarcube Corner.” I noticed how Twilight snuck a glance at a wall clock before answering. “You’re right,” she said happily. “Let’s go.” "'Quills & Sofas'?" I asked. "Is that named after the owners?" "Uh, no," Twilight said. "It's what's sold there." ‘Alright, sure. Why corner one market when you can corner two?’ - “This place isn’t actually edible, is it?” I asked outside of Sugarcube Corner. “Of course not,” Twilight said like I had just asked if ponies could fly, disregarding the fact that lot’s of them actually can around here. “Gotcha. But now I’m having real trouble remembering that fairy tale with the gingerbread house,” I said and scratched the bottom of my muzzle. “There’s definitely a witch in it… did she feed the kids part of her house to fatten them up or what was it?” The confused looks the ponies (and the dragon) around me were giving me were so amusing that I decided to see how far I could push it. “Well, tji for mossy owls who sold butter in crazy barrel,” I said and smirked at their incredulous looks. “I believe that’s what we call a non sequitur.” “I... believe you’re right,” Twilight said slowly. “Uh, anyway, wanna go inside?” “Yeah, I wanna see what the inside looks like,” I said as we filed into the establishment. “SURPRISE!” about a dozen voices cheered. Me, Armor, and Spike jumped in surprise. Formed into a loose semicircle stood Twilight’s friends, two earth ponies in aprons with two very small foals perched on their backs (I don’t think they were among the cheerers, however), and three fillies about my age who looked a bit apprehensive about me that I shortly recognised as the "Cutie Mark Crusaders". “Told ya, Pinkie,” Rainbow said as she flew over to us in a manner which I could only describe as an "air saunter." “I got them over here without them suspecting a thing.” “Yeah, she did,” I admitted, just a little bit reluctantly. “She shouldn’t have, but she did, somehow.” “Oooh,” Pinkie cooed loudly and said, “that makes me so happy!” as she jumped up and down in front of us. “Yes, most impressive, I must say,” Rarity said. “A display of skill far beyond my modest expectations,” she continued with a hint of a playful smirk. “Aw, thanks, Rarity,” a pleased Rainbow said, unaware of the sneaky jibe. “Oh, yeah!” Pinkie said with a mile-wide grin. “Rarity said that you didn’t have any stuff left since they’re back at where you came from, so she suggested we’d get you some presents.” “Uh,” I said, flustered. “Oh, that’s… You didn’t have to,” I said before just tapering off. “Oh, I know, darling,” Rarity said. “But we all wanted to. Besides, I hope you’ll forgive me for my bluntness when I say this,” she began with mix of hopefulness and slight sadness in her voice, “but from what you’ve told us about you, there hasn’t been a lot of gifts in your life lately, even when the situation called for it.” That was true, in a way. I had a very strange feeling a while back, a bit like muted glee, when some colleagues realized that my birthday passed completely unnoticed a few weeks prior. Why I had felt that, I couldn’t really say, but if I had to be brutally honest with myself it probably had something to do with confirming that I had a reason for the occasional slip into self pity. ‘Are you really gonna be that girl here? Now? Surrounded by wonderful people who want to be your friend? Who like you and want what’s best for you? I don’t see how you can “wallow in despair” and that junk while embracing this new life, so no more of that. It might be understandable and difficult to let go, but still kinda childish and you know it. You want this new life anyway, so shape up!’ I didn’t know what to say in response to Rarity’s words, so I just smiled. “Now, I’m ashamed to admit that we did not do anything of the sort for your friend here,” Rarity said, and turned to Armor. “I hope you can forgive us, good sir.” “I, uh, of course, my lady,” Armor said to Rarity, along with Rainbow and Pinkie who had turned to him as well. “Oh?” Rarity said and put her hoof to her barrel. “And well-mannered, too. Now I feel outright appalled by our exclusion of you. Rest assured that it shall be rectified in time.” “I would never wish to inconvenience the heroes of Equestria, my lady,” Armor said. I was feeling impressed, and almost a little proud of how well he was handling the situation. Rarity’s eyes were suddenly filled by over-acted horror. “Pray tell, darling, whyever not?” “‘Cause he’s a guard and his job is to serve the common ponies, not the other way around?” Rainbow suggested casually, if a bit bluntly. “I figured I might as well tell the rest of the gang this,” she said to Armor. “Might be a bit weird if they tried figuring out why you’re here otherwise.” “I’ll defer to your wisdom, ma’am,” Armor said. “Heh, hear that, Pinkie? I’m wise,” Rainbow said and the two shared a laugh before Rainbow turned to Rarity. “And he’s here incognito, so no gossiping.” Rarity looked shocked. “Why, I would nev- Fine!” she said at Rainbow’s deadpan look. “Anyway, Fluttershy, Applejack, get over here and say ‘hi’ to Armor,” Pinkie said. There was a general shuffle of activity among our little group as Fluttershy and Applejack did so, while the two earth ponies with the small foals walked up to Pinkie and said, “we’ll be right back, Pinkie, we just gotta go check on the kitchen, can you take care of the twins for a minute?” “Yes, sir!” Pinkie happily saluted as the small foals were dumped on her back. We moved into a backroom and sat down around a table as mine and Armor’s living-situations were discussed, with Rarity being extremely torn between offering Armor a place to stay, and refusing her extra space to avoid any implications from having an athletic, handsome, and courteous young stallion living with her (she seemed close to losing herself in some hyperactive fugue state of indecision before Twilight snapped her out of it), I heard Applejack addressing the Crusaders, who I had yet to be introduced to. “Now why in Equestria wouldn’t Gabrielle be allowed to join your club?” she asked, sounding a bit accusing. “But, sis,” the one I assumed to be Apple Bloom said, a bit whiningly. “You can’t crusade for a cutie mark if you already have one!” I still looked engaged in a conversation with the other ponies as we were situated around a table, but my ears kept swiveling towards Applejack and the Crusaders, and I felt that their lack subtlety was further indication that growing up with puny human ears made huge pony ears even more effective when you got them. “Now that’s a load of hooey,” Applejack said. “That ain’t no reason for you not to let her join you.” ‘Yeah, I’m not sure you’re helping, Applejack. Don’t force kids to hang out with other kids, especially if they’re weird,’ I thought with a small sigh. “But sis!” Apple Bloom said. “No ‘buts,’” Applejack said. “Now march on over there and make her feel welcome to Ponyville.” I heard sixteen hooves slowly make their way towards us. I turned around and did my best to make it look like I haven’t heard that conversation. “Hello,” I smiled and tried saying with the right amount of casualness without coming across as flippant. “I’m Gabrielle,” I said and held out my hoof. “Nice to meet you.” The fillies stood shock-still with stunned expressions and wide eyes (which made their already large eyes look almost freaky) when they got a close look at me, and my right thigh, shoulder, and eyepatch. Applejack was looking down at them from behind with a disapproving expression and looked like she was about to elbow one of them until Rarity disengaged from the other conversation to say, “Sweetie Belle! Manners!” with a mix of admonishment and plea. The unicorn in the group shook her head and said, “Uh, yeah, uh… hi,” and reluctantly bumped my hoof. “I- I… ‘m Sweetie Belle.” “And I’m, uh, Apple Bloom,” the earth pony said and repeated the hoof bump. “Scootaloo,” the pegasus said, also very lightly bumping my hoof. None of them seeming very eager to look me in the eye. I struggled to think up a situation where the truth hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it, so I decided to be blunt. “Yeah, I heard you talking with Applejack, but you don’t have to talk with me if you don’t want to.” They looked a bit taken aback at that, but before they could answer, Rainbow, seemingly sensing that something was amiss among the bliss, leaned into the conversation, something that was quite easy to do with a pony’s neck. “Did I hear that right, squirt?” she asked, seemingly letting Scootaloo be the vehicle of the group. “You don’t wanna hang out with Gabe? Even though she escaped from a bunch of diamond dogs by herself? Even though she’s an alien who can knock out a pack of timberwolves just like that? And is friends with the princesses? And has an undercover bodyguard? And brought crazy inventions with her?” Rainbow’s smirk grew in tandem with the trio’s ever-widening eyes as she continued to describe what made me awesome in the eyes of a child. They slowly turned back to me with awe in their eyes. “Thought so,” Rainbow said, and retreated back to the other conversation with a pleased look on her face. The fillies clearly had no idea how to start a conversation with this information in mind. I wanted to help out but I couldn’t think of anything to do either other than rubbing the back of my neck with a hoof and looking sheepish. “Whoa,” Scootaloo finally managed. “Really?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Well, yeah,” I said. “Wow,” Apple Bloom said. “So hey, you wanna get something to eat?” “Oh, right,” Twilight leaned away from the other conversation and said. “We were coming here for a snack. Well, can you three show Gabrielle what’s available here? We’ll go get something soon.” “Sure thing, Twilight,” Apple Bloom said and turned to me. “C’mon, let’s go.” I lit up my horn and started moving with them to the counter. They looked, well, not quite awed at me getting around by myself, but some degree of impressed at least. Of course, they didn’t know that I still couldn’t keep this up for more than a few minutes yet. “Whoa,” Sweetie Belle said. “So is your special talent magic, too? Just like Twilight?” “Uh, In a way, I suppose,” I said. “I don’t know a lot about magic yet, but it’s going pretty well and not to sound immodest, but studying enchanting is going pretty great.” “Cool. So what’s your cutie mark?” Scootaloo said and unabashedly inspected my flanks. People had looked at that region of me before, but not with this amount of blatant eagerness. I tried showing off my magic mark as casually as I could while subtly looking around to make sure that no one looked at us funny since I still wasn’t sure how common this behavior was. “Well, gems are good for enchantments and the contrails… I dunno, represent function or something?” “What, you don’t know?” Sweetie Belle slowly agreed as the trio inspected my flank closely. I once again cast a nervous glance around the room, but Twilight and friends were the only ones in this particular room, and they seemed content to leave us to our own devices. “Well I’ve only been a pony for a few days,” I said. “I’m still figuring this stuff out.” The Crusaders looked me in the eyes again with renewed surprise. “You’re not a pony?” Scootaloo asked, “Well, I am now. Twilight said that this isn’t temporary, or an illusion, or anything like that. I really am an Equestrian pony. Though I still have some human traits,” I said and flashed them a toothy grin. Their eyes widened again at the sight of my canines. “Whoa,” Scootaloo said. “Just like Fluttershy.” ‘Huh?’ “Fluttershy has canines?” I asked. “No, but Apple Bloom's got one. Fluttershy’s got fangs like you, though,” Scootaloo said. “It’s kinda hard to tell, though. Since she doesn’t smile with her teeth all that much.” I let that fang part slide and made a mental note to look at Fluttershy’s teeth next time I got an opportunity. “So anyway,” Apple Bloom said. “What’s a human?” I did my best to describe humans to the Crusaders as we figured out what we were having at the counter. However, they didn’t have Twilight’s scientific disposition, and kept trying to come up with their own ideas to what humans looked like. Feet and human hair seemed especially hard concepts to grasp, and while I hadn’t seen any minotaurs at that point, I was hesitant to call humans similar to them in appearance. “I might be able to show you some movies with humans or something,” I said as the mare of girth from before came up to take our orders. “Hello,” I said to her, and worked a bit to turn the wheelchair half circle to be able to reach her with a hoofshake. “Pleased to meet you, my name’s Gabrielle:” “Oh, how lovely to meet you, dearie,” she said and shook my hoof. “I’m Cup Cake. Carrot! Come out and introduce yourself,” she called back into the kitchen. The stallion from before came out and another round of hoofshakes went around. “Hello, I’m Carrot Cake. You’re that filly that Pinkie told us about, right?” “Uh, I don’t know,” I said a bit uncertainly. “What was she saying?” “Something about a filly that’s a diplomat from another world that’s been meeting with the princess,” Carrot said. “Yeah, I guess that would be me. Uh, has Pinkie talked to a lot of people about this?” I asked, trying not to show that I wasn’t really pleased by that idea. “Uh, I don’t think so, but she has with us,” Cup said before catching on to what I meant. “Oh, perhaps I should mention that she works here and lives up in the loft. She also helps to take care of Pound and Pumpkin, you might have seen them?” “Oh! Okay,” I said, relieved. “Those were the little guys in the diapers, right?” I asked and they nodded fondly. “Right. By the way, who’s paying for this?” “Twilight said that she’ll take care of it,” Cup said. “Though I was coming over to take everypony’s order.” “Oh, uh, maybe I can take mine here,” I said. “I might as well familiarise myself with the menu.” After the four of us placed our orders we made our way back to the table. Not quietly of course. “So humans don’t have cutie marks?” Apple Bloom asked. “Nope,” I said. “No magically bestowed talents for us.” “Oh,” the three of them said in small voices at the same time. “That really helps put things in perspective,” Sweetie Belle said. “How so?” I asked. “Well, we really wanna get our cutie marks as soon as possible,” she said. “But at least we’re gonna get them.” “Yeah,” Scootaloo said. “A blank flank suddenly don’t seem so bad when some ponies, or uh, people, don’t get any at all.” The trio turned their heads to look at their own flanks. I again had to look around to see if this behavior was drawing looks, but the complete lack of interest in this behavior, coupled with the complete lack of subtlety of the Crusaders, made me assume that this wasn’t behavior out of the ordinary. We sat down at the table again. I was already sitting of course, but I positioned myself at the table. “So, Rarity,” Pinkie said as the foals known as the twins were climbing up and down her, and looking around with wonder in their eyes. “Wanna hold em?” Rarity let out a nervous chuckle. “Ah, haha, no thank you, Pinkie. Perhaps Fluttershy would rather–” Rarity started but stopped herself when she saw Fluttershy meekly sinking below the table, “– or perhaps Gabrielle?” My eye widened at that. “Ah, that’s okay, Pinkie, you don’t have to–” was all I could manage before the twins were plopped down in the chair with me by a grinning Pinkie. This wasn’t as awkward as that one time at work where I had been offered to hold a sleeping baby, and then received instructions on how to properly hold it, but it was still pretty awkward. It wasn’t until the mother practically shoved her baby into my chest that it dawned on her that only having one arm equals only having one arm. I never had those baby doll toy things when I grew up. Mom was a tomboy (and dad loved her for it) and that thing with growing up to be the opposite of your parents didn’t really happen in my case. They laughed pretty hard once in my grade school era when a commercial came on for a plastic baby whose pee you had to clean up, and they saw my utterly bewildered face when I tried figuring out why anyone would want anything like that. Anyway, I put my hoof out and gently patted the small unicorn sitting where my right hind leg would be, who looked up at me with wide eyes. There was a mix of cooing and "naaw"-ing coming from the ponies around the table at that. My neutral face turned surly and the unicorn foal laughed at me. I was told that the unicorn’s name was Pumpkin and she was a filly, while the pegasus was a colt called Pound. Yeah, I didn’t get a sudden love for babies, but I noticed that they were clean at least, and decided that it might not be that horrible to have them clinging on me. I awaited with dread, however, for the moment they decided to dispose of their waste, and prepared a gentle but firm denial for when I would be asked if I wanted to help change diapers. “Alright, so where were we?” I asked the crusaders as the twins were climbing around in my chair, and on me, while taking in their surroundings. “We were talking about cutie marks,” Sweetie Belle said. “Well, color me surprised,” I heard Applejack mutter from the other side of the table but it didn’t seem like the Crusaders heard her. “Oh, right,” Apple Bloom said. “So you still must’ve already had a special talent when you were a human, seeing as you have a cutie mark.” “Uh,” I said as Pound started making his way up the back of my chair. “I’m not sure. My homeworld doesn’t have any magic, we have to make due without magically granted talents. I got this… I guess a few hours after I became a pony.” The trio looked at me in surprise before their expressions drooped into deadpanning disbelief. “Seriously?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Yeah? How so?” I asked as Pumpkin reared up on her hind legs and started pawing up my barrel. “You got one just hours after you could?” Scootaloo. “Yeah, ain’t that typical?” Apple Bloom said to the other two. “What? What is?” I asked and Pound started digging through my mane. “We want our cutie marks, too,” Scootaloo said. “And we’ve been trying to find our special talents for ages.” “Oh,” I said. “Yeah, I’m new to the whole special talent thing, but it’s pretty neat so far, so I understand why you would.” “How did you find out yours?” Apple Bloom asked. By now my attention was a bit split between the conversation and Pound, who had dug all the way through the jungle of my mane and found the string for my eyepatch. “Do you know Zecora?” I asked. “Yeah!” they said, with Apple Bloom sounding especially enthusiastic. “She’s the best,” she said. “I have to agree with that,” I said and put a hoof to my eyepatch as Pound seemed to be using the strings like a pair of reins. “A bunch of diamond dogs dumped me in the Everfree Forest, where she started by saving me from a pack of timber wolves, and then I saved her by having some sort of magical surge and blasted pretty much everything around me.” “Whoa. Is that how you, uhm…” Sweetie Belle trailed of. “How I lost my ar– uh, my legs?” I said, figuring it might help to sound as casual as I could. “Yeah,” she said a bit hesitantly. “Nah,” I said as Pumpkin got a hoofull of my mane and started climbing that, too, happily blubbering all the while. “All this happened ages ago,” I said and gestured towards my entire right side. “Can we see what’s under there?” Scootaloo said enthusiastically. “Uh, yeah, I think you might in a moment,” I said nervously just as Pound untied my eyepatch. I tried angling my head back to stop him, but not so roughly as to throw him off. “Pinkie, could you...” I trailed off. But Pinkie was busy asking Armor questions, and only Fluttershy seemed to notice what was happening over at our corner. The conversation was a bit fast-paced for her to get a word into it however, and after a moment she trotted over to us instead. By now, Pumpkin had gotten a hold of my muzzle and hauled herself up to look me in the eye. “Uh, hey there,” I said a bit hesitantly to the very small filly looking at me with that baby-like stunned awe in her eyes, feeling kinda relieved that my remaining eye was now buffalo hide level of tough. I felt Pound pawing at the top of my head, and I had to place my foreleg under Pumpkin to steady her as she would no doubt fall down from my muzzle and hurt herself without intervention. Babies do that, in my experience.. “Uh, Fluttershy, could you please remove the adventurous young stallion currently on top of me?” I asked as my eyepatch fell to the floor beside me, and not wanting to move my head for fear of tripping Pumpkin. “I’ve got him,” I heard Fluttershy say and felt his bottom half being removed from my neck. I felt his front hooves grab my ears, though, and when Fluttershy made a slightly firmer effort to remove him, he laughingly tugged them as hard as he could. The Crusaders gasped at the sight as my eyelids were yanked open. Carrot came walking into the room with a notepad and a pencil, and both he and the Crusaders looked on in horror as Pumpkin decided that a baby hoof would be a wonderful tool to explore my eye socket with. My heartrate took off like a cannonball as the small foal on my muzzle cheerfully shoved her foreleg into the great cavity in my head. I didn’t scream at the top of my lungs, but I felt like it. Instead, I took a deep, hissing breath. Luckily, I managed to get a good grip around Pumpkin’s neck and pull her away. "Lucky" because the necks are a totally viable place for a foals entire weight to be carried from. “Nnnguh,” was the only sound I managed as a horrified Carrot Cake quickly came up to us to relieve me of the twins, my eyelid shut as hard as possible behind my hoof and my face contorted in a grimace. “I’m really sorry, Gabrielle,” Carrot apologized, along with Cup who had rushed out of the kitchen at the commotion. The twins, however, were complaining loudly about their fun being ruined. “Just–” I started between pants. “Please tell me that her hooves are clean at least.” “We, uh, we washed them off thoroughly right before you came here,” Cup said nervously. “Is that okay?” “I think so,” I said as I took a few calming breaths. “That should be fine.” The whole room had become silent as this occurred, with Applejack giving a droopy-eared Pinkie the stink eye, but then Fluttershy walked up to me with determined steps. “Gabrielle,” she said, using a tone I hadn’t heard her use before. “I would like to double check to make sure that it’s really okay.” I looked into her determined eyes and simply said, “Sure,” before turning to Carrot and Cup. “It’s okay, don’t worry about it,” I assured them as they took the loudly crying twins out the back. “Now, if everypony would give us some room, please,” Fluttershy said as she wheeled me over to a window where the light was brightest and leaned my head back. “Gabrielle, open your eye, please.” “Uh,” I said a bit hesitantly as I removed my hoof. “Just, no touching.” “Of course,” Fluttershy said as I opened my eye. The whole affair with Pumpkin didn’t really hurt all that much, physically. If it did, I wouldn’t have been using a prosthetic eye (since, you know, shoving stuff in there and all that). But the sensation of having something jammed into your eye socket in that manner was still very much unpleasant and I missed the comforting feeling of my hoof covering my socket the moment I removed it. Though despite some twitching, I kept still. Fluttershy seemed very confident as she turned my head around slightly and inspected me closely. “This all looks fine,” she said after a while and let go of my head. “No lacerations or scrapes.” “Thanks,” I said and tried magically grabbing my eyepatch of the floor. It floated up a bit jerky, however, with my concentration not tippity-top. I looked around at the rest of the collected ponies who looked at me with different shades of wincing sympathy and disgusted horror. “It’s okay,” I said. “It’s not that bad, it’s all just really unpleasant and, well, a bit icky.” “Uh, what’s not so bad, but icky?” came a new voice from the doorway. We turned around to see Redheart and Zecora standing there, looking at the scene in confusion. “I apologize if we came at a bad time,” Zecora said. “Ponies do not think every occasion calls for rhyme.” “Zecora!” the Crusaders called and smiled happily at the sight of the zebra. “Hey! You made it!” Pinkie happily exclaimed. “Oh, hi, you two,” Twilight said with a slightly strained smile. “And I don’t think this is a bad time. Gabrielle was just a little too patient with the Cake twins.” Zecora and Redheart (who still had her mane in a bun but had skipped in her hat) looked at me still lightly rubbing my eyelid with my eyepatch lying at the table in front of me, which was a bit dirty so I skipped out on it. “I think we get it,” Redheart said. “I hope this hasn’t ruined the moment, Gabe.” “No, though I might need some help in restoring the mood. Anyway, nice to see you again,” I said as I rolled up towards them. Ponies were really into hugs. I still wasn’t, but I gave Redheart one anyway. Then I turned to Zecora. “Thank you,” I said and put as much force as I could behind those words and held out my hoof. Zecora looked a bit surprised before smiling and bumping my hoof. “And thank you, for feats done in the past. At the time I was worried I had rhymed my last.” ‘This woman is really something else,’ I thought and smiled, but before long the silence of the room started irking me. I turned and looked at the assembled ponies. “Uh, look, I don’t know how to say this any other way, but stop looking at me silently and go back to acting like this is a surprise party. I liked that.” There was a second of silence before Pinkie said, “Oh, yeah, there are still presents.” This seemed to shake the rest of the gathering out of their funk, with some happy murmurings as we gathered around a large table again and Carrot came out with a notepad. “Cup’s putting the twins to sleep,” he said and turned to me. “I’m really sorry again, Gabrielle.” “It’s okay,” I said and waved him off. “Even Fluttershy said it’s fine.” “Well, okay, then could I take everypony’s order?” Me and the Crusaders had already placed ours, but as the others’ were being taken, I turned to Redheart and Zecora who were sitting beside me. “So, how’ve things been?” I asked. Redheart looked a bit amused at that. “You’re asking us?” she said. I shrugged at that. “Well, even if I didn’t care, I’d still listen politely, considering the rescue and everything.” “Oh, well, things have been going on like normal for me,” Redheart said. “How about you, Zecora?” “My week have been unfolding much like the last, after I woke up a few days in the past,” Zecora said and smiled at me. “After that impressive spell, I am glad to know that you are well.” ‘Not technically a spell, according to Twilight, but whatever.’ “Those wolves haven’t been giving you any trouble, then?” “Whether I choose to fence or flee, they cannot keep up with me,” she answered with a sly grin. ‘To say that being a unicorn is neat would be underselling it. But, man! If I wasn’t for the prospect of magic, being a kung fu-zebra would be so awesome.’ “Alright, Gabe,” Pinkie said after Carrot had delivered everyone’s order. “Wanna see what you got?” “Yeah, sure,” I said as Pinkie trotted up to me with a small pile of wrapped packages on her back. “The big one’s from me,” Pinkie said cheerfully. “And these ones are from Rarity and this one’s from Rainbow Dash.” “Thanks, everyone,” I said. “Should I open them now?” “Of course, darling,” Rarity said. “I’ve gotten you something that might be useful right now, in fact.” “Alright,” I said and grabbed one of Rarity’s packages. She had packed them really well, because I just had to hold them down with my hoof, and give the bow a soft tug and the whole packaging neatly fell away to reveal… “Oh, hey. Cool,” I said at the small collection of eyepatches. Comfy textiles had the downside of getting dirty so some spares would be nice, and these ones also came in blue and orange to match my coat and mane as well. “Thanks,” I said and went on to try and attach a blue one. Armor discreetly walked up behind me and finished up the tie from behind. “And next,” I said with a smile. I hadn’t realized it when I had been told about this, but actually opening presents made me remember how fun it could be, especially when you didn’t know you were gonna get any. “Oooh!” I said at the collection of gems. “I asked around for some shapes and types good for early level enchanting,” Rarity said. “Thanks. This is great… I think. At least they seem great,” I said pensively, figuring that maybe it was magically backed intuition. “So no eating, Spike,” Twilight said. “Yeah, yeah,” he answered. Rainbow looked on from a few feet into the air. “Hmm, I guess there’s a headgear theme going on around here,” she said. “How so?” Twilight asked her. “I just figured that Gabe might wanna be extra careful with her new eye, so I gave her a pair of goggles,” Rainbow proudly said. “Oh, nice,” I said. “I’ll pretend to be surprised when I open this.” “Cool,” Rainbow said. Sure enough, in a shoddily but very sturdily wrapped package rested what looked like a pair of flight goggles. I tried them on and they rested really comfortingly against my head. This had the double advantage of giving extra protection to both my eye and my eye socket. “I figured those could be good to have when you’re doing crazy enchanting experiments or whatever, since you’re living with Twilight and all that,” Rainbow said, then stopped and put her hoof to her chin as she seemingly realized something and looked at Twilight. “Hey!” Twilight said. “I don’t do crazy experiments.” “Alright, admit you’re uncool all you want,” Rainbow said with a shrug, to which Twilight just pouted. The largest and most festive-looking package was obviously from Pinkie. It wasn’t as easily unwrapped as Rarity’s, but easier than Rainbow’s. “Twilight wrote us and told us about those crazy inventions you got from your home and then she also wrote about these things that looked really important to you so I figured that you didn’t wanna wear them out more than necessary but you’d still wanna spend time doing that but you’re not nearly as big as you used to be so I thought that this could be really neat and–” Pinkie said as I unwrapped the package and decided that I wasn’t gonna wait for her to finish before sharing my thoughts on the gift. “Oh! Nice. I hadn’t thought about this,” I said as I retrieved the ukulele from the packaging. I wasn’t an ace with ukuleles, I wasn’t an ace with a normal guitar, either, but I figured that this could be another way to help me adjust to my new physical form. I grabbed the neck with my hoof, lit up my horn and reached out for the strings. I managed to plink a pretty passable version of La Cucaracha, at least the main tune, one of those tunes that are naturally amusing. ‘Oh, sure. It’s not Kamarinskaya, but it’s a start.’ I set the ukulele aside with a smile and looked at the assembled ponies (and dragon) around me. Being at the center of attention like this still wasn’t thrilling, but compared to the horrified looks back with the Pumpkin incident, this felt fine. “Thanks,” I said and hesitated a bit. “Uh, I’m still not all that into hugs, but if anyone wants one, I’m fine with one at the moment.” “Nah, I’m good like this if it’s all the same,” Rainbow said. Rarity looked like she was thinking up a response with the same meaning when Pinkie Pie instead jumped at the chance. “I’m up for one!” she exclaimed enthusiastically as she practically pounced me and enveloped my face in pink hair. I hugged her back and, to my relief, I don’t think anyone noticed with all the hair in the way. I could only imagine what it looked like from another’s perspective, with two manes of these glaring shades and volume meeting like this. I felt a bit creepy for doing this, but I just couldn’t help but sniff her hair. It smelled like frosting. “Alright, thanks, Pinkie. I think this’ll do,” I said, but it sounded muffled even to me so I couldn’t only hope that she could hear any of it. Pinkie pulled away and I looked around the room. “Thanks again, everyone,” I said. “I haven’t had a chance to sharpen my skills yet, but when I do, if you need anything enchanted, just say the word.” I was very satisfied with the general appreciative murmur. “Oh, darling. Don’t trouble yourself,” Rarity said, waving the offer away, but only up until the half point of the gesture before she leaned in against my face. “But if you really insist then I have some amazing ideas!” The little event went on swimmingly. Some ponies, and Spike, were interested in what I had brought from Earth and what those things could do. The Crusaders seemed pretty interested in the movies I had on my computer, Rainbow probably would too, but she had dismissed the whole subject as boring a while back and was just chatting away with the rest of the gathering. During one of those little openings when a subject had run dry, and there was a general discrete shuffle as people probed for other little groups whose conversations they could join, I took some time to have a little lapse in awareness as I gave my brain some time to process the situation I was in. Like when you’ve imbibed some intoxicant into your system, and then try to stand up in a normal pace after a long period of sitting down. “Gabe, are you okay?” Redheart asked me from the side. I gave an absent-minded nod and waited a moment before answering. “Yeah, fine. Just taking a moment to process everything,” I said and gave her a not-all-that-focused look. “This all still takes some getting used to.” Redheart studied me for a moment before shuffling her chair closer to me. “Alright, close your eye and turn around,” she said. As I did she reached out around me and pulled me towards her so that my neck was pressed against her barrel. My heart wasn’t racing, but I didn’t notice until now that every beat felt like it was against a bass drum. I managed to force myself to not worry if anyone was watching before taking a few slow, deep breaths and relaxing against her. “Haaah. That’s better,” I breathed after a while. “You did the same thing in Canterlot,” Redheart said. “When most ponies would panic or break down you soldier on. But you need some help to unwind and calm down.” “Heh, I guess you’re right” I chuckled a bit ruefully. ‘Yeah, how ironic this all is, coming to a new world both made me a bunch of friends and appreciate them all at once. Or maybe it’s not ironic, maybe it goes without saying, but whatever...' As I felt the calming effect of Redheart’s chin resting on my head, the din of a social gathering was still going strong but I still felt my priorities slowly shift. “Is anyone watching?” I asked, not bothering to open my eye. “Just the same three little fillies who’ve been watching this whole time,” Redheart answered. After a moment I reluctantly opened my eye to see the Crusaders looking at us with slightly worried faces. “Are you okay?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Yeah I’m just...” I started. I only had vague ideas and a limited vocabulary to describe what just happened. “Getting a new body, in a new world, away from everything you know is a pretty big deal. Don’t get me wrong, this all seems pretty sweet but it’s also a lot to process.” That made them look sad, which made me a bit happy because drooping pony ears still looks adorable. “Hey, don’t worry about it,” I said and turned to Redheart, having enough presence of mind to turn my head to the side and not looking straight up and stabbing at her neck with my horn. “Thanks.” “Just glad to help,” she said and nuzzled me a bit again before letting go. TheCrusaders still looked on in slightly alarmed curiosity. “You still look confused,” I commented. They started shuffling a bit and rubbing their hooves against their forelegs. “Uh, Well,” Apple Bloom said. “Alright, try imagining turning into something else and finding yourself in another land with no one you know around you,” I said. “Let that sink in for a moment and that should tell you why I’m still a bit confused sometimes.” They stood there and looked thoughtful for a moment before they all had an epiphany each at the same time. “Yeah, okay, I guess that would be pretty weird,” Apple Bloom said. “Also, I hope you’re not upset that I, uh… wanted to look behind your eyepatch,” Scootaloo said. “That’s fine,” I said and waved her off. “And uh,” Apple Bloom started before Sweetie Belle tried taking the reins of the conversation. “You can’t crusade for a cutie mark if you already have one but, well, maybe we could…” “Maybe you’d want to hang out sometime anyway?” Scootaloo finished for her. “Oh, sure,” I said happily. “I’m guessing that humans mature at a different rate than ponies, so I kinda guessed that you’d just think I was weird.” “Well, you’re a bit weird but you’re still kinda cool,” Scootaloo said and received a disapproving look from the other two. “‘Kinda cool’? Yeah, okay, I’ll take it,” I said and made Scootaloo look a bit sheepish. “Anyway, as for your request, Scootaloo,” I continued and lifted up my eyepatch and lowered the goggles I realized I still had on my forehead and opened my eyelid. “Look all you want.” The trio leaned in all got a look of disgust mixed with delight, fascination, and more disgust. - Soon enough the sun was getting pretty flirty with the horizon and the party was dying down. Just as I figured that people might be waiting for me to give the suggestion of wrapping up, Twilight loudly said, “Alright, everypony. I think it’s time we wrap this up. It’s a day like any other tomorrow, and Sugarcube Corner has closing times like any other establishment.” The Crusaders whined loudly at that, but their insistence that nopony was tired fell a bit flat when they yawned in a wave. I myself let out a discreet one and started thanking everyone around me for the welcome as we were shuffling towards the exit. “That was a great party!” Spike cheerfully exclaimed from Twilight’s back. “It’s a Pinkie party, Spike,” Twilight said. “It kind of goes without saying. By the way, she was asking you a lot of questions at one point there, Armor. What were you two talking about?” Twilight asked as we made our way through the softly darkening streets of Ponyville. The last rays of the day mingling with the emerging starlight. “She, uh, seemed surprised when I talked about my uncle,” Armor said. “The one who lives here in Ponyville?” Twilight asked before groaning and smacking herself lightly in the forehead. “Ugh, now it’s late and we still haven’t figured out sleeping arrangement for you. This is what happens when I don’t make proper checklists!” I didn’t turn to see Armor’s expression (he was wheeling me around again), but he sounded a bit alarmed when he answered. “Uh, your highness, please don’t blame yourself on my account.” “But I’m being a terrible host!” Twilight insisted. “Uh, your highness. I still have my uncle’s place to sleep at.” “Well, if you’re sure he’s okay with it.” “I’m sure. If you’re okay with that, Gabrielle,” Armor said. “Uh, sure. Why wouldn’t I be?” I asked. “It’s my job to help you as you adjust to your life in Equestria. I can’t do that if I’m not around to help,” he said before he continued with a more rueful tone. “I would also like to apologize for earlier.” “For what, earlier?” I asked, realizing what he meant a second afterward. “For the, uh, incident with the young foals. I was inattentive and my failure as your protector and assistant caused you great physical pain,” he said, actually sounding a bit miserable. “Well, uh, first of all,” I said, trying to figure out in what order I should put my observations. “I can’t really see how what they did is your fault. Secondly, my assailant was like, one foot tall. Thirdly, I wouldn’t call it great pain. A large part of it is psychological–” I realized that that last part wasn’t exactly helping so I quickly thought of one more point to add “– and lastly, my right eye doesn’t even exist. It’s not like I can go more blind in it.” Armor stammered a bit before stopping, possibly realising that I didn’t want him insisting that I blame him for anything. “If you say so.” “I do, and I’m right,” I said flippantly. “Yeah, sorry about Pinkie dumping the twins on you, she gets a bit carried away sometimes and doesn’t always realize that not everypony likes what she likes,” Twilight said. “You have to remind her of that, every now and then. Except for that part, how did you find your welcoming party?” “Oh, it was great,” I said. “I’m still not all that comfortable with being the center of attention, but I still enjoyed it. I still have trouble wrapping my head around the fact that the Crusaders are in their twenties.” “Oh, that’s right. This is the first time you’ve met ponies your own age,” Twilight said. “I wonder why I was under the impression that you’ve met Giggle Hoof.” “Uh, is ‘Giggle Hoof’ seriously a name?” I asked. “Yeah?” Twilight asked, as if that name was one of the most common in the world. Maybe it was. “Alright, sure… Who’s that, and why did you think I’d met her?” “She’s also a filly about your age that you see in the castle every now and then. She’s a sweet one, and the daughter of the royal castle’s head landscaper, Mr Ha-Ha.” “... I seriously don’t have anything to say about that,” I said incredulously. “Sorry to intrude, ladies, but if I’m heading for my uncle’s place, this is where we split up,” Armor said. “Oh, alright. Well, if it doesn’t work out, come back to the library and we’ll figure something out,” Twilight said. If it really came down to it, the bed I was given was large enough for both him and me, but the idea of trying to convince him of sharing a bed was ridiculous. Besides, I wasn’t used to sleeping next to someone else, so I didn’t say anything. “You are very kind, your highness, but I don’t think you need to worry. Will you be alright, Gabrielle?” “As long as someone helps me with the stairs, I’ll be fine,” I said. “Well of course I’ll help,” Twilight said. “There you go,” I said to Armor. “See you tomorrow, I guess?” “I shall be there as early as possible,” he said reassuringly. “Oh,” I said with some mock dejection. “I wasn’t aware we were getting up that early.” “Oh, uh, then… “ He started before I waved him off. “Get going, would ya?” I said good-naturedly. “And good night.” “Good night.” My first day in Ponyville ended like any other day, except with a lot of complicated journeying up and down narrow stairs, further motivating me to practice my magic so that I could handle that myself, and research more about those magical replacement limbs that Equestria had once upon a time. And so I laid down and eventually fell asleep, and dreamt of strange things.