New Life in Equestria

by jkreader

Chapter 4 - Animals and Crusaders (Rewritten)

Chapter 4 - Animals and Crusaders

*Nyx’s P.O.V.*

“Twilight?” Joshua asked as we walked towards Fluttershy’s cottage, “What does Fluttershy do?”

“You’ll see when we get to her cottage, Joshua,” Twilight replied.

As we got closer to her cottage, we passed by the Everfree Forest. I avoided going in there ever since Princess Luna took back what belonged to her from me unless I had to go with Twilight. Joshua looked over to the forest and shivered a little bit at how scary it looked.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“The Everfree Forest,” I explained, “The place where I was ‘created’.”

“Is that where the Tree of Harmony is?” he asked.

“Yep,” Twilight replied, “Near the Ancient Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. I’ll take you to see it someday if you want.”

“Why are we close to that forest?” he asked.

“Fluttershy’s cottage is close by,” I said, “There it is now.”

Twilight and Joshua looked in front of them and saw that we were at Fluttershy’s cottage. As we got closer, we spotted Fluttershy outside her house surrounded by quite a few of her animal friends. She appeared to be feeding them.

“Aw,” Joshua said, “How does she do that? I can’t get close enough to animals like that without scaring them.”

“It’s her special talent,” Twilight replied, “She can communicate with animals in a way nopony else can.”

Fluttershy soon finished feeding her animals and was about to go back into her cottage when she spotted us.

“Oh, hello Twilight,” she said, “Hello Nyx.”

“Hi Fluttershy,” I replied, “How are you?”

“I’m doing very well,” she answered, “Thank you for asking. How about you?”

“I’m doing well myself,” I said, “Twilight and I have a new friend for you to meet.”

“A new friend?” Fluttershy asked. Twilight turned to the side to show Joshua off to Fluttershy. Her eyes widened upon seeing him.

“Fluttershy, meet Joshua,” Twilight said, “Joshua, this is Fluttershy.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Fluttershy,” Joshua said climbing off Twilight’s back.

“Oh my, he talks,” Fluttershy said amazed, “It’s very nice to meet you as well, Joshua. Um, if you don’t mind me asking, what are you?”

“I’m a human,” he replied. He then looked over at Fluttershy’s animals then back to Fluttershy, “Um, Fluttershy, do you take care of animals?”

“Oh yes,” Fluttershy said looking back at her animals, “I love taking care of all kinds of animals. I was just finishing up feeding the squirrels and rabbits. All I have left is the birds.” She then looked back to Joshua. “Um, would you like to help?”

“Okay,” Joshua replied, “What do I do?”

Fluttershy picked up a box of bird feed with her teeth then turned to Joshua.

“Hold out your hands, okay?” she said somewhat muffled from holding the box in her mouth. Joshua did so and
Fluttershy poured some bird feed into his hands. She then put the box down and stood next to him. “Now stand still and wait.” Joshua nodded at Fluttershy and waited patiently, until a bird flew onto his hand.

“Oh, wow,” he whispered quietly, “I never got this close to a bird before.”

“Really?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yeah,” he replied as a couple more birds landed on his hands, “Birds sometimes flew away if I got too close.”

“Hmm,” Fluttershy said as if thinking to herself. She then turned to Twilight and whispered quietly into her ear. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but her reaction gave a hint. Her eyes widened when Twilight whispered her response.

“Really?” she asked Twilight quietly.

“Yeah,” Twilight replied sadly, “And he’s a bit hesitant to talk about it, so try not to bring it up in front of him, okay?”

“I won’t,” she replied. At that moment, Joshua turned back to us with the birdseed in hands all eaten from the birds.

“Thank you, Fluttershy,” he said, “That was fun to do.”

“You’re very welcome, Joshua. I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Fluttershy said giving him a hug. Joshua returned it and held it for a little a bit. I walked up to Twilight while they were hugging and tapped her wither.

“Hey Twilight,” I said getting her attention, “My friends and I were going to meet up for lunch at the clubhouse today. Can I bring Joshua along?”

“Sure Nyx,” she replied, “Just make sure you two are back in time for dinner, alright?”

“We will,” I said with a nod. I then walked over to Joshua and Fluttershy and tapped Joshua’s back. He turned to look at me. “Hey Josh, you want to come with me to the clubhouse now? I’m going to be having lunch with my friends today.”

“Okay,” he said, “I am getting hungry. Bye Twilight.”

“Bye Josh,” Twilight said, “Have fun with Nyx and her friends.”

“Okay,” he replied.

“Climb on my back, Josh, and we’ll go,” I said to him. It was easier for him to climb on my back because I didn’t have to squat down for him. He climbed onto my back and we began our walk towards the clubhouse. About ten minutes later we arrived at the Crusaders’ clubhouse.

“Well, here we are,” I said as we walked up the ramp to the door, “This is where we put our plans to help fillies and colts who don’t have cutie marks get them.” We entered inside but noticed that the others weren’t here yet.

“Where are Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom?” he asked.

“They’re not here yet,” I said, “Sweetie might still be making that new cape for you.”

“Cape?” he asked climbing off my back.

“All members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders get a cape,” I said, “While we wait for them, I’ll show you around the clubhouse. Over there is the roll call list.” I pointed to the list on the wall that had the current members. Joshua stood next to me and looked at the list.

“Who are those other three on the list?” he asked.

“The one with orange fur and purple mane is Scootaloo,” I said, “She’s a pegasus and Rainbow Dash’s surrogate sister. The one with the white fur, purple glasses, and red mane is Twist.”

“The one who made you gave you that peppermint stick?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I replied, “She knew just how to cheer me up that day. The last one with the brown fur and pink and red mane is Apple Bloom’s cousin from Manehatten, Babs Seed. She visits Ponyville whenever she can.” I then pointed to our lunch table. “Over there is where we eat our lunches.” No sooner did I say “lunches” than did his stomach growl. He covered his stomach and chuckled nervously.

“Sorry,” he said, “I’m hungry.”

“Well, the girls should be here soon for lunch,” I said. I then pointed over at the target rug. “Sometimes, we stand in that spot and think of great ideas, like how to help the others get their cutie marks.”

“Wow,” Joshua said, “I think it’ll be fun being in this club.”

Joshua looked out the window when he finished saying that. As I looked at him, a thought crossed my mind. I only hoped he wouldn’t mind answering.

“Say, Josh?” I said.

“Yes, Nyx?” he replied looking at me.

“Sorry if this is a touchy subject but out of curiosity, did you have any brothers or sisters?” I asked.

“It’s okay, Nyx,” he said, “No, I didn’t have any brothers or sisters. I wanted to, but Mommy didn’t have any more babies after me.”

“Oh,” I said, “Well, if you want... I can be your big sister.”

“R-really?” I asked. I nodded and he slowly walked towards me. When he got stopped in front of me, he wrapped his arms around me and quietly sniffled. I could safely take that answer as a yes as I brought my forehooves around him. Our moment was interrupted when we heard a few voices behind us saying, “Aww.” Joshua and turned our heads to the door and saw Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Twist standing there, all of them wearing saddlebags.

“Egh,” Scootaloo said, “Mushy stuff.”

“Oh come off it, Scoots,” Apple Bloom retorted. She then trotted up to Joshua, “Hey again, Josh. Sorry ‘bout Scootaloo. She’s not much for things she considers mushy.”

“It’s okay,” Joshua said, “It’s nice to meet you, Scootaloo.”

“Nice to meet you as well, Josh,” Scootaloo replied, “and this is Twist.”

“Hi!” Twist said energetically, “It’s nice to meet you.”

“You too, Twist,” Joshua said waving.

“Well, now that we’re all here, whose turn was it to bring lunch?” Apple Bloom asked.

“I think it was mine,” Scootaloo said reaching into her bag, “I brought pizza for us this time around. Do you like pizza, Joshua?”

“Yeah!” Joshua nodded eagerly, “Pizza is my favorite!”

“I brought some of my special made peppermint sticks for dessert,” Twist added, “I think you’ll like them, Joshua.”

Scootaloo placed the box on the table and dished out six plates. The pizza was plain cheese, and it was delicious. After everyone had a slice, Twist gave each of us a peppermint stick for dessert.

“Mm!” Joshua said after taking a lick, “This is good, Twist.”

“Thanks!” Twist said with a smile.

“Alright, y’all,” Apple Bloom said, “Time fer the initiation. Let’s get set up.”

Soon enough, we got the room ready for the ceremony. Scootaloo pulled out a pair of drums and Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom pushed a podium near the back wall and Sweetie Belle stood behind it taking a rolled up piece of paper. As she opened it, she groaned.

“Scootaloo! I thought you said you were going to revise this!” Sweetie Belle said.

“Uh, hehe,” Scootaloo chuckled nervously, “It must’ve slipped my mind.”

“Just play the drums, I’ll come up with something,” Sweetie Belle replied. Scootaloo played four slow beats on the drum, which then turned into a wild pounding that shook the clubhouse. Joshua had his ears covered as he stood in the middle of the room. Scootaloo soon stopped after a while then beat the drum one last time.

“Do you, Joshua, wish to be a Cutie Mark Crusader?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Yes,” Joshua replied.

“Do you swear to help us in the quest to find our destiny?”

“I do.”

“Do you promise to never stop the journey until we find our marks?”

“Yes.”

“Then it’s our pleasure to welcome you as a Cutie Mark Crusader!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, tossing her newly made cape to Joshua. It landed in front of him. He picked it up and draped it across his back.

“Thank you,” he said as he tied it up.

“So, what next?” Twist asked.

“Well, we’ve still got some time before we need to get back to the library,” I said, “How about we give Joshua a tour of Ponyville?”

“Good idea!” Apple Bloom said, “We’ll be…”

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADER TOUR GUIDES! YAY!!!” everyone except Joshua exclaimed. Joshua giggled at our yell.

“Hop on, Joshua,” I said, motioning for him to get on my back. He nodded and climbed on. Soon we walked out of the clubhouse and out into Ponyville.

Music:
The Afternoon Streets - Kingdom Hearts II
Balladshy - AcousticBrony
A Piece of Peace - Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX
Fun Times - Mario Party 9

Comments

[SK Alex]

;_; A Piece of Peace...

Loved this chapter. :D Yay, I got to see Josh become a crusader again. :3

[Angel Star]

That part where Joshua and Nyx hugged was adorable!

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

D'aaaawwww! you didn't see that!