All American Girl: Konsequences

by Deverer

IV

It was a week later when Karl and Karyn finally looked upon their home once again. Though it wasn’t a happy return, more like slight relief considering how they were going back and why.

Relief for what they experienced, not for what they had to do.

When they met back up again to talk about what to do going forward, Karl had laid out right there their decision for their child. With that information, Faust with heavy heart had spilled the idea for how to cover why said child would be a foal. An idea that did not sit well with anyone there.

Then there was how to have them reappear, which with Faust having to stay near Karl to keep him “normal” needed some cover for why her everyday persona was suddenly in New York. That began the waiting period for which Faust the Human and Emmé the Not-Sorceress would “travel” to New York, though with Kuzu agreeing to stand in for Faust in disguise.

The week’s waiting time served two purposes: let it simmer the two were missing for the inevitable bombshell Faust had proposed, and also to let Emmé scout out a new home for the two as she was the only one who could travel to Alter-Earth.

Which played into the next part that Karl hated almost as much as what Faust said. While Faust was confident that they themselves would be fine, there was still the issue of the child itself. While other hybrids were seen as perfectly healthy and no surprises, there was no telling what would happen with a foal. There was also just the issue if something unexpected happened with Karl, they should have someone at least keeping an eye on him just to be close to help out. Which by default Emmé was the only one who could do that.

So here they were now, Karl hunched over to fake his fatigue with Karyn supporting him and in clear distraught that wasn’t exactly fake. Behind the two, the “witnesses” and “good samaritans” of Emmé and Faust followed them to the house. After they gave all their testimony to the police, sending them to be cleaned and covered up forest for investigation, they had gotten one last ride to their home.

Almost right after the two had gotten standing, they heard footsteps run up to them. They didn’t need to look to know it was Karl’s parents, both of them looking like they hadn’t slept in days.

“Oh thank the Lord above, you’re okay!” Nolan exclaimed.

“I didn’t want to believe it, but you two… abducted?” Karla added. “What happened to you? Did they hurt you? What about who did it?”

“Dad, Mom,” Karl breathed out in a pained wheezed. “I know ya want to know a lot, I know ya’re worried as fuck.” He stepped away from Karyn, limping slightly to them. “But I’m tired, I just want to fucking head inside, and actually fucking rest. I don’t want to deal with any doctors, nor constantly tawlking with the police with an open and shut case. We can explain inside, or maybe ya can ask one of the officers,” he pointed behind himself with a thumb, “or one them. They’re the ones we found first. Oh, and bring them inside with ya. The least I can do is give them someplace to stay tonight.”

Karl didn’t bother to wait for a response, as he began to wobble toward the house, keeping a ball of frustration from escaping his throat. Karyn remained silent as she followed him. She looked behind her to see his parents meeting with Emmé and Faust, which lasted for a moment as she could see the latter two pointing toward the house and all four began to make their way inside too.

When they got to the door, Karl quickly realized it was locked, and turned back to Karyn. “I’m really not ready for telling them about the baby,” he whispered to her, fishing through his pockets.

“It was hard enough lying to the police and doctors like that,” she murmured back.

“God forgive us.” Unlocking the door, the two stepped inside. The front of the house looked the same they had left it, but a quick glance into the hall that had the bathroom saw that it seemed to be swept clean, no doubt from when authorities were investigating. Sighing, he put that out of his mind as he hobbled himself past that to get to the living room. Sitting down on the couch, he put his arm around Karyn as she did the same.

“Should we just say it right away?” she asked.

“We might as well. Sooner we get it out of the way, sooner the drama will die down… I guess.” In response, Karyn pulled him in close.

The two sat for a moment before they heard muttering coming from where they just came, and they saw Karl’s parents along with Emmé and Faust walk into the room.

“...so we were driving along, then all of a sudden I see them run out onto the shoulder from one end of the park, and they waved us down,” Faust was explaining. “We stopped immediately, and quickly found out they needed help so we called for it.”

“After that we hung around, I mean it wouldn’t have felt right to just leave after the bare minimum,” Emmé contributed.

“I can’t thank you ladies enough for finding them,” Nolan said.

“Someone would have found them if not us.”

“All the same.” Nolan looked around the room. “Son, you only got the couch and this one loveseat here?”

“Just grab chairs from the kitchen,” Karl suggested. “Also don’t go upstairs, that’s still the landlord’s area, not mine.”

“I’ll help you, dear,” Karla offered, following Nolan out of the room.

With them gone, Faust turned to the couple. “Well, looks like we’re doing good so far.”

“Didn’t think you’d be up to faking it,” Emmé added.

“After all that shit,” Karl said back, “I could probably fake having cancer.”

They all went quiet as they heard commotion from the door, with Karla and Nolan carrying chairs into the room. They placed them in front of the couch, forming a circle of sorts with the couch and loveseat.

“I’ll get one more, then we can all have a sit,” Nolan said as he walked back out.

“These ladies told us how they found you, but I just want to know what happened with you two,” said Karla, sitting in one of the chairs.

Karl groaned, leaning off Karyn to sit up straight. “What do ya want to know first?” At the moment, the doorbell to the house sounded, causing everyone to look to the front in confusion. “The hell? Who would that be?”

“The police again?” Karyn commented.

“I honestly hope not, I just wanna get this behind us.”

They all sat in silence, listening toward the front. Some voices could be heard, though Karl struggled to pinpoint if he knew them. His Dad’s voice he barely heard, but the others not so much. He looked to Karyn, and saw her eyes were wide.

“No… they’re really here?” she muttered. Before he could ask, he watched her ease herself off the couch, dropping to all fours and facing the door. Multiple footsteps were coming toward them, some of them Karl picked up as hoofsteps.

Karyn gasped as he saw two ponies rush into the doorway, a mare and a stallion, a pegasus and an earth pony respectively. The mare he spotted right away a uniform of sorts on her, which suggested military of some kind given the green coloring. It was harsh against her peach coat and rust orange mane. Her cyan ears were hardened but despite that they carried worry.

The stallion had a stone gray coat with a scarlet red mane and yellow eyes. Instead of a uniform he was instead wearing a more formal shirt and pants. Oddly he saw that those pants had a cutie mark on the flank: an emerald four-pointed star like Karyn’s except a chisel was behind it.

Both of them were looked to Karyn with a mix of relief and surprise, while she herself looked ready to break into tears.

“Mom… Dad,” she breathed out. No other words were said as her parents quickly crossed the gap to her, as they got within arms reach she dropped to her haunches, and she hugged both of them as they both hugged into her. Though Karl couldn’t help but find it awkward that they on two legs barely even reached her chin while she was sitting.

“Oh my filly!” her mom cried.

“Thank the Creator you’re okay!” her dad exclaimed. “My little hōseki!”

Karyn leaned her head down, nuzzling both of them. “Watashi wa anata o minogashite shimatta,” she said. Karl blinked, was that Japanese? Or Inarese?

As he looked at them, he looked over back to his mother. He sighed and stood up, walking over to her. Before she could ask what he was doing, he leaned down to hug her back.

She began to hug back, “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“I thawt… I was really going to die back there, with a… monster,” he whispered back. He felt a hand on his back, and he looked to see Nolan standing there looking over them. Karl pulled away from his mom, hugging his father as well.

“We’re all here, son,” Nolan comforted. “Take as long as you need.”

“If it’s alright with ya, Dad, I think we want to clean ourselves up properly.” He stepped away, looking over to Karyn. “We got cleaned up before, but we want a hot shower. Assuming that we even have a shower right now.”

“Do what you need. It’s probably gonna be a looong night.” Karl nodded, walking over to Karyn who was breaking away from her own parents. Both of them looked up to him.

“So you’re Karl-san then, right?” her father asked. He offered his forehoof. “Diamond Stone.”

Karl took his hoof and gave a quick shake. “I’m him,” he confirmed. Releasing him, he looked to Karyn’s mom.

She also offered her forehoof. “Lieutenant Colonel Featherlight, REAF. Or Royal Equestriani Air Force.” As Karl took her hoof, she added. “It goes without saying, but I wish we could have met under better circumstances.”

“How did you two get here?” Karyn asked.

Featherlight took her hoof back, looking to Karyn. “We got informed hours ago. My superior authorized me to come see you.” She turned away for a moment, “Celestia bless you, Lightning Dust,” she commented, before looking back. “I didn’t question it and got to Canterlot as soon as I can to meet up with your father. We both got authorized for an emergency portal, I think your uncle pulled some strings. Or maybe he pushed buttons considering how he has no patience with the Foreign Affairs departments regarding Human-Earth, but now I’m rambling.” She gave a quick shake of her head. “So one portal trip, a bus ride, and quick flight over,” she gave one wing a flex, “here we are.”

“I’m pretty sure all the alicorns combined wouldn’t have been able to stop her,” Stone added.

“I bet,” Karyn agreed. “But look, I’m glad you’re here, but I do wanna clean myself up. And have a moment with Karl here before we talk.”

“Go on, Spirit, we’ll be here.” Standing back up, she walked with Karl out of the room. As they were walking, Stone spoke up, “You ladies are the ones who found them?”

“Yeah,” Faust confirmed. “This here is Emmé, and my name is Faust.”

“Your name is what?” he asked, eyes quirking.

“Faust, and yes: I’m well aware of that name.” Karyn sighed, but try to not let it show while they could still be seen. As they got to the hall, she let her head hang.

“I did not expect my parents to be here,” she admitted. “I’m happy to see them, but I don’t think I’m ready to tell them what we have to tell.”

Karl responded by stepping in front of her, stopping her in her tracks. He gently pulled her down toward him and kissed her deeply. He held her as he said, “I’m here for ya. Always. It’s gonna be hard, but we’re gonna have each other.”

“I think that’s the only thing keeping me together right now,” she mumbled. “I just wanna be with you like this for as much as we can tonight.”

“As much as I would love to just climb into bed and fall asleep close to ya, we still gotta do this.” He pulled back a bit, managing a smirk. “Doesn’t mean we can’t have a moment right now. Like I didn’t know ya could speak Japane— Inarese.”

Karyn gave a small laugh, eyes looking away. “Uh… yeah. Well that is my family. Just… part of being of that family is just if you show that, you kinda get more expectations out of you which I don’t want.”

Karl paused a moment, but dared to ask, “This has to do with yaur family’s marks, right?”

“Just the fact I have this is one thing, but if they combine that with my family…” She closed her eyes, suddenly hugging him even closer. “I mean I’ll honor them right in the moment, but I… if any pony speaks fluently like that, 95% of the time it’s one of my family and then everything else comes flooding in.”

“Really?”

“Look, maybe we can talk another time about it. Can we just… have our moment then?” She eased off him slightly, looking back at him.

“Moment being have,” he agreed.

---

Some time later, Karyn tried to keep herself from whispering her thoughts as she walked back to the living room. This distraction was their last break before it was time to drop the bomb. Karl was just a step behind as he got dressed. Even with the waiting for him though, it still didn’t feel like enough time.

Getting near the room, she heard her dad talking, “So while the baron, Diamondplate-san, had good intentions; I couldn’t help them even if I wanted.” Karyn paused just before the room, listening in. “His son was actually on the floor begging me to try and teach him something. They considered me the greatest sculptor in the world, and that’s why they tried to pay to meet with me. Though I offered just for a lunch instead.”

“You’re really world class now?” Karla asked.

“Oh yeah. When you have Zhanguo pandas hiring me over other pandas, when they have natural geomancy magic?” He chuckled slightly. “Probably like the last one who hired me. They can’t manipulate jade, which is why it’s so valuable there, and he wanted me to make a jade serpent-dragon which he seemed embarrassed to tell me where it’s from. But I digress. I didn’t teach his son anything about sculpting specifically, but I think I taught him about him learning his own style. I believe the colt credited me for his prime inspiration and teacher despite me giving just that one piece of advice. Paperclay-kun was his name.”

Karyn smiled. If there was one thing that always cheered her up, it was stories from her parents. Whether it was them, their families, or just comforting words. A hand on her shoulder almost caused her to jump, but she recognized that touch quickly and turned her smile to Karl. Though in doing so her smile threatened to fall as she remembered what was about to happen.

Karl quickly cut off her thoughts, “Always here for ya,” he reiterated.

Both of them looked into each other one more time for comfort, and with one more kiss they stepped into the living room. Right away everyone stopped what they were doing and looked to them. They all were seated around, Karyn’s parents actually sharing the loveseat together.

“We’re ready to tawlk,” Karl stated. Karyn followed behind him as they went to the couch. Sitting down, he gave her forehoof a reassuring squeeze as he kept speaking, “So let’s just get this straight: yes, we were both kidnapped. Some random unicorn broke in and did… something to us. All I remember was when I saw Karyn go down he tried blasting me, which tore apart the bathroom before he got me. Then we woke up… somewhere. No idea if it was a cabin or something. We were both fine, but apparently he drugged Karyn with something so she couldn’t cast any spells.”

“The doctors said it was a light dose of Iocane,” Karyn continued.

“Iocane?!” yelled Featherlight, who almost leapt from her chair. “You were poisoned by Iocane?!”

No, Emmé conjured a fake substance to pass as it, she barely suppressed from admitting. “I… I was so weak,” she continued, putting on the sadness act. “I felt like I could still do something, but….” she sniffed, “he threatened he would kill Karl if I tried anything. I didn’t want to risk it given how he did all this.”

“Spirit….” Featherlight strained. “Approximately how angry is this monster going to make me?”

“Feather, please,” Stone calmed. “Anger isn’t going to solve anything here.” Featherlight took a deep breath, allowing Stone to ease her back into the seat with comforting hooves.

Karyn felt her fake despair start to turn real as she concluded it was time. Karl to her slight relief was the one to continue, “He apparently was stawlking us, Karyn specifically.”

Ancient ancestors help me, Karyn prayed, taking a deep breath. “I could tell right away he was lusting after me.” As she said those words, all eyes went wide in horror, Featherlight even leaning off the seat again. “I… I….” Karl moved his hand from her forehoof, throwing his arm around her in a vice grip. “I WAS RAPED!” she cried, feeling the need to vomit right there.

Jaws were hung open, everyone else looking to each other. Everyone except Featherlight, who had already pushed herself off the seat, hovering in the air.

“My filly was… was….” she seethed. Her face was going red, teeth looking like they were going to crack against each other. She looked ready to become a literal force of nature, hooves going to her head to steady herself. She snapped slightly out of it as she felt something on her hind hoof, seeing Stone reaching up to her.

She reached down toward him, and then pulled him up to her, hugging him close as she continued to hover there. Slowly though they descended back to the floor, Featherlight’s face still red with rage while Stone’s was red, also ready to break into tears.

Karl’s parents meanwhile had clung to each other, with Emmé and Faust also consoling each other, whispering to one another. Karyn could tell their disgust was genuine even though it was a complete lie. With her body wanting to give out, she leaned over to lie down. Karl got the hint and moved to hold her as her head rested on his leg.

Despite that though, she still continued on, “That wasn’t the only thing that he did to me though.”

Stone was the one to speak up before Featherlight could, “What. Did. He. Do?” he demanded.

“I’m with foal,” she spat out, throwing her hooves over her face. It felt sickening to say all this. She wanted to just be alone with Karl and cry away these horrors.

“WHAT?!” All eyes looked to Nolan, who had turned from sorrow to pure rage not unlike Featherlight.

“Gott im Himmel….” Karla breathed.

Karyn’s parents both looked ready to jump out of the seat, but they each fell back as they held their heads. They all wanted to speak, but no words were coming out of them.

Karl was the one to speak up, “We’ve tawlked with each other. We’re going to raise it as our… our kid.” He choked at the last words.

“Hold on, are you sure about that?” Karla spoke up. “Are you sure you’re ready for that? How long did you two—”

“We made our choice,” he interrupted. “That monster died when he blew himself up, and they couldn’t even get anything out of the horn they found. So the issue is between just Karyn and I now.”

“But you two aren’t married yet!” Stone pointed out. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

Karyn pushed herself up. “Dad... Otō-san,” she started, taking Karl’s hand. “I know there hasn’t been a ceremony yet.” She looked Karl in the eyes, eyes that were there for her. “But Karl… he’s already my husband. I don’t think we need a ceremony to validate that.” She looked out at all of them, each looking unsure what to say. She took a quick glance to Emmé and Faust. They both continued to be quiet, but their faces were shooting pity toward her and Karl.

“I don’t know if we’re ready now,” Karl added, placing an arm around her. “But we’ll make ourselves ready.” He held up a hand toward them. “That’s all we’re gonna say about this for now. We just want to get some rest and food.”

---

Not many more words were said from Karl and Karyn that night in regards to what had happened; aside from reassuring that the were okay healthwise, and they were settled on their decisions. As time passed and some satisfaction that they were okay enough to leave be, both pairs of parents had left despite their confusion of having Emmé and Faust stay the night.

The four of them were still in the living room, though now with a spread of chinese food that Faust insisted was genuine despite her conjuring it out of the air. Karl wanted to prod on how it would make sense that food conjured out of the literal air would be fulfilling. She had actually started to explain but then he forced the issue down, dismissing it as her insane power allowing her to do so which probably was going to be the answer.

“So I did a lot of scouting around Equestria,” Emmé spoke, stirring soup in her hands. “And I looked at places that you said you wanted: suburban-like areas, nothing that was devoid of internet, and I stayed away from the cities.”

Karl only nodded, trying to keep his eyes on his food instead of having to put them in the general direction of Emmé. Part of his demands to them in his rage, which he was still not regretting given how moving to Alter-Earth alone would change their lifestyle drastically, was Emmé looking only in areas like that.

Cities both Karl and Karyn couldn’t stand for their own reasons, and they were too wired into technology for both their social lives and in Karyn’s case her career. Which at least she could keep going after they moved, but Karl had to start over from scratch if he wasn’t able to keep the online portion of his job at WDET. The thought reminded him that he would have to let Wave in on the bad news, and how he forgot to let him know so perhaps he could have joined them earlier.

Of course it was bad enough already that he had to lie to his parents. When Faust had dropped her idea onto them, he wanted to punch her right there for even using an iota of brain power for coming up with that. But he grit his teeth and realized it was probably the only conceivable way they could explain everything that did and would happen with them without making society as a whole explode with all this. He wish he had an excuse to punch Emmé, but her not being around them while she house hunted for them was good enough.

I would say I’d have a better chance of meeting DJ Martinez in person before punching Emmé, but I know she wants nothing to do with Equestria, he mused.

In the meantime, he and Karyn were on a bit of staycation in Faust’s Noumea house, which gave them time to collect their thoughts. But also unexpectedly having rational conversations when Faust brought her current husband and kids there.

Karyn probably missed Greg more than him, but he had welcomed the normalcy that had come once the awkwardness died down.

---

“Knock-knock!” Faust called, poking her head into the living room.

“Ya got something?” Karl called back, looking away from Karyn’s work in progress. Karyn herself didn’t speak but she took her eyes from the tablet she was borrowing from Faust to look up.

“Well, it was getting a tad lonely here, so I thought I’d bring in someone I think would be a better fit for you two aside from an old-old friend of mine!” She walked in, showing that she was holding a sleeping toddler. Behind her walked a middle-aged man with an infant in his arms.

“Hello, folks,” he said, smile beaming. “Name’s Greg, these two are Sarah and Jon, our children.” He nodded to the one in Faust’s arms and his own. Karyn’s eyes quirked as she saw their kids, almost getting up. Greg seemed to get the hint, walking over to her. “You must be Karyn, then,” he said, “Faust’s already told me about you two, no need for introductions if you’re a little stressed about that.”

“I…” Karyn started, “Y-yeah, I guess. It’s… nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Karl added, though it was laced with some confusion. He turned back to Faust who only shrugged. With a look to see Karyn occupied with Greg, he stood up and walked to Faust. “So I’m gonna guess ya couldn’t spend a week without them, huh?”

“Couldn’t, and wouldn’t. Plus I’m certainly not going to leave him alone otherwise,” she explained. “And like I said: someone normal to have with you.” She quickly but carefully walked over to Greg and Karyn. Crouching down, she held out Sarah to Karyn, who with a careful foreleg took her from Faust. With a nod to Greg, she stood back up and walked back to Karl.

“‘Normal,’ except he doesn’t have magic like me.”

“He does actually, I just taught—” Faust threw her hand over her mouth.

“Wait, he does? How has he not had… something happen?” Karl pinched the bridge of his nose, turning away from her. “Just my fucking luck, huh?”

She gave a forced clear of her throat. “He had me to guide him, and it was a huge risk. Maybe in time you’ll get over this. Maybe it’ll be cured from you.” She put on a sly smile as she said, “It pissed Emmé off to know I taught him.” That got Karl to snort in laughter, hand going away from his face. “Now come on, let’s just forget all that. Let’s just relax finally. Like I dunno, what are you interested in?”

“Well... “ Karl scratched the back of his head. “I’m sort of a retro guy. Like I tear apart current Disney on a regular basis cause their current stuff doesn’t hold a candle to the classics.”

Faust chuckled, rolling her eyes. “Oh, tell me about it. I knew something was wrong when they announced sequel after sequel like during their direct-to-video days.” Both laughed at her mention, Karl finally smiling wide again.

“Ya like music here?” he asked.

“Oh a lot, all kinds of genres. Any favorites of yours?”

“Not genres, but I like individual songs. Like ya ever heard of ‘Sympathy For the Devil’?”

Faust paused a moment. “Uh… yeah, it’s one of my favorites.”

Karl quirked an eyebrow. “What’s up?”

“Nothing, nothing!”

“I think those two are having fun,” Greg commented. He looked back to Karyn, who was gently holding a sleeping Sarah in her foreleg. Despite some worry that he kept to himself about her… stature, she was handling it just fine like she had done it before. The small grin she had as she looked down to Sarah managed to touch him.

“They’re beautiful,” she commented. “Never seen a human baby up close. I held some foals, and I’ve seen some kits, cubs, and chicks before I came to Human-Earth. All of them manage to just… well….” She used her other foreleg to point to her face.

“It’s all worth it in the end as they say,” Greg added, checking on Jon as he heard some gurgles. “You just gotta keep going.” He stood up, carefully shifting Jon around. “Should probably let these two sleep for now.” He cracked a smile as he said to Karyn, “So Faust tells me you’re an artist.”

---

“Not many places fit what you want, though,” Emmé said, snapping Karl out of his thoughts.

“Well, there’s probably only a few places that even have an internet grid in Equestria at the moment,” Karyn commented.

“And what we’re left with is three towns: South Cloudsdale, Berryville, and Ponyville,” Emmé sounded off.

Karyn visibly shuddered. “That’s it, huh?”

“Unless you want to move to Canterlot or Manehatten.”

“Fuck. No,” Karyn answered.

“Alright then, so here’s what I got.” Emmé put her soup down, and with a snap of her fingers an envelope appeared. Opening it up she pulled out some papers. “Where do we start, South Cloudsdale?”

“I… guess,” Karyn responded. “That’s where my parents live. Though my mom is on the base there and my dad is away on art call a lot.”

“Well that makes it easy, right then?” Faust chimed in. “If it’s near your parents you’ll have easy support right there!”

“But you also got potentially a lot of the people who knew me growing up,” Karyn added, putting down her bowl. “Look, I didn’t make it secret that I wanted out of Equestria and then Alter-Earth when the chance came up. To have me come back suddenly even with… with what we’ve said?” She shook her head. “Plus there’s the issue of my parents themselves. They know I want to be independent from them, and—”

“Say no more. We’ll drop South Cloudsdale for now.”

Emmé looked over to Faust. “Wait, we’re just going to—”

“Yes, we are, Emmé,” she insisted. “It’s not like we’re dismissing it entirely.”

“Fine, fine.” Emmé flipped through some of the papers, bring some to the front. “Now there’s Berryville.”

“No,” Karyn said again.

That got Karl to pry his eyes up and look to her. “What’s up?”

“I’ve heard rumors about Berryville… and they’re not pretty.” She looked to Karl. “Apparently most of Equestria’s crazies come from there. I heard it from my father when he went there a couple times.”

Emmé sighed, tossing some of the papers to the side. “Fine, that leaves Ponyville. Anything I should know about this before we start?”

“I don’t want to go there, either,” Karyn answered looking back forward. “But,” she added quickly, “As much as I don’t want to go to Ponyville of all places... I think it’s the best option.”

“What’s so bad about Ponyville?” Karl asked. “Aside from the dumb name.”

She looked back to Karl, “Some… superstitions. That and… well, that’s where some of the Knight Elementals live.”

Karl blanched slightly. “Is… is what’s-her-name… Rarity, living there?”

“Not her, thankfully. But even with some of them there… it’s where we’ll probably be able to live the easiest without much hassle and questions.”

Emmé pulled some papers from the stack. “Alright then, so we got quite a few, though to be honest a lot houses looked the same there.” She held them out toward them, Karyn grabbing them with her telekinesis.

“I figured.”

“Though, there was one house that stood out that I think you might like. Look at the one I marked in red.” Karyn shuffled through them, finding the one mentioned. “I came across this one when I was just walking around checking out the forest. This place is all alone, walking distance from the edge of town, and it’s actually got a lot of space.”

Karyn and Karl looked at what she was talking about. The pictures showed it was two story, two bedroom, and from the environment around it definitely looked like whoever lived there was saying ‘I want to be left alone.’ Especially given the slanted roof which gave it a cabin like look from the front, with the back having a more streamline look.

“Whoa, this seems almost too good to be true,” Karl commented.

“Apparently it’s a donkey-constructed house, so by Alter-Earth standards it’s almost like human housing albeit just a few years behind. Probably just need a new bed and have the countertops changed.” Emmé explained.

“Definitely sounds too convenient,” Karyn muttered. “Though the idea of it being away from town… I think that’s too good to pass up.” Even if it does sound like the Ponyville Curse.

“Well it’s there,” Emmé said, “saw it with my own eyes. Believe it or don’t.”

“If there’s nothing else like it, it’s probably our best shot,” Karl settled. “But it’s your call too,” he said to Karyn.

She sighed, putting the papers off to the side. “As much as the idea of going to Ponyville worries me, it’s all based on fantasies I’ve heard of instead of actual problems I heard.” She looked to Emmé and Faust. “So yes, this is going to be my choice too.”

Faust clapped her hands. “Alright then! That was easy!”

If only you knew, Karyn thought, grabbing her food.

“Just one thing,” Karl spoke up, looking to Faust. “What about the financial side of things?”

“Just leave that to us,” Faust answered quickly.

“If you say so.” He looked to Karyn, who hadn’t touched her food yet. With a comforting arm, he got her attention. Placing his food down, she followed suit as they pulled each other into a calming hug. “We’ll get through this,” he whispered.

“I’m gonna miss it here,” she whispered back.

He pulled back, a comforting hand going to her cheek. “It’ll just be you and me. If this house is as good as it is, people won’t be bothering us.”

“I’m honestly hoping. Ponyville I heard is not the same as it once was, but I hope what is it now will be good for the two of us.”

Karl glared to Emmé out of the corner of his eye. “For the most part….” he muttered.

“Just forget her for now,” she said back, hoof going to his own cheek to turn his attention back to him. As he looked back her, a crease of a smile formed as he relaxed into her.

---

Karl and Karyn relaxed in bed, with Emmé and Faust making beds for themselves in some rooms away they were finally alone. Karl had wanted to just go to sleep, but before they did Karyn insisted they talk for a moment.

“So what’s going on then?” he asked, lying on his side.

Leaning against the headboard, Karyn sighed, “It’s… about Ponyville,” she said back.

“Is this about those superstitions?”

“Yeah, and it’s why I’m worried.” She began to rub her forehead. “Look, maybe I’m being paranoid, but considering what’s happened there and who it involved: I can’t get that worry out of my gut.”

“Who though?” He pushed himself up, joining her in leaning back.

“The Knight Elementals,” she answered. “Look, they may be heroes of the realm and all that jazz, but they’re trouble magnets.”

“Well I know Rarity is a specist anus-sucker who I’m surprised hasn’t been publicly disowned by her supposed friends nor has been removed from her political position.”

“That’s just her though; they’re all self-righteous flank-kissers who will probably ruin your life if you dare say anything bad about Celestia.” She grunted, shaking her head. “Honestly, how have they gotten away with putting Sweet Apple Acres on Royal support shortly after they were declared sisters to the princesses themselves? How about just giving them all government positions despite their inexperience? Why the fuck would you put the apple farmer in charge of the Ministry of Agriculture and the egomaniac in charge of the Ministry of Defense?!”

Karl’s eyebrow was raised. He never wanted to step near politics, but this seemed really off if it were true. “Karyn… I know ya hate Celestia, but ya hate all of them as well?”

“They’re all— well, I know Pinkie Pie is not in government but she’s fucking crazy. And maybe Fluttershy is okay, but that Stare thing might as well be mind ra— mind control.” Karl did a double-take at the slip, but Karyn continued, “Listen, all they’ve done is build up their friends and family through their royal status. Hell, even their own siblings who have never done anything in the government are part of the new ministries. But more importantly,” she leaned closer to Karl, “They’ve had a lot of trouble come their way, and they’ve cause a lot of trouble too.”

“Well hang on,” he said raising a finger. “They’ve been dealing with threats to Equestria, right? What do ya mean by ‘trouble come their way’?”

“Oh things like an entire town falling under a compulsion spell, an undead ram conveniently going to Ponyville to confront them, a terrorist group bombing Canterlot during one of their weddings? That’s just what I heard of in passing!”

Pushing aside all those implications and horrors, he asked, “But what does this have to do with Ponyville itself? Especially if not all of them even live there anymore?”

“The Ponyville Curse,” she stated.

Karl dropped his arm, mouth cracking open in utter confusion. “...Curse?” he repeated back.

“Ponyville used to have a lot of disasters when they lived there, so people began to think the town had some kind of curse on it.” She shook her head. “Look maybe it’s bullshit, but when you have those six and the town is hit with disaster after disaster that conveniently stops when they slowly start to move away? It may be legit since curses are a real magic that was proven.”

Karl brought one hand to his eye, trying to rub in some comprehension, or maybe it was rubbing out frustration. “Karyn, are ya sure it’s not just complete coincidence? I haven’t heard anything else insane about them aside from the whole DJ thing.”

“Well, true, but….” She groaned. “Look, the Curse isn’t without some evidence. And part of it says that if you end up having to live there against your will: you end up involved with the Knight Elements somehow and their disasters.”

“Okay that seems ridiculous and completely out of nowhere.” Especially when we’re moving from Human-Earth. I don’t think the universe is that weird.

“But….” Karyn sighed, slipping herself down to lay her head down on the pillow in defeat.

“Karyn,” he comforted, leaning over to her. “I hate that we have to go there too. It’s not gonna be America, and who knows how Ponyville will react to even how we tawlk.”

“Oh trust me, ponies will want to throw up if you use harsh language casually. And that’s an actual fact,” she commented.

“That aside,” he continued. “We may not love it, but that doesn’t mean we have to make it miserable. Like even right now, how’s just being with me?”

She looked at him, and after a moment of blank staring she smiled lovingly to him. “You don’t even have to pull that puppy dog eye routine…” she leaned up to kiss him, which he returned. For the next few minutes, they were content to lay there together. Soon embracing each other which went from caressing to soon holding each other close.

Then with almost no warning, she playfully shoved him, pinning him on his back. “Wha?” he squeaked out, the dumbfounded tone matching his face.

“Karl, we’re finally together on our own bed. And what is usually supposed to happen after a marriage that we haven’t done yet?” She smiled down at him, chuckling as he went wide eyed before she hit the lights.

---

“I can’t believe all this,” Wave muttered, gulping down his drink.

Karl sat across from him at the kitchen table. Early in the morning he had phoned Wave up to let him know what was happening, and Wave insisted he come over there to hear about it. So now here they were with Wave up to speed, and for once that clownish smile of his never appeared.

“But where does that leave you?” Wave asked, putting down his glass. “Do you need a vacation or something?”

“Wave, that’s the thing though.” Karl sighed, leaning his head into his hand. “With all this happening… Karyn and I are moving away.”

Wave coughed, apparently his drink wanting to be spat out but thankfully it already went down the pipe. “W-what?!”

“Dude, we have a child on our hands now— or we will. And honestly? This ain’t exactly the best place for it!” At least that’s what he decided to run with in terms of explaining. “Look, Karyn’s carrying a foal. And foals being raised on this Earth haven’t had the best track record in terms of normalcy.”

“Wait… you’re going to move to Alter-Earth?” He leaned forward. “But… Karyn—”

“Utterly hates the idea too, but she wants to be away from here, and it’s just the easiest option.” He placed his pointer and thumb over his eyes. “It’s a matter of what we gotta do for what’s gonna happen with us. Maybe eventually we can move back.” One can hope.

“...shit man,” Wave breathed, almost dropping his head to the table but catching himself. “And I mean, should I point out the obvious? This just after you said—”

“The universe hates us both, Wave,” Karl spat. “And look I’m not gonna get political here, but this kid is with us now, and we can’t in any fashion just… ya know.” He reached over to pour himself some more soda, the bottle almost finished from when it was full at the start of the conversation. “Look, we’re worrying about that enough already. I don’t wanna tawlk about that.”

“...okay then,” Wave conceded. “I guess then it should go without saying, but I guess that’s it for the radio gig, huh?”

“I’m gonna miss that the most.”

Wave straightened himself, hoof tapping his chin. “Maybe they can let you keep the online reviews at least.”

“I hope, but considering I’m going cross-reality? Who knows?”

“That’s… true. Since the material is physically sent to try and keep it from leaking, would be a bit much to send it a world away.” Wave shook his head. “Where’s Karyn now?”

“She’s resting, I don’t blame her honestly.” He looked behind him, toward the general area of where she was.

“Maybe I’ll just say hi later, but first.” Wave raised his glass, “To the future.”

Karl turned back to him, holding up his own glass. “To the future,” he toasted back, clinking his glass with Wave’s. As he took a drink, Wave’s phone rang, and he pulled it out.

“Hmmm, oh!” Wave sounded, tapping it and then typing on it with the stylus held by his magic.

“What up?”

“My newest date, just confirming some plans,” he explained quickly.

Karl put his glass down, staring. “Shoulda guessed.”

“Although...” Wave put the phone down, tapping his hooves together. “This ain’t actually the first time we’re meeting, we’re on nombre trois.”

Karl’s eyebrows were raised, and he let out a laugh. “Good on ya, Wave. Good on ya.”

“Good on you indeed, Wave.” Both jumped slightly and turned their heads to see Karyn trotting up to them. Mane slightly unkempt, and in baggy clothes, it looked like she had just woken up from a nap.

“Oh… ¡hola!” Wave greeted, with an awkward wave of his hoof.

“I guess Karl’s got you up to speed then?” she asked, both of them nodding. She looked to Karl, “Maybe I can clear some things up for him.”

“I thought when I met you again, I would be saying ‘congratulations’ but I don’t know what to say exactly.” Wave shook his head, leaning back in his seat. “I guess maybe just… hold each other close? And I do mean close there, Karyn. It’s like human hands were made for cuddling ponies.”

Karl snorted, while Karyn blushed a bit. “Don’t ever change, Wave,” Karl added. “I gotta see if those two girls are doing okay before they leave.” Before he got up, Karyn quickly leaned over to give him a quick hug. “Love ya too,” he whispered, giving one back. Standing up, he forced a scream building in his throat to come out as an awkward groan, passing it off as stretching his limbs. I’m gonna be lying my entire life, aren’t I? He waddled himself into the living room, seeing his two “guests” chatting with each other.

“So he took it well enough that I’ll be MIA for a little while,” Emmé said. “It’s a good thing he took me being… me well enough. Told him I’d be back as soon as I can, but I'll still be popping in once in a while.” Without warning, she turned to look at Karl. “You need something?”

“Yeah, this nightmare to be over already so I don’t have to flay myself over how much wrong I’ve done in this last day alone.” He crossed his arms, staring daggers at them. “Please tell me at least things on yaur end are going fine so I can get the next lie over with.”

“Talked with the owner of the house, she’ll get back with me later today,” Emmé explained. “Though I’ll need one of your signatures for some kind of contract of ‘intent to purchase.’”

“I’m just gonna assume then we can start packing.” Karl looked away from them toward one of the windows. “Lucky that Karyn and I don’t have much with us, could pack this all in a couple-a days.”

“Well I can help out with that part if you want,” Faust offered. “You two are already dealing with enough.”

Karl looked back to her. “Ya know what? I’ll gladly take that, please. I already feel like I’m gonna explode here.” He turned to walk out. “I’ll let Karyn know.”

Emmé looked at Faust after he left. “Really? Packing duty?”

“If it helps them out, I’ll do it with no questions.” She looked Emmé back, her smile dropping slightly. “Let’s just say thanks to some personal experience, I can emphasize with having to be forced from home.”

“...point very much taken.”

---

The day had arrived, the time for Karyn and Karl to leave Human-Earth. Both of them had mental migraines from explaining to their parents alone, but that started to feel bearable compared to the reality in front of them.

Thanks to Faust’s help they got everything packed together relatively quick, and with Emmé securing their new house under their name and with what she called “privacy requests” the owner had not questioned much of the acquisition.

Telling their respective parents had gone about how they thought it would: concern and confusion which probably only thanks to both parties’ support did they not press further even when they declined their help since they already had some unknowingly to them.

Though one thing that was not expected was Diamond Stone telling Karyn that her uncle had requested to meet her in Canterlot when they would be crossing over. The reason for it was apparently so he could give his support to them and help their initial drop into Equestria ‘resemble some kind of tact.’ They were all surprised those were the exact words used. Regardless of that they had agreed since anything to help the transition was something both Karl and Karyn welcomed.

So a month later with everything packed, some more statements given to the police, and paperwork done – with Karl glad to write a letter of resignation to one job but not with the other who he had to leave behind completely – they were now driving into New York City to the portal to take them to Equestria. In one car Karl and Faust were taking the lead, a trailer conjured by Faust attached with his motorcycle and their limited furniture. In the other following behind was Karyn and Emmé.

Their specific destination was the Equestriani consulate where the portals for transit were stationed. They would leave their cars and stuff to go through customs, while they themselves would go inside to get authorization out of the way. And also on Karl’s mind: Where they would leave Faust behind and be stuck with Emmé.

“When exactly do we leave ya?” Karl asked. He had been silent most of the time, aside from the odd response here and there as Faust navigated.

“Hmm? Oh! Well you know I can’t actually go over to Equestria,” she reminded. “So when you two go in, I’ll just be sticking by out of view until you safely go across. Emmé will meet you on the other side.”

“Another thing, are ya sure they won’t detect I got magic?” He quickly looked to her, “I’m sure they got security for things like that.”

“Oh they won’t find it. Trust me, we’ve tested.”

“How though?” He looked back to the road. “I can guess ya hide yaur magic or something with a spell, but how will they not detect anything on me?”

“Well you know radio waves are there. But you can’t detect them unless you got the proper equipment,” she explained, wide smile appearing.

“That’s—” he started, but eyes lit up in realization. “Actually that makes perfect Goddamn sense.” He gave a shrug of his shoulders. “Just don’t get near someone with a lot of magic power like Celestia and Luna.” After a moment, he twitched, face scrunching in regret. “Shit… maybe I shouldn’t have said that.”

“It’s fine,” Faust replied, though her tone noticeably dropped.

“May I ask one thing though?” She looked to him, a quick glance from the corner of his eye acknowledging her. “Ya said ya can’t go to them, but what if they came to ya?”

Faust’s eyebrow raised up in thought. “That’s… an idea,” she said. Though trying to send a direct message hasn’t worked. Although…

For the rest of the trip the two remained silent. Aside from the odd comment from buildings, or complaints about the traffic they didn’t say anything more to each other. In Karyn’s car, neither of them had spoken to each other. Though neither seemed to be willing to, Karyn being slightly mopping while Emmé seemed focused on other things.

Anything Karyn could say had been said enough already. The only thing she was wondering aside from if anything would go wrong at the consulate would be what her uncle was planning.

The knot in her stomach tightened though as she saw the consulate in the distance. Equestriani flag flying high, it was like one last cruel reminder of what was to come.

“Okay then, so I think Faust said first you head inside then you’ll come out and actually drive your cars through for inspection and all that,” Emmé said.

“Right….” Karyn responded, voice monotone. Driving up to the structure, they began to pull up to a security gate which lead to another building situated next to it. Despite the size, some cars were actually coming out. “So here’s where I keep quiet. They won’t know I’m here so just pretend you’re alone.” She only nodded as she watched Karl in front, who was talking with one of the guardponies at the checkpoint. Some nods were given, and then she watched the gate open up for him. Watching him start to go, the guard then looked to her and started to wave through.

As she drove up, she didn’t miss the break in the guard’s face as he got a closer look at her. It’s fucking starting already.

“Uh—” he caught himself quickly. “Your reason for being here?”

“Immigration,” Karyn answered, glaring at him.

“R-right. Drive on in, park in section two or above, grab a ticket from your space, and head into the consulate for clearance,” he explained, pointing his hoof toward the building. With quick slap on what Karyn assumed to be the button for the gate, she turned away from him and began to drive through the now cleared way to the building.

She quickly realized it was a parking structure of sorts. Following Karl, she looked for signs of where the cars coming out were coming from. She heard the occasional one drive by somewhere but she could only guess it was somewhere more in the center. As for where they were, some other cars were parked already presumably for those who worked at the consulate.

As she drove up into the next section it opened up a bit more. There were a lot less cars and the spaces were larger, probably for cases like Karl’s car where it had the trailer attached. She saw him already parking, so she took the space next to him.

Stepping out of the car, she stretched her limbs as much as she could to try and alleviate the heaviness coming onto them. From the kiosk right in front she tapped the lone button on it, and grabbed the ticket before walking over to Karl and Faust who were waiting for her and Emmé.

“Well, this is it,” Faust said to all of them. “I’ll be watching close by out of sight.” She looked to Emmé. “Will you be slipping across right now?” she asked.

Emmé crossed her arms. “Might as well, let’s me see if there are any problems on the other end.” She smiled as she nodded to Faust. “TTFN, Horseface.” Then with a snap of her fingers, she vanished in a green light.

Karl shot an odd look to Faust. “‘Horseface’?” he repeated back. “I swear, that banshee has multiple personalities.”

“Look, I know you don’t like her, but she is trying to help.”

“Doesn’t feel like it. Frankly you and that other one seem to actually care what we think.”

“Kuzu,” Karyn reminded him.

“Her, yeah.” He shrugged a shoulder, stretching an arm across his chest. “That said… can’t thank ya enough for helping us. And of course… saving me. Did I ever thank ya for that?”

“There’s no need. And before you go, I have a small going away present.” She snapped her fingers, a box appearing in her hand. “I know you said that you didn’t need a ceremony, but you can at least have something to show you’re husband and wife.” She held out the box, which Karl took with Karyn leaning over to look at.

Opening it up, both of their jaws dropped as they looked inside. Two gold rings of different sizes were greeting them, each with a set of jewels at the top. Both had diamonds in a row going to the main centerpiece. On the smaller ring was a cut of onyx, while on the larger ring an emerald cut was adorned.

“Whoa….” was all Karl could say, plucking the smaller ring out with his free hand.

“They look… amazing,” Karyn commented, grabbing the other with her telekinesis. “Did you make these?”

“Yep, and that’s all real!” Faust replied, beaming. “No conjuration, just slapped them all together!” She clapped her hands together for emphasis, but quickly separated them as surprise came over her. “Oh, wait! I forgot one detail!” She walked up to them, holding out her palm. They both slowly gave them back with curious expressions.

She held both rings, turning them upside down to show their bottoms. With a quick swipe of a finger, etchings appeared on each one. With a satisfied nod, she handed them back. Taking a closer look, the etchings looked like writing except it wasn’t any language they knew of. Though it could be nothing and just fancy looking with a sort of pattern to it. Neither thought more of it, instead each opting to slip them on. Karl onto his left ring finger and Karyn onto her horn.

“Damn…” Karl whispered, holding it out in front of him. He looked to Karyn, who was adjusting it with her hoof. He reached up, to which she moved her hoof out of the way to allow him to fix it. Putting it forward, it was settled just above her mane which let it be presented. “How’s that?” he asked.

“Feels… perfect,” she replied, smiling down to him.

“Least I could do,” Faust added.

Both looked to her. “More like the least on top of everything else.”

Faust shrugged, looking between the two. “I guess this is where we have to say goodbye then.” They immediately looked downcast. “Hey now,” she placed one hand on each of their shoulders. “You two will be just fine. You’ll always have each other.”

“It’s just awkward to say goodbye to you,” Karyn admitted. “I mean… after all this I….” she drifted off, one hoof going to the opposite arm.

“It’s never easy to say goodbye to a… friend,” Karl added. “Are we?”

“I would consider so,” Faust replied. “And it is hard, but it doesn’t have to be forever.”

Karyn stepped closer to her. “Here’s hoping then. And also….” Faust looked at her oddly, then went wide eyed as she pulled her in for a hug. Her arms quickly reached around Karyn in response, smiling sadly.

Karl groaned. “Goddamnit….” he said, stepping in and joining them.

“Stay strong you two,” Faust encouraged, as they all reluctantly broke apart.

“Always,” Karl agreed. He looked to Karyn, and she gave a silent nod to him back. He looked to Faust one more time, one hand going up to his forehead. With a two finger salute, he and Karyn turned to walk toward the consulate. Neither of them looked back, but Faust could tell that was so they didn’t get more upset especially as they held hands.

She sighed, thinking to herself. ‘Bonds transcend worlds,’ she recited. Celly, Lulu: you should be able to see that. With a snap of her fingers, she made sure she was invisible to Karl and Karyn as she silently followed behind them. I just hope I’m not making a mistake in doing this...

---

Karl and Karyn walked in silence as they entered the consulate. They came upon a room that reminded them of a security checkpoint at an airport, though there didn’t see a way for they themselves to pass through. There was a receptionist booth on one side of a waiting area, with a security booth on the other. Ponies were walking to and fro, with the occasional non-pony walking by.

As they took steps inward, they saw eyes go to them, some of those eyes not looking away. Karyn took note of this, but instead of getting crossed, Karl saw her sink slightly. Before he could ask, she suddenly dropped to all fours sans the hoof he was holding.

Karl turned and glared back, some seeming to get the hint and returning to what they were doing. With a quick, comforting hug, Karl managed to get Karyn back to her hind hooves. Though her head was still looking to the floor– or maybe Karl’s feet so she could follow. There wasn’t many others who were waiting, so the two of them walked up to the receptionist booth in the room.

The pony inside looked to the two of them, and to Karl’s relief he seemed to be keeping himself together. “May I help you?” he asked.

Karl cleared his throat. “I’m immigrating to Equestria,” he explained. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Karyn give a slight nod.

“I’m the sponsoring citizen,” Karyn said, as if it needed to be voiced.

“Alright then.” The receptionist reached down, opening multiple drawers, and two pieces of paper were pulled out of each. “I’ll need to see passports. Do you have any baggage? Vehicles included.”

“Two cars, one trailer of stuff,” Karl recited.

“Very good.” Another set of papers was grabbed. “If you would sign these really quick, we can begin customs inspection. May I have your parking tickets?” Both of them silently placed their passports and tickets in the booth, Karl grabbing one paper and scanning it over. It was basically consent to search their vehicle for contraband.

“Surprised there isn’t an inspection at the gate,” Karl commented, quickly signing the paper. “Why this parking and all that?” He saw Karyn do the same really quick with her own paper.

“This portal gate is also for commercial travel,” the receptionist explained, pouring over their passports. “Given the traffic that can go through here, we need to prioritize those that have pre-approved authorization. From what I hear there’s going to be a new gate specifically for commercial and enterprise, but that’s years off. So we gotta make due.”

“I see,” he said, grabbing the other papers the receptionist had given them.

“Right then.” The receptionist typed keys on a computer, two tickets coming out. “Since you don’t have to wait, go ahead and take your cars down to the gate area. Show them these tickets, and you’ll leave them there to be inspected. In the meantime you can wait and fill out the papers here.” He handed the tickets and passports back to them, friendly smile appearing. “If I don’t speak to you again, enjoy yourself in Equestria!”

“We’ll try,” Karl dryly replied. He saw the smile melt from the pony’s face as he turned around, Karyn in tow. As they walked out the door, Karyn dropped to all fours again. He stopped and knelt down to console her, tears starting to flow from her eyes.

---

Karl and Karyn sat silently waiting in the reception area, the paperwork was done with already, and so they were waiting for the approval to go across. Karyn had calmed down, though he could tell she was wishing this was all over. He tried to talk with her, but she was adamant at remaining silent. Occasionally she lean over and on to him, to which he held her, but she seemed to be trying to stay strong on her own.

Faust I know we’re not technically separated yet… but I fucking miss ya already, he thought.

“Karl and Karyn O’Donnell?” someone called. They both looked up toward the security booth; seeing a purple maned, green earth pony mare that was looking over to them. Karl stood up, and Karyn followed him. Walking across to the booth, Karyn right behind, the mare looked at them evenly. “So… Mr. and Mrs. O’Donnell, you’re nearly ready to cross over to Equestria....” she trailed of, concern rising in her voice. “Though there is an issue with one of your luggage pieces.”

Karl growled in his throat, leaning over to brace himself with fully extended arms on the desk. “‘Issue’?” he repeated back.

“Yes. Due to Equestriani law, firearms are explicitly banned from being wielded by civilians of all types. We have no choice but to—”

“I don’t have any guns with me,” he snapped. “Whatcha— wait a Goddamn minute.” He pointed a finger to her. “Are ya tawlking about my Airsoft equipment?”

The mare looked genuinely confused. “A-airsoft?”

“Lemme guess, ya found a pistol and rifle?” She nodded slowly, and Karl facepalmed. “Those. Are. Not. Real. Guns,” he groaned.

“B-but, even if they’re not real, they can still—”

“Oh don’t give us that crap.” Both looked to Karyn, who was glaring daggers at the mare. “Listen, you want to keep that out of the country? You might as well ban magic.” She pointed to her horn. “If you haven’t noticed, every unicorn basically has their own gun on their heads. I could pick him up and drop him out the window with my telekinesis.

“You’re a freaking earth pony,” she said pointing forward. “You can break through solid brick with your bare hooves. A pegasus can grab someone and drop them out of the sky.” She leaned forward, the mare actually shirking back. “So don’t give me that fucking shit about this being scary. It’s sporting equipment, and I know that it passes both USA and Equestriani safety identification laws.” She dropped a hoof on the desk, causing the mare to jump. Other ponies looked over to them, all of them not moving.

The mare gulped, wiping her forehead. “I-I’ll send a message down to override confiscation,” she squeaked out. She quickly reached across the desk, presenting two badges. “Y-you’re now authorized to cross over to Equestria. H-have a safe trip.”

“We will,” Karyn spat, grabbing the badges, stomping away. Karl was still for a moment, before he broke out of his surprise and quickly followed after her.

As they walked out of the waiting room, he caught up to her. “Karyn, what—”

“Karl, I’m sorry, but I do not want to put up with this crap,” she admitted, her rage breaking back into her moping from before.

He massaged his head, trying to put possible ramifications out of his mind. Right now he had to calm her down so they could get this over with. “Uh….” he stammered, “Was it just me or were they too scared to even argue?”

“Get used to it. A lot of ponies in these positions aren’t prepared to go out of the nice, friendly routine,” she drawled. With a shake of her head and a quick breath, she gave Karl a badge. “I’m sorry, Karl. Can we just… get this over with? The sooner we cross over the sooner we can be alone.”

He nodded back, and both walked their way down to the gate area. The impression he got from it was like a hanger of sorts. Perhaps it was due to maybe how this was made up on the spot from what the receptionist had said, but it didn’t look inviting. The gate itself definitely felt out of sci-fi, and was wide enough to have vehicles be driven through.

The whole thing was divided into two sections: a small waiting area, and the gate where there was room to let vehicles maneuver into place. There was a lane for both those coming and going, with a final set of security stations and the “border” that had one more gate siphon traffic through. After presenting their badges to the guard, he motioned for them to bring their cars up.

This is it…. he noted. As he waited for the guard’s gate to lift out of the way, he watched as the portal gate suddenly began to hum and come to life. At first it looked like a mirror without the shine, but then it turned to a bright blue. He looked to the guard, who waved him to drive through.

He slowly accelerated, and took one last breath of Human-Earth air as he passed through.

---

Karl’s stomach felt like it jumped, but perhaps that was just the shock of seeing the whole world change suddenly. Like before there was a security gate, though he also noticed a lot more sunlight as he found that off to one side over a rather high wall there was a sky.

The fuck? They were going to end up in Canterlot before going down to Ponyville, but he hoped it wasn’t near the cliff part of the cliffside city that he heard about. He slowly made his way to the security booth, and the pony inside greeted him with a smile.

“Welcome to Equestria, sir!” He tipped his hat to him. “I understand you’re immigrating? And you and your wife also have arrangements to transport your cars?” Karl nodded in confirmation. “Splendid! Just follow the signs to the train station, and they can get it loaded up!”

He only nodded again, watching the gate lift up and out of the way. As he drove past, he saw behind him that Karyn had just crossed over. He sighed as he looked out toward the open sky again. He couldn’t see down below yet, but he did see a small bit of the city just over the side. Maybe perhaps they were near the base of the city, and also the ground part considering the train station was nearby. Which was fine by him. He did not trust being in a city on a cliffside of all places no matter how much magic was apparently keeping it up.

The thought of magic crossed his mind, and he finally noticed the tingling around him. Well it wasn’t so much ‘tingling’ as it felt like a sort of heat without the temperature. There was definitely magic in the air.

He didn’t pay much more attention to the scenery, just instead following signs and watching to make sure he didn’t flatten anyone. As he approached the station itself, he quickly found the South Line and made his way to the cargo area. He saw a pony wave him down, and nearly flinched as he noticed that he wasn’t wearing pants with his safety vest.

Oh… fuck me this is gonna be unpleasant.

“Good day, sir!” the pony greeted. “I assume you’re here to load your car?”

“Yeah, Karl O’Donnell,” he replied.

“Yep, and then we have your wife!” He pointed a hoof over to a truck. “Just leave your car right there, and we’ll take care of the rest! You can then make your way up to the train through that door nearby!”

Another nod, and Karl did as he was told. When he stepped out of the car, he saw Karyn driving up to them. He stood still, watching the worker pony explain the procedure to her. After a minute, both cars were parked, and Karyn was with him again. She was looking around, still holding the same, moping look.

“How do you feel?” she asked. “Nothing… worrying?”

“I feel normal,” he answered.

“That’s good to hear….” she muttered, looking away. Karl could tell she was trying to not think about where they were now.

“Don’t forget about yaur uncle,” he reminded. “We got a couple hours before the train, and before then we got him.”

“Yeah….” was her only response.

Karl suppressed a frustrated groan, but some still came out. “Karyn, please,” he begged. “Let’s just try to get through this.” He took her hoof, and gave a reassuring grip to let her know he was still there for her. After a moment, he saw a slight smile on her and she began to walk with him.

Before they got to the door though, she dropped to all fours once again. Before he could speak, Karyn spoke back, “I need to be on all fours here.” She looked up to him. “If I’m on my hind legs here? We’re gonna attract a crowd… maybe thrice as big as what it’ll be normally.” He tried to speak, but opted to let it go. Moving his hand to her back to still comfort her, he opened the door and they stepped through.

After a small hallway, they walked out to the platform, seeing ponies coming and going all over. They looked back and forth to try and get the layout; Karyn’s uncle had said to meet them at the clock overlooking the platform. It wasn’t hard to spot as it was settled over the archway that led into the city.

The two quickly started to make their way over. The sooner they met up the sooner they could get out the public eye. Karl was already starting to feel uncomfortable considering everyone was basically naked, so he couldn’t begin to imagine how Karyn felt especially as he saw eyes after eyes look over to them.

“Is that Princess Luna?”

“Oh my….”

“By the sun!”

“What kind of gaudy clothes is she wearing?”

“Oh, wonderful, another mare surrendering to a human.”

Karl felt his fist clench, but he kept pushing forward. He could feel Karyn tensing, so he hurried them along fast. As they got to the clock, a voice sounded.

“Ah, Spirit-chan, there you are!” Both stopped and looked around. “Right here!” They looked to the voice, seeing a unicorn trotting up to them.

Karl took notice of a lot of things about him. First that his colors made him look cold: a light blue coat that almost appeared like snow, with a dark ice mane with a streak of cerulean complete with violet-blue eyes. He looked so cold that Karl swore he could see his breath like it was the dead of winter. Which part of him thought he was seeing considering how it didn’t stop.

The second thing he noticed was that he was fully clothed unlike basically every other pony here, wearing a suit, a pair of glasses, and pants that he noticed had a mark on the flank: a four point emerald star with a snowflake behind it.

The third was that in terms of facial features, horn aside, he looked exactly like Diamond Stone.

“Oji-san!” Karyn exclaimed, some of her tenseness fading. The two hugged each other, her uncle standing on his hind legs to do so.

“Oh, it’s been too long, chīsana seppen!” he said, backing down. “You are looking as healthy as can be!” He looked over to Karl, smiling. “And you must be Karl-san.” He held up his forehoof. “Diamond Dust, Spirit – or, sorry – Karyn-chan's uncle.”

He leaned down to shake his hoof. “Nice to finally meetcha,” he said.

“Likewise!” Dust said back, before quickly pulling away and giving a clap of his hooves. “Right, you two probably don’t want to stand around here. I got a taxi carriage waiting for us.” He waved over his shoulder, pointing them to the other side of the arch. “We can talk on the way, let’s just get out of here.” Both didn’t object, following his lead. As they walked, more ponies stopped to look at them, along with more whispers. Karl and Karyn hung their heads, but Dust didn’t seem to be having any of it. “Mind your own!” he yelled out, some ponies flinching whereas others scoffed and went on. “Ā senzo ga watashi o tasukeru, Canterlot crowds are the worst,” he commented. “Karera wa meiyo to manā ga kakete iru. Chikushou!”

Karl looked to Karyn, who whispered to him, “He’s basically saying they all suck.”

The rest of the walk didn’t have him yell out again, but he certainly kept giving stares back at the occasional group here and there. As they came to the road, Karl almost slapped himself at the sight. He thought Dust was just using the wrong word or it was a habit, but it was an actual carriage they were going to use. Two ponies were hitched up to it, each chatting with each other.

Everyone climbed aboard, Dust telling the carriage ponies an address, and the three of them were off. Karl stole some glances at the buildings around, but it felt so… wrong. This was the capital of Equestria? This train station had to be recent, but the buildings around looked like archaic, overdesigned art pieces.

Karl shook his head, turning to Dust to try and distract himself. “So where are we heading?”

He turned to Karl, a proud smile on his face. “We’ll be stopping at my house. I figured you two would want to relax before you have to dive into business.” He glanced past Karl, looking to Karyn. “Especially for her, poor dear. My little Adept-chan wanted to come, but she's too busy in Las Pegasus.”

“We’ll take anything.” No more words were said between for the rest of their trip. Karl tried time and again to take in Canterlot, but history kept repeating as it just didn’t sit with him. He never liked traveling to begin with, but this felt like a question for the century of how this was considered the height of Equestria.

What did catch their attention was what Dust pointed out to be his house. Unlike most of the marble and stone buildings, this one actually looked modern with its wood build. It actually reminded him of the houses on his street… former street.

Stepping off the carriage, he took Karyn’s hoof to help her down. As they started to walk to the house, she didn’t drop to all fours this time. The gate was opened for them and then closed by Dust and he quickly trotted past them to the main door. A tap of his horn to the lock, and he opened it up for them. Karl was surprised that the door frame was actually high enough for him to step through easy.

Looking inside, he was surprised at the aesthetics. It looked like he ended up in Japan, though given where he was now he could only assume this was based on Inari instead. He saw decorative scrolls, blades, and even statues.

Once Karyn stepped through the door, she let out a breath loudly and not caring how ridiculous it sounded. “Oh, God, that was painful,” she moaned.

“Ya gonna be okay?” he asked, comforting her.

“Karl, I’m looking forward to just dealing with the occasional nausea attack. The only reason I don’t think I’ve acknowledged them is because of all this shit happening here,” she said with a wave of her hoof.

Dust cleared his throat, getting both of their attention. “Well, you’ll be able to relax here,” he stated. His smile faltered slightly as he added, “Though… I’m sorry for this next surprise.”

“What surprise?” Karl asked.

“A family reunion.” The couple looked to their left, seeing a unicorn mare walking in. She held herself high, walking with a gait that radiated confidence and authority despite the clear age on her. Her cherry blossom pink mane was done up in a bun, and her rose colored kimono contrasted harshly yet sat together with her umber coat. Like Karyn, she had emerald colored eyes.

Karyn gasped loud, dropping to her haunches. The mare immediately moved to hug her, the two cooing at each other. He noticed Karyn was actually starting to cry again, and Dust had locked his legs straight and bowed his head down. Who was this pony?

That question though became one of many as he looked behind the mare to see more people filing in. It would have been ‘ponies’, but he noticed a fox walk in with them. He knew about Alter-Earth foxes before all this, but he never got the chance to see one. He was surprised that instead of being down on all fours, they were bipedal and their forepaws sort of looked like hands not unsimilar to his own. Three amber tails were curled up behind them, and they stood particularly close to a pegasus stallion. He noticed all of them wore kimonos, which had - except for the fox and the other pegasus stallion he could see - the same four pointed star on with a variation between them. Their cutie marks?

Karyn slowly began to notice everyone else, and she again cried in excitement as one by one they began to greet her. Karl meanwhile stood dumbfounded, and he looked to Dust, who chuckled slightly as he came up from his bow.

“It… it was a surprise for me too,” he admitted. “Once I told her about you coming here, she declared she was coming over.” He pointed to the elderly mare, who looked away from Karyn to look to Karl.

“Ki No Au Hito, Kindred Spirit,” she greeted. “Also her grandmother, Matriarch of House Kimono.” She nodded her head slightly to him. “I’m sorry if this is too much of a surprise, but when I heard of what happened: I had to come and make sure you were okay.” She glanced behind her to the others. Karl focused on the fiery red unicorn with a burning flower and the star on her kimono, her dark orange mane cut short. Next to her was a soft blue pegasus stallion whose kimono instead just had a pair of wings over water. He fiddled with his sea green mane as he was talking with Karym. “Some of the family insisted they come too. Ember Rose, and Aqua Glider; their son Thunder Caller, and Thunder's wife Kaito.”

He glanced over to the remaining pegasus and the fox. The pegasus had a bright yellow coat but also a dark grey mane. On his kimono was lightning bolts crossed over each other along with the star again. The fox still intrigued him as he scanned over them. Were they this close even though they were so far from each other? “Y’all came from Inari?” he asked.

“All the way,” she confirmed. “I think Karyn-chan needed to be with family, and they agreed with that. More would have come, but this was such short notice.”

“Watashi wa son'nani anata o nogashite shimatta, Obā-sama,” Karyn said, as she trotted herself back over from the other family members back to Karl.

“Soshite watashi wa anatatowatashi no otokonoko-tachi mo,” Kindred replied. Karl looked on blankly, now he felt the urge to learn the language.

He pushed that thought aside as he saw Kaito walk up to him. “It is a pleasure to meet you,” she said with a heavy accent as she also gave a slight bow. As she stood back up straight, she held out her paw.

“It’s… an honor,” he replied, shaking her paw. She beamed, giddy with excitement, hopping up and down as she rejoined Thunder's side.

"There’s another reason though I’m here,” Kindred spoke up. “I was informed that there’s not going to be a marriage ceremony between you two.”

Karl looked away. “I… yeah. We decided with all that was happening, it wasn’t worth the effort.” He held out his hand, showing his ring. “This is probably all we’re gonna do.”

She inspected the ring, lips curling in intrigue. “I can respect your wishes, but the Equestriani government won’t unless you have something.” She pointed to herself, “Which is where I come in, because I do have that authority.”

“Wait! Waitwaitwait!” Karyn raised her voice. “You’re gonna marry us… right now?!” Oh God please no! I don’t want to go through all the traditions!

“Hold on, just… right now?!” Karl echoed. “No notice?! What about our parents at least?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that now considering I can hear and see this just fine, son.” Karl jumped, looking for where his father’s voice was coming from.

“I had no idea that these phone calls could go to videos.” Karyn jumped at the new voice, and she turned to see her father walk in carrying a tablet. Karl went wide eyed seeing his parents on it, waving to him.

“Good thing you have me.” A hoof belonging to Featherlight patted Stone on the back as she stepped into the room, and she smiled to the group. “That and me having Liberty leave saved up.”

Karl and Karyn looked back and forth, both trying to process what was going on around them. At the sight of their confusion, Kindred chuckled. “I thought perhaps I would just give you a piece of paper to sign, but then my boys here insisted on making sure such an occasion at least had some kind of recognition and celebration.”

They looked to each other, and then back to the group before them. All eyes on them, Karyn let out a slow, but hearty laugh. Karl looked to her, and she hugged him close with one foreleg.

He let out a laugh too. “Ya guys are crazy,” he noted. “But this… this is something else.”

“With your permission, shall we proceed?” Kindred asked.

“We really can’t say ‘no’ at this point, can we?” Karyn pointed out. Just please don’t do everything, Obā-sama. There’s only so few of us, you don’t need to chant to the skies nor make spirit fire.

“I’ll make it quick for your sake.” She looked to Karl, missing Karyn’s relieved expression. “Can you kneel, please?” Karl paused for a moment, but did as was asked. With a flash of magic from Kindred’s horn, a sheathed katana appeared before her. Standing in front of and between them, she spoke, “With this union with Karyn-chan, we officially welcome Karl O’Donnell-san and his family into House Kimono. With her very sword, Resolve, we let this union be sworn upon. Please place your hand on the grip.” Karl did as he was told, and she looked to Karyn. “Now both of you stand, hand and hoof together.” Karyn followed suit, both exchanging a smile. “Do you take Karl as your husband? And Karyn as your wife?”

“I do,” they both replied.

Kindred withdrew the katana from underneath them, keeping their appendages in place. “Then by the authority vested in me by House Kimono, her blessings, and through the nations of Inari and Equestria: I pronounce you both,” she removed the sheath, holding the katana horizontally to reflect them both on the steel, “husband and wife.” With a clack, it was sheathed once again.

Both turned to kiss, hugging each other tight. Everyone around them began to applaud and cheer. Stone and Featherlight, as well as Nolan and Karla were crying together.

---

The impromptu ceremony was followed by a feast of sushi that despite every member present inhaling piece after piece, seemed to last forever. From what Karl could observe, there wasn’t anyone in the family who couldn’t resist it if put in front of them - almost like a borderline addiction.

Then there was other things he learned such as how much her family was based in Inari, as only Karyn’s immediate family and a nth cousin or several were in Equestria and maybe Human-Earth. Aqua also told his story about how he met Ember as they tried to out do one another in showing off their talents while she visited Baltimare, which eventually turned from showing offs into further meet ups of dances of fire and water (Aqua true to his name loved to fly close to water and even was proficient in bring water up). Thunder meanwhile had recapped his and Kaito's courting, apparently the latter the one coming onto the former. Kaito all the while just giggled and almost couldn't keep her arms from being around him most of the night. Which Karl couldn't resist doing the same for Karyn admittedly.

On the Inari side of things, the Family apparently held a decent sway. Kindred claimed that as current Matriarch of House Kimono she was allowed to freely enter the Imperial Palace of Inari when she wished. Considering how she acted, Karl wasn’t inclined to not believe her especially given how Dust seemed to casually throw the Equestriani nobility under the bullet train and how the House had a seat within the Inari government apparently.

It was a topic he would have to ask Karyn later. Though they wished otherwise, it wasn’t meant to be a long celebration as the time for their train to Ponyville came. With tearful goodbyes, Karl and Karyn with another escort by Dust were brought back to the station.

The ride over gave them both time to rest and nap. Despite the looks they got at first, they were too tired to care at this point.

Hours later, they both pulled themselves out of the train, and looked upon Ponyville. Despite it being described as a city, compared to back where they lived it looked just like another suburban town. It just seemed to be more compact, which was ironic considering back home being spread out allowed more foliage to be present and this was Alter-Earth where it was thought it was more nature friendly.

What was odd was how there seemed to be a split between the old and new. There were certainly some more modern buildings on one end, but it seemed like with the difference of one block nearby there was shacks with straw roofs. In the old part of town, it looked like there was a huge tree of sorts which seemed to be the only kind of foliage easily spottable aside from some personal gardens nearby.

For now they decided not to dwell on it. Since they had just dropped into a new country they couldn’t drive their cars over so that was to be left to a local moving company to drop them off. In the meantime they had grabbed another taxi carriage to take them to their new home.

The driver was confused at first at Whitetail Road being the street, but some elaborating had jogged his memory.

“Oh, the old Cranky Doodle house!” he realized.

“‘Cranky Doodle’?” Karl asked. Seriously, what the fuck are these names?

“Yeah, I remember when his and Matilda’s wedding rocked the town!” The driver shook his head. “Was saddening to hear they passed together in their sleep. You’re the first I’ve heard of taking up residence there after them.”

Karl didn’t press anymore, just content to take in the sights. More eyes were drawn, but it was becoming redundant at this point and with them being in the carriage and after the celebration it wasn’t getting to them at the moment. At least for himself.

After some time, they finally looked upon their new home. The pictures from before did not mislead, and seeing it in person definitely put it into proper perspective even more. The road from the edge of town to here seemed to be a good walking distance, so no one would really come here unless they wanted to.

Thanking the driver, the two of them walked up to get a closer look. The door wasn’t for ponies, tall enough that Karyn might not have to duck through much on her hind legs. Donkeys apparently built to prepare for any guest, even minotaurs coming inside or a pegasus wanting to fly around and it showed.

Now that was all left to do was to wait for the owner to come and show them inside. With their stuff still being transported across town it would give them time to scout out the house and hopefully get the awkwardness of the sudden move out of the way to whoever needed to know.

One thing was for certain though after the last few hours: as long as they were together, they were going to be happy. He would make sure if it, no matter how much the universe was out to get them.

Author's Note:

Fun fact: Originally when I proposed the idea and was drafting the story all those years ago, I had planned for 4 chapters. However due to me looking back at what I had, I wanted to go back and fix them. Before I settled on completely rewriting it I estimated maybe extending the original story layout to about 10 chapters. Of course real life delayed that whole processed for years. It just feels oddly satisfying being at 4 chapters published.

Thanks again to Shinzakura for his support in editing/prereading!

Comments

[RMWarPony]

your hyper links do not open to the chapters

[Deverer]

9138938
Really? They work for me just fine (assuming you mean just the normal chapter links)

[RMWarPony]

9138986
well they did not work i.ll try later