Ancient Adjustment

by Jolttra

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

“I don’t like this, Twi. Not one bit.”

“Come on, Spike. We got Princess Luna’s blessing on this. That’s just as good as Celestia’s.”

“I still don’t like it,” Spike grumbled. “Why are we stuck watching him?”

“We aren’t stuck with him, we volunteered.”

“You volunteered.” Spike crossed his arms. “I shouldn’t have to suffer for your decision.”

“I suppose you’re right. You think Parvula would make a good assistant?”

Spike shot a glare at Twilight.

“Over my dead body.”

Twilight grinned slyly, wind whipping her hair as their carriage rushed high above the ground. She knew he would never give up his duties, let alone to somepony like Parvula. Speaking of which.

“HOW ARE YOU HOLDING UP?” she shouted to Parvula, who was riding in his own extra-large carriage not far away.

“PLEASE TELL ME WE ARE THERE!” he shouted back, clutching to his carriage and trying not to lose his lunch.

“JUST A FEW MORE MINUTES!”

Not long after, the town of Ponyville came into view. While they were gone the snow had gone into full swing as every inch was covered in a flurry of white. Two Pegasus propelled carriages neared the town center and began descending.

“Get ready. We’re about to land,” Twilight’s pilot called out. “There’s some snow so it might be a little rough.”

As their hooves neared the ground, powder blew up into the air. They hovered for a brief moment then touched down on soft snow. Immediately they sank into the snow, being devoured by cold faster than any quicksand. Two Pony heads and a small purple dragon noggin popped out of the snow like daisies in spring.

“Are you alright?” The other carriage remained hovering after seeing the others landing issues. “Scotch, you OK?”

“I’m OK, Corkscrew. What about you two?”

“I’m fine,” Twilight said. “Spike, how are you?”

Spike turned to speak, but when he opened his mouth, snow poured out into a small pile.

“Hmm,” Scotch said. “Anyway. Hang out up there till I can clear a space for you to land.”

“Right. We can wait.”

“No we can not!” Parvula shouted from the back.

“It’ll only be a few minutes” Twilight interjected.

“No time!”

Huge claws grabbed onto the sides of the carriage and dragged fifteen hundred pounds of Yael over the railings. Reaching out to the air, his weight caused the carriage to tip and he was pushed off and onto the snow. Landing hard on his back, limbs spread out in all directions and began sinking into the powder, was Parvula. He just laid down for what felt like hours, waiting for the world to stop turning so fast.

“So,” Twilight was above the Yael’s head, somehow standing on the snow, “your first time flying?”

“S-shut up,” he groaned back. “Just shut up.”

Twilight just shook her head. Figuring Parvula wasn’t going anywhere soon she turned back to Spike and Scotch, both of whom were also standing on the snow. Scotch seemed to be having trouble with this, and kept watching his hoof in case they fell in. Spike, on the other hand, didn’t care. He was more annoyed at the huge pile of snow below his feet to worry how he was walking on it.

“I tell you, this is an outrage,” Spike announced to nopony in particular. “Here we are a month into winter and nopony has cleared the snow. How are we supposed to get anywhere?”

“Well you could just have your friend use that little spell on everypony in town,” Scotch said, still watching his feet. “How did she do that?”

“Oh it’s just something I came across in an old spell book one night,” Twilight said, trotting up to the others. “There was a whole section on spells for walking across unstable ground. Clouds, water, spikes, even lava.”

“Dang. You Unicorns get all the neat tricks.”

“Well, I don’t like to brag…”

“Ehem,” Spike interrupted. “And what are we going to do about this mountain of snow? We still have two Pegasi waiting to land and we can’t get back into the Library with things like this.”

“Well… we need to move the snow.”

“Ok. And how do you suppose we do that?” Spike was getting rather snippy.” Do you have a spell for that, too?”

“Only the Inferno spell. And I’d rather not set the town on fire.”

Twilight was irritated with Spike’s attitude. It had been a rough couple of weeks for everyone and this snow dilemma was just the icing on her migraine cake. Luckily for Spike, somepony was calling for Twilight.

“Twilight!” It was Mayor Mare waving from the second story window of town hall. “Twilight! Is that you?”

“Yes, it’s me!” she called back while trotting closer. “What happened here? Why is there so much snow?”

“Oh it’s just horrible, Twilight. Things were fine at first, but then a bunch of ponies got sick. Something to do with lickable frosting walls.”

“Pinkie, what did you do?” Twilight murmured under her breath.

“We have over fifty ponies in the hospital including everypony who was supposed to clear the snow. We had to allocate more ponies to take care of them all making us even more short staffed. And with you out of town we couldn’t make up for the losses and then the snow started to pile up and nopony can get anywhere, businesses can’t open and I have no idea what to do! Please help!”

“Ok, ok. I’ll do what I can. But first I have to take care of our guest.”

“Guest? What guest?”

“You didn’t hear? We sent you a letter. But I suppose you didn’t get it in this weather…”

“We’ll discuss this later. Just please hurry.”

Twi double timed it back to the landing zone. While away, Spike and Scotch had started work on digging out a landing strip. They hadn’t made much progress. Parvula was still lying in the snow sunk three feet in and counting.

“Listen up,” Twilight said. “A chunk of the workforce it down, communication is at a halt, I need to set up a new system to get everypony who can work new jobs, but all my supplies are back at the library, which we cannot reach thanks to a town-wide mountain of snow six feet deep and we have an emotional and possibly dangerous extinct behemoth who needs serious counselling.”

“I can hear you,” rang a voice from the snow.

“Save it. We need a plan.”

“Well…” Spike thought for a moment. “What about that spell you were talking about?”

“No. When I say it will burn down the whole town, I mean it.”

“Can you at least magic up us a few shovels?” Scotch asked.

“Magic doesn’t work that way. Besides, that would take hours. We need this gone right now, and to do that we’d need a bulldozer.”

“I can do it.”

With all eyes glued to him, Parvula finally forced himself up.

“I can deal with the snow. Should not take too long.”

“Right.” Spike interjected. “Not to be rude but how are you going to move one hundred tons of-”

*SHINK*

In an instant the massive cheek blade was retracted into the Yael’s body. While everypony attempting to process that image, Parvula’s tail wrapped around his chest and he crouched as low as possible until his head was buried under the snow. Using his entire body, Parvula began pushing the slush. In just a few short seconds he had cleared a landing strip. In only minutes all of town square was cleared, the snow collected into a tower of cold standing taller than its surrounding buildings. To say Twilight was impressed was an understatement. Astonished was more like it. There was still a layer of powder about two inches worth on the ground, but compared to before this was phenomenal.

“Well,” Spike murmured, “I stand corrected.”

“That was incredible!”

Mayor Mare galloped up to her helpful visitor. She skidded to a stop right in front of Parvula. He didn’t look as big from her window side view.

“I’ve never seen anything like that!” The Mayor shook off her surprise. “Can you do that for the whole town?”

“I am Parvula of the mountains. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“I… I’m sorry.” The Mayor was embarrassed by her own rudeness. “Welcome. I am Mayor to our town of Ponyville. I apologize for being so impolite. Things have been hard and this is the first real break I’ve had for days.”

“Forget it. Needed to stretch, regardless.”

“Well, do you have enough in you to get the rest of the town? I’ll pay you twenty Bits an hour.”

“Hold.” Parvula huddled next to Twilight. “Is that a lot?”

“That’s plenty.” As the Ponyville librarian Twilight earned twelve bits an hour.

“Mayor Mare, you have a deal.”

“Oh thank you so much.” Mayor Mare jumped up like a filly. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“… right, yes.” There was a quiver in Parvula’s voice. “Well, better start.”

“Before you go,” Mayor spoke up. “Do me a favor. When you get rid of the snow, please dump it outside of town. If it’s not too much trouble.”

She motioned to the snow pile taller than any building wobbling side to side. Colts and fillies who had been trapped inside for days collected then attacked the leaning tower of frostiness. Molding details and doorways into it with bare hooves and crude magic.

“Sure.”

Twilight rushed up to the Yael before he left.

“When you’re done,” she said, “meet me at the library. It’s the big tree near the center of town. You’ll pass by it on your snow run.”

“Right. Goodbye.”

Parvula left the violet pony. As his massive frame cut a path through a mountain of snow onlookers multiplied. Already gossip and rumors of who and what this helper was were spreading like wildfire. Murmurs of distant relatives and friends of friends who had seen the behemoth face off against Celestia herself were shared, warped and blow completely out of proportion.

“Here for ten minutes and he’s already won the hearts and minds of everypony in town” Spike spat under his breath. “I don’t like this one bit.”

“Relax, Spike,” Twi said. “This might turn out better than we thought.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Let’s see. If we send these three to work the garbage pick-up we can free up two more for animal control. Derpy is going to be stuck with a double shift for a while, but I need those Ponies for patient care. Now where am I going to find four more cargo Ponies?”

“Your tea, Twi.”

“Oh, thank you, Spike.” Twilight gratefully took the cup and levitated it for a short sip.

“How’s it going?” Spike asked.

“Not well.” Twilight shuffled her huge stack of papers. “So much needs to be done and we have so few Ponies who can help. The Doctors say everypony who is sick will stay sick for at least five more weeks.”

“TWILIGHT!” A shrill panicky voice shot out from behind. Twilight and Spike jumped from surprise, spilling some tea over Twilight’s paper stack. Hanging out of an open window, a bouncing pink mare had forced her way inside.

“WHO IS THE NEW, NEW… WHATEVER IT IS?!!”

“You mean Parvula?” Twilight replied while fixing her paperwork. Asking why she entered through the window was pointless.

“Parpatulea?” That’s a weird name.” Pinkie squeezed the rest of her body into the library and began hopping. “Where did he get it? What does it mean? Where is he from? How did he get here? How do you know him? Does he like cake? What’s his favorite flavor? Does he-“

“Slow down, Pinkie. One at a time.”

“Ok, ok.” Pinkie slowed her insane bouncing to a slight bobbing. “Then I’ll just ask the important questions. WHEN CAN I THROW THE PARTY?!!”

“Pinkie, I don’t know how to tell you this…” Twi rubbed the back of her head with her hoof. “We aren’t going to throw him a party.”

“No… party?

Pinkie stopped rocking. Her hair started to droop and her color faded.

“But… but… party. We need… party.”

“Pinkie.” Twilight placed her hooves on Pinkie’s greying shoulders “I need you to listen to me. We are not going to throw him a party… yet. Give it a few weeks, let him settle in. Parvula doesn’t come from the same kind of place we do. I don’t want things to go bad. Just get to know him first. Then when he’s ready you can throw the biggest, most special party ever. Understand?”

Pinkie’s frown turned into small smile and her hair regained some of its poof.

“Alright. I’ll wait. But I'm gonna warn you now, Twilight.” Her color returned. “This will be the biggest party Equestria has ever seen!”

It wasn’t long before Pinkie was bouncing up again. Twilight couldn’t help but smile, too. She didn’t want to postpone Parvula’s party. She loved them as much as the next pony. But who knows how he would react. After what happened in Saddle Arabia and Canterlot, playing it safe was better. Plus getting the entire town into a confined space during another episode would get… ugly.

*BANG BANG*

Speaking of...

“Hey Twilight, he’s here,” Spike said from the doorway.

“Perfect. Let him in, Spike.”

“I can’t.”

“What? Why not?”

“Because,” Spike replied. “He can’t fit in the door.”

Twi and Pinkie rushed to the door. Sure enough, Parvula was there covered head to toe in powder. And there was no way he would fit. His head was just barely taller than the door, he could crouch inside if needed. But his shoulders were far too wide to get past her narrow doorway.

“I didn’t think about this.” Twilight raised a hoof to her face in pondering thought. “Where are we going to put you?”

"In do time. For now..."

Parvula shook like a dog, sending snow flying in all directions. Drenched in sweat and melted snow, muscles glistening, he was an impressive sight. Twilight noticed a number of rubberneckers watching the Yael with intrigue. Unlike earlier gawkers, these ponies were excited to see Parvula. Also unlike the previous crowds, this one contained a much larger ratio of single, young Mares. Parvula began stretching out his legs and back to ease his aching muscles. His onlookers, who he seemed not to notice, began to giggle in stereo. Twilight couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

“Look at that, Pinkie. You’d think they never saw an extinct ten thousand year old Mountain Yael before. Right Pinkie? … Pinkie?”

She turned to see Pinkie ogling Parvula same as the others, drool seeping from her mouth.

“Ignorance is bliss.” Twilight Sighed.

Parvula stood on his hind legs to stretch his chest. Giggling became cheering as mares began taking pictures. A few even fainted. They were treating this like an adult show. Pinkie’s jaw dropped to the floor. Literally. Even Twilight couldn’t help but blush. The only Pony not excited was Spike, who could only gag at his friends’ display.

Then Parvula derailed everypony's high by unraveling his tail. Extending it out to max length, he whipped it to the ground with a supersonic crack. Lifting his head and tilting to the right, his razor sharp blade shot out from its hidden sheath in his cheek. With bad memories rushing to her brain, Twi’s butterflies turned to stone. She overheard somepony shout about “THE HORROR!” and remembered this was the first time anypony else had seen this side of Parvula. Too bad nopony would see anything else since the once massive crowd was now just a few empty cider bottles and a dropped cupcake. And Gummy, but he was more preoccupied with the cupcake.

“Ahhhh.” Parvula exhaled. “Relief. I was cramping. Now about housing.”

“Right.” Twilight coughed. “Well most houses aren’t much bigger so I don’t know where we-“

“HIEYAH!”

Pink curls jumped from beneath the Yael and were immediately met with a massive fist. Flying like a rocket she smashed into a building at mach speed, leaving behind a Pinkie shaped hole.

“OH CELESTIA, what did you do that for?!!” Twilight yelled at the yael.

Standing completely motionless, fist still extended, he was a million miles away.

“PARVULA!”

“What?” He shook out of his trance. “What happened? I blacked out for a second.”

“You just PUNCHED my friends through a wall.” Twi’s nostrils were flaring in anger. “A house TWO HUNDRED FEET AWAY! PINKIE! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!”

“I’m fine, why do you ask?”

Pinkie appeared behind the two, unharmed and still bouncing.

“Pinkie? But, how did.. you went through that wa-“ Twilight motioned to the building, only to see that the hole was gone. “How did you-“

“Please, Twilight. I’m omnipresent.”

“What?”

“What? Oh heeey!” Pinkie bounced over to the confused mountain Yael. “Aren’t going to introduce us?”

“I. Em. How? N-never mind. This is Parvula. Parvula, this is Pinkie Pie.”

“HI Parbiluta!” Pinkie Pie rushed up to Parvula without fear. “Welcome to Ponyville.”

“Greetings. It is Parvula.”

“Partitune.”

“No, Parvula.”

“Parincartinle .”

“No. Repeat. Pare-fvoo-la.”

“Perpendicular!"

After the biggest facepalm in ten thousand years…

“Call me Para. Easier?”

“Para. Yeah, I can do that. Welcome to Ponyville, Para.”

Immediately Pinkie clamped onto Para. Her oversized hug recipient reeled back with wide eyed shock.

“Woah!” Pinkie exclaimed while still clutching to Para’s neck. “What’s the matter, big guy?”

With his claw between her body and his own, Para pushed to detach his pink parasite. She held steadfast, refusing to move an inch. Her body stretched under the pressure but her hooves would not let go. He stood on his hind legs to use two feet, but still failed. Plopping onto his back, Para put all four of his feet on Pinkie, pushing with full force, elongating her rubber body to twice its normal size before her grip finally gave out, sending her careening through the air like a rubber band out into the distance.

“Pinkie!” Twilight screamed.

“What?” She appeared behind Twi.

“P-pinkie? But how did you, oh never mind.”

“That’s my girl.” She condescendingly rubbed Twilight's mane as though she were a filly. “Now then, what’s the matter, Para pally?”

Para was still on the floor, panting heavily. Pinkie bounced up onto his chest, again violating his personal space and shoving her face as close to his as possible. To everyone's shock, he started to blush. A huge beaming grin emerged on Pie’s face.

“What’s the matter, big boy? Like what you see?”

She gave a wink and turned to walk off, swaying her plot as much as possible. The second she got off Para jumped up and backed as far away as possible until he was clutched up against a tree. More terrified than anything; his face was still red as a tomato. Twilight stood intrigued at this backwards sight as Pinkie giggled at her apparent power.

“I’m just teasing you, Par Par.” She stepped a hoof forward as Parvula attempted in vain to move farther back. “Don’t be like that, silly billy. Come on, give us a smile.”

Pinkie came closer to her victim. Out of instinct, Parvula lashed out his tail to keep her away. Pinkie jumped over his attack and landed inches in front of Para’s face.

“That’s not a smile. Do I have to tickle one out of you?”

Hooves moving faster than sound with expert precision tickling weak points even Para didn’t know he had. He squirmed and wriggled away, but could not escape.

“Come on, come on,” Pinkie coaxed. “You can do it.”

Having what was without any doubt the most ridiculous day of his life, Parvula resisted but began to lose out.

“Stop it. S-stop doing t-that.”

Twilight would later say it was just her imagination, but she could swear he was holding back a smile on that red mug.

“Stop it. STOP IT” Para’s annoyance finally overcame his embarrassment and he grabbed Pinkie by the small of her neck like a kitten, lifting her to his snarling face. “When I say stop, IT MEANS STOP!”

Parvula’s scowl faced giant puppy dog eyes and a quivering lip. He was angry. He wanted to be angry. Yet his anger was melting. No matter how he tried it was just too hard to stay mad at these pony things. The last of his frustration was spent by a long, deep sigh.

“Boop.”

Pinkie’s grin was back and her hoof was poking his snout. She was released from Para’s claw and plopped to the ground with a squeak. Without saying a word, Parvula turned around and walked away.

“Hey, where are you going?” Spike called.

“A barn to the west.”

“That’s a good idea,” Twilight said. “I’ll come with you.”

“Suit yourself,” he said, rather aloof.

“Oooh.” Pinkie sprang up. “Can I come?”

“No.”