Moving On

by Manitive

Chapter Eighteen - The Morning After

It was the morning after the party. I woke up to the wonderful sound of birds chirping happily and the sun's light peeking through the closed curtains, bathing the room in a beautiful, calming golden light. Actually, it would've been quite calming if my head wasn't threatening to destroy itself at every damn moment.

I rubbed my sleepy eyes, groaning in pain as I felt my head pounding like crazy, my eardrums threatening to implode with every single chirp of those goddamn birds.

Even in a whole new dimension nature was a complete bitch.

I tried to think back to the previous day, to try and remember what could've given me that nearly unbearable headache, but without any success. It was like some parts of my memories were just... gone.

'Let's see... I woke up in the hospital, then Rainbow lead me through the whole town to that crystal castle, then she and her other six friends walked me to my new home...' I did a quick check to see if I was in my new bedroom, which I fortunately was. 'I talked to Celestia and played a game of tag with Spike and the Crusaders... So far so good...'

'But why am I feeling so-' I interrupted my own thoughts with a loud groan, the answer to my own question hitting me like a ton of bricks - which isn't really comfortable while having a headache. '-Oh yeah, that.'

I completely forgot that Rainbow challenged me to a 'drinking game', which... wasn't a drinking game at all. It was more like a 'drink as much as you can before you pass out' thing, which I, of course, won without any real troubles. It was obvious from the beginning that Rainbow couldn't actually win against me; besides the obvious fact that she was a lot lighter than I was, their alcohol just wasn't nearly as strong as the one you could get back on earth, giving me another advantage over the cyan pegasus.

I don't know how many mugs of that apple cider stuff she drank, but damn, she got drunk pretty damn fast. Like, really fucking drunk. I wasn't too sure if it was true, but I did remember seeing a passed out Rainbow getting carried away in Twilight's magical grasp.

But everything after that... Gone. No memories of what could've earned me that hangover whatsoever. If I had to guess, I'd say that I drank a little more that night, but how much exactly was a mystery to me.

I lifted my hands up to my head, massaging my temples gently in slow circles, trying my best to soothe the pain and somehow regain my memories, but no matter how hard I tried to make the headache go away, or remember what happened at that party after the drinking game, I couldn't.

I just had to hope that I didn't do anything overly embarrassing, but knowing me, I definitely did something embarrassing.

I sighed, telling myself that I didn't really want to know what happened that night. I didn't want to feel ashamed because of something stupid I did while I was drunk, so not knowing what happened at the party probably was a good thing.

Anyways, It wasn't the time to worry about something like that - it was time to get back to sleep and somehow live through the hangover. At least that was what I wanted to do.

I was about to turn myself around, to escape the light that that big yellow orb high up in the sky created and go back to sleep, but something, or should I rather say someone, was lying on my stomach, thus disabling me from doing so.

I took a look down, confirming my suspicions on who that could be.

Scootaloo was lying on my stomach, her little forelegs loosely wrapped around my stomach, snoring slightly, her rising and falling with each gentle breath she took. Her face was partially hidden behind her purple mane, but the content smile that was adorning it was still visible.

I don't even know what took me so long to notice her.

I smiled, lifting my hand down to push some of her mane out of her face, letting me see it in all its beauty. Even though my head was threatening to split itself into half, and I was feeling like absolute shit, seeing Scootaloo with that cute, content smile on her face was just a heart-melting sight. My lips parted themselves on their own, releasing a soft 'aww', the headache momentarily forgotten.

But then another uncomfortable jolt of pain shot through my head, making me flinch slightly. That pain was followed by a particularly bad memory from the day before.

The memory of the talk I had with Celestia.

"You're not an official citizen of Equestria, which means that you aren't allowed to adopt a foal."

That sentence was repeating itself in my head over and over, the message behind it becoming clearer with every millisecond that passed.

I wasn't allowed to adopt Scootaloo.

I didn't know where to start, what to think about first. Solutions to it? There were none. Going over to the orphanage and begging the owner of it to let me adopt Scootaloo certainly wouldn't have worked, that much was sure, but what else was there for me to do? There was no legal way for me to adopt Scootaloo, and I really didn't want to get in trouble with the law and do something I'd regret later on.

But if I remembered correctly through my hungover mind, Celestia told me that there was another way, an alternative that could get Scootaloo out of that orphanage and into a real family, but there was one small problem with that.

I just didn't like the thought of Scootaloo living with someone else than me.

Now, don't get me wrong; I did want that cute filly to be happy, I really did and she definitely deserved it, but that didn't mean that I liked the thought of her living with someone else than me. I feared that we would drift apart from each other, that she wouldn't want to meet me again after that one year was over and I had my Equestrian citizenship. I feared the thought of losing someone that meant so much to me like Scootaloo did.

But, was there really another way for Scootaloo to get happy, other than letting someone else take care of her as long as I was no Equestrian citizen? Did she even want to get adopted by someone else other than me? Would she even allow that?

I shook my head; I felt how I was losing my mind, for the umpteenth time since I arrived in Equestria.

'This place is really taking a toll on me...' I said, eyeing Scootaloo, an exasperated sigh escaping my mouth.

I reluctantly moved my hands down to the sleeping filly on my stomach, grabbing her around her barrel and slowly lifting her away from me, gently placing her down onto the mattress beside me. Her legs flailed around on her new sleeping spot, trying desperately to cling themselves back onto my stomach that wasn't there anymore.

With a frown I sat myself up on the edge of the bed, already regretting what I had done. Even though I really wanted to get back into bed and cuddle her 'till she was no more, I couldn't. I had important things to tend to.

Y'know, preparing breakfast and taking care of that damn headache.

I was about to stand up and just leave the bedroom when I remembered that there was still one more thing to do. '... Putting on some clothes might be a good idea.'

I really did want to avoid any more awkward moments.

* * * *

"God dammit..." I said, closing the fridge's door forcefully, a loud thump echoing through the kitchen. "Fucking great."

Sure I was grateful that they built me a house, but couldn't they have filled the fridge with something... eatable?

"Why would someone put fucking flowers into a fridge?" I cursed, throwing my hands up in the air in a sign of total confusion.

I slumped into one of the chairs by the table in the center of the kitchen. I frowned hard, releasing a long-held sigh of frustration. One of my hands went up to my head to massage my temples, already feeling the headache, which I cured by drinking a bit of magic water, reappearing. "Ugh, what do I do now?"

KNOCKKNOCKKNOCK

A series of three quick knocks, announcing the presence of someone at the front door of my newly built home, snapped me out of my silent moping about not having anything eatable in the fridge. With another heavy sigh, I stood up, reluctantly making my way over to the front door, the knocking continuing the whole time I was walking.

KNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCKKNOCK

I pulled the door open forcefully, glaring down at the familiar cyan pegasus with the rainbow mane, one of her forelegs still lifted up, making knocking motions into the air right where the door used to be. "Rainbow, I swear to god, If you ever do that again I'll literally tickle you to death."

"Oh he-" She started, but quickly cut herself off when she realized what I just said, her eyes going wide in shock. "You wouldn't do that!"

"Good god, can you please stop screaming?" I whispered angrily with my eyes closed, trying to protect myself from the bright light produced by the sun, my hands covering my very sensitive ears. I sidestepped, allowing her a way in, before saying. "Come in..."

She flew in with a huff, zipping over to the couch and throwing herself right into the middle of it, her back hitting the surface of the brown fabric couch. I closed the door and followed her, crashing down beside her onto the, admittedly, extremely comfortable couch. It was actually the first time I used this couch.

At least I think it was. I still had no idea what exactly happened at that party.

"So, why are ya here?" I asked groggily, making myself comfortable by laying myself down on my back, almost pushing her off of it in the process, but she easily avoided that by climbing up onto my stomach.

"You know, just visiting you to see how it goes." She said, waving her hoof at me, a big smirk on her face.

"The fridge's empty and I feel like absolute shit."

"Went a little overboard, huh?" She asked, that smirk never wavering. I really had to resist the urge to just grab her blue butt and throw her right out of the next window, but then I remembered that she wasn't completely innocent either.

"You're the one to say." I shot back, giving her a big smirk. "I do remember some things, and one of them is Twilight carrying an asleep, drooling and completely drunk pegasus with a rainbow mane out of my house in her magic field thingy. It was you, wasn't it?"

It was really satisfying to see that smirk just getting washed off of her face in a matter of seconds. In fact, it was so satisfying that it made my hangover somehow instantly vanish.

She sat herself back onto her haunches on my stomach, a small blush forming on her cheeks as she started to fidget with her hooves nervously. "O-of course not!"

"Liar." I said, pointing an accusing finger at her.

"Am not!" She shot up into the air at an instant, glaring at me and inching a little bit closer to my face, that blush gone in just half a second.

"Are too!" I inched even closer from my lying position, my nose practically touching her cute blue one.

"Am not!" She closed the space between our noses, her fuzzy one completely touching mine, both of us glaring into each other's eyes.

"Aretooaretooaretoo!" I punctured each word with a jab to her chest, my eyes not leaving hers.

We stayed like that for a few minutes, glaring at each other with our noses pressed together, skin touching fur, no one of us ready to give up yet. I wasn't willing to give her the satisfaction of winning again.

"Uh, are you both just gonna sit there all day and do that, or are we actually going to get something to eat?" Scootaloo, who was apparently watching for us for quite some time, said, her tone more than just a bit annoyed. I didn't even notice that she entered the living room. "I'm kinda hungry, and there are only flowers in the fridge. I hate flowers."

"Only when she admits that she's lying!" I said, sitting myself up and throwing Rainbow off of me in the process. I turned my head to the side, giving the orange filly a frown.

"I-I'm not lying!" Rainbow stuttered from her position on the floor. She ruffled her wings, before stretching them out and flapping them a few times, lifting herself up into the air.

Scootaloo facehoofed, muttering something that definitely was nothing nice under her breath before speaking up again, "Look, can we just go and get something to eat? You guys are acting like me and the other two Crusaders do when we have another one of our arguments."

She shook her head before looking up at me, a look that expressed concern on her cute orange face. "Actually, what's even wrong with you dad? You've been acting kind of weird lately."

She was right. I seriously took a moment to think about what was causing that, but quickly realized that there were way too many possible reasons for that. "I dunno, I think it's because of everything that has happened lately."

"Or Pinkie Pie drugged me." I added with a blank face, shrugging my shoulders.

"Ugh, just...let's go." She sighed, turning around, already on her way to exit the house.

Rainbow gave me another glare, signaling me that our little argument wasn't over, before following her. With a loud groan I rolled myself off of the couch, reluctantly exiting the house, seeing both Rainbow and Scootaloo impatiently waiting for me on the front porch.

* * * *

The ponies in town may have been a little bit... wary of me.

How I come to this conclusion?

Well, it's really hard to not come to that conclusion after you see ponies running away from you in fear, or cafés suddenly closing as soon as you were standing right in front of them...

Frightened might be a better word on how they were feeling towards me.

I wasn't angry at them at all, just sad. They just couldn't see that I wasn't going to murder and/or eat any of them, but that didn't mean that I didn't understand why they were fearing me. They were herbivores, prey if it wasn't for their magical abilities and all that jazz, I was a six feet two inches tall, bipedal apex predator that came out of seemingly nowhere, so, of course, ponies were going to fear me.

But even Rainbow and Scootaloo told me that they were overreacting, that I didn't really look that scary. I had to hope that everything would settle with time, that they would slowly accept me into their little community.

Until then, grocery shopping definitely was out of the question.

Anyways, the only shop that didn't close just had to be that giant gingerbread bakery, fittingly called 'Sugarcube Corner', which at least meant that we weren't going to start the day on an empty stomach.

Though the reason why it didn't close was because a familiar pink pony was running the bakery, as it seemed.

As we walked inside, my nose was immediately assaulted by the sugary smell of what had to be a million cupcakes, cakes and all other kinds of baked goods. The air literally reeked of sugar, but that wasn't bothering me at all.

What was bothering me, though, was the way Pinkie Pie suddenly popped up right in front of my face, which shouldn't have been possible for her at all, that typical big smile on her face.

I blinked.

"Welcome to Sugarcube Corner!" She practically screamed into my face, big globs of spit landing on my face. I slowly, very slowly pushed her face out of mine with one of my hands, lifting the other up to my face to wipe the excess spit out of it.

The hyperactive, mentally ill pony works in a gingerbread bakery that's probably even made out of real sugar, go figure.

When I was done with wiping all of that disgusting spit out of my face, and lifted the hand back out of my face, thus enabling me to see again, I was, once again, confronted by two, big and light blue orbs staring straight into my eyes.

"It's...good to see you too, Pinkie Pie." I said timidly, my real feelings hidden behind a big, forced smile. She didn't seem to notice my discomfort at all as she continued to stare into my face.

...and stare.

...and stare.

We had to be staring at each other for what had to be at least two minutes, both of our smiles never wavering, though I had huge troubles with keeping up the facade. That smile of hers was just insane, in more than ways than just one.

Fortunately my lord and savior, the guardian angel herself, Rainbow, coughed once into her hoof, which luckily snapped Pinkie out of whatever she was in, making her get out of my face at an instant. I finally had some room to breath again.

I don't know what it was with me and awkward moments, but damn, in those three days there were a lot.

"So, Pinkie, can you get us something to eat?" Rainbow asked, stepping up to my side. "Anything?"

"Okie-dokie-lokie!" She was gone in a pink blur, vanishing behind a door that I could only assume -and hope- was the kitchen.

I turned my head to look at Rainbow, silently asking her what the fuck just happened, but she just shrugged and flew over to one of the tables beside the big window in the far corner of the bakery, with Scootaloo following her closely, both of them sitting themselves down into the small chairs.

I was still standing in the doorway, petrified, too confused to do anything.

"Will, you comin'?" Rainbows voice snapped me out of my stupor. I shook my head and made my way over to the table they were sitting at, sitting myself down on the really small chair with great difficulties.

"Don't you guys have bigger chairs here?" I asked no one in particular, a small frown on my face. It felt like I was sitting in a child's chair, so it wasn't comfortable at all.

"Uh, no." Answered Scootaoo, looking at me with a puzzled look.

"Dang." I muttered under my breath.

We lapsed into silence, but fortunately Pinkie Pie was quick to serve us our food, which simply consisted out of some cupcakes and a big plate full of chocolate chip cookies - not a really healthy breakfast if you ask me, but that didn't stop me, or my other two companions, from eating it.

Breakfast was spent mostly in silence, only the occasional sound of the daily life from outside of the bakery breaking the silence. Through the window I could see the many ponies skipping through the streets, following their daily routine, none of them noticing how I, the incredibly scary monster, was watching them.

It was weird. I was feeling comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time. I can't really explain what was making me feel like that, but the best guess I have is because the many memories that were running through my mind at that moment.

The three main ones were happiness, sadness and something I could clearly identify as fear.

I think why I was feeling happy is pretty self-explanatory, but why I was feeling sad might not be that obvious.

It wasn't because no one in town was really accepting me, or should I say fearing me, it was more because I was thinking about earth, the things I left behind. Even though it wasn't much, I was still feeling...sad and homesick.

But there was nothing I could do 'bout it. I made my decision, and there was no going back.

I can't explain what I was fearing exactly, though. Something deep down in my guts just told me that something... wasn't quite right since I arrived here. Like my every move, everything I did, was constantly watched by something.

Hopefully it was just paranoia speaking.

I was so lost in thoughts, thinking about everything that was bothering me, that I didn't even notice that Scootaloo was trying to get my attention until something feathery and boney collided with my left cheek.

My hands reached up to the hit cheek, rubbing it in an attempt to soothe the pain that the unknown object inflicted.

"Ow! What was that for?" I asked, looking to my side, seeing Rainbow hovering there with one of her wings still outstretched, which was, no doubts, the thing that hit me. How she was flying with only one wing, I had no idea, and neither did I want to know how.

Physics only existed to a degree in that dimension.

"Squirt here was trying to get your attention for like five minutes." Rainbow said, rolling her eyes at me.

"Huh? Oh sorry, I kinda was in my own world there."

"Duh." She simply said, flying back to her seat and landing upon it.

"So, what's up Scoots?" I asked.

She smiled at me, buzzing her little wings in excitement. "Do you want to go crusading with Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and me?"

"You mean going crusading for your, uh..." I stopped mid-sentence, having forgotten the glorious name I've given those markings on their butts. I lifted a hand up to my chin, rubbing it idly while humming loudly.

"Cutie Marks?" Rainbow asked, raising and eyebrow.

My face light up. "Yeah, right! Butt tattoos, that's what I called them!"

Scootaloo and Rainbow both rolled their eyes at me almost simultaneously. "What?"

"Dude, don't call them that. That sounds soooooo uncool." Rainbow said with an exaggerated long roll of her eyes.

"Wait, so you're trying to tell me that 'Cutie Mark' sounds way cooler than 'butt tattoo'? You feeling alright?" I asked with a bewildered look on my face, one of my own eyebrows raised unnaturally high.

"C'mon, don't act like you know what cool even means." She said with a huff, waving her hoof at me in an almost dismissive manner.

"Yeah, you're right, I'm not an expert when it comes to being cool, but-" I paused for the dramatic effect, drawing out the 'but' for at least ten seconds. "-I definitely do know that 'Cutie Mark' doesn't sound nearly as cool as 'butt tattoo'."

She was about to retort, an almost offended look on her face, when Scootaloo spoke up again, effectively preventing her from doing so. "Can you please, please just answer?" She asked with a frown, rubbing her head with a hoof.

I gave Rainbow a victorious, smug grin before answering, "Yeah, sure."

'What's the worst three little fillies can come up with?'

Author's Note:

Thanks GeorgeFleurParty for proofreading this chapter!

---

Hey guys, I'm back again!

I know, I know, this chapter was fucking boring and wasn't worth the two-week wait at all, but please, don't hate me.

That aside, I have some really bad news: one of my three 1TB HDDs (that one was only two fucking months old) died this Wednesday, and with it also died a huge part of my data - amongst them a, I dunno, maybe 200MB big folder with some prewritten chapters, many ideas, a good amount of artwork and other various things I've created for Moving On in the past few months.
I, being the intelligent guy I am, of course didn't save the data on an external HDD, 'cause, you know, that would've been way too smart.

Seriously, it's fucking depressing when you start up your computer and see that all of your data on your relatively new HDD's just completely gone.
I tried everything to recover the data, but that hard drive's completely dead, and I ain't paying 500€ just to get that little bit of data recovered.

I'm still feeling down from that.

Lastly, some of you guys maybe (probably not) want to know why this chapter took me over two weeks to get finished.
Simple answers: School's a fucking bitch, work's a fucking bitch. I also rewrote this chapter like three times, just because I wasn't satisfied with it in the slightest.

I'm still not satisfied with it, not even in the slightest, but I can't think of anything to make this chapter better.

That said, onwards to the special thanks!

---

Special thanks!

GeorgeFleurParty
Thezion1111
Frankie2
OrcaBrony
lollol695
A random person
The BlackKnight

Comments

[A random person]

Found a mistake
Scootaloo and Rainbow both rolled their eyes at me almost simultaneously. "What?" I
*Remove the I

[BombShelter]

Another great chapter, even if much didn't happen. Also I can't help but remember that you mentioned this was the first story you've written in English. I've gotta say, your spelling and grammar is way better than a lot of people who's first language is English. That's really impressive man!

[OrcaBrony]

Sorry to hear about your data, but good job on the chapter!

[Manitive]

7591476

Oops.
Thank you kindly for pointing it out!

7591480

Thanks man! I'm glad my English isn't as bad as I thought.

[Manitive]

7591509

Yeah, it fucking sucks. I'm still mad at myself for not having made a backup of the lost data.

Eh, anyways, thanks!

[RuinQueenofOblivion]

'What's the worst three little fillies can come up with?'

Oh William, you poor, poor soul, you have no idea what you're getting into.

I'll go get the popcorn.

[Thezion1111]

Nice build up on the current conflict keep it up
PS I know the feeling of loosing that much work and there is nothing can make you feel more annoyed

[tgrtyhythrth]

[Manitive]

7592276

Why do I get the feeling that Will is going to turn into a pony, more than likely a unicorn or alicorn?

Will definitely won't turn into a pony. I don't really like HiE fics where the main character turns into a pony (of course there are exceptions), but yeah, not gonna happen.

7592469

Yeah, he's pretty much fucked.

7592890

Yeah, it really fucking sucks, but at least my main hard drive isn't dead. That would've been way more than just a minor annoyance.
Anyways, thanks!

[Frankie2]

'What's the worst three little fillies can come up with?'

Murphy: Well, time to enforce the law again.

[Fluffy-Boi]

'What's the worst three little fillies can come up with?'

Murphy:

stayhipp.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/im-about-to-end.jpg