• Published 27th Jun 2012
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Living in Equestria - Blazewing



A young man finds himself in a world beyond his wildest imagination...

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It Was a Dark and Stormy Day...

The next day dawned dully, the sun not quite as strong as usual. When I woke up and looked out the window, I saw why: pegasi were moving clouds all across the sky, packing them together as if they were the pieces to a jigsaw puzzle. It looked like they were preparing for a wet and rainy day. I suppose it was just as well; the last time I remembered it really raining was the night I went to look for Scootaloo in the Everfree Forest, and that was almost two, three weeks ago.

As I watched the pegasi moving the clouds and talking with each other, probably discussing proper cloud positions (some were lighter or darker gray), there came a knock at the door. Opening it, I found it to be Derpy, a letter clutched in her mouth, her mailbag slung against her side.

“Hi, Derpy. Storm planned for today?”

“Yep,” she said, when I had taken the letter. “We’ve been dry for a little while, so we gotta make up for that. Should be ready in a couple hours. Rain clouds take precise positioning.”

“Do they?” I asked, opening the envelope.

“Uh-huh. You can’t put a thunderhead where a rain cloud should go, for example.”

“I see,” I said, though I don’t think I really did. The letter was a little shorter than usual, and went thus:

Dear Davie,

Sorry about freaking out. We didn’t get the recent article until after we had sent the letter. It was nice of Miss Tribune to redo it, and did you really mean what you said about me being your best pony friend? You’re so sweet...

This’ll be the last letter we’ll be able to send. By the time you get it, we might already be on our way back. I felt bad having to leave my folks again, but now I feel brave enough to visit them whenever I want, and you’ll get to come with me when I do! Won’t that be fun?

See you soon!

Pinkie

“Well, here’s some good news for you, Derpy,” I told her. “The girls are probably on their way back, so a reply won’t be necessary. You won’t have to get caught in the rain sending another letter.”

“Well, that’s good,” said Derpy, “but I wouldn’t have minded either way. Still, it’s great to hear that the girls are on their way home. You must have really missed them.”

“I have, but I’m not gonna say it’s been lonely. I’ve had you, Lyra, Bon Bon, heck, the rest of the town to keep me company.”

“Aww, thanks,” said Derpy, giving me a slight nudge. “I wish I could stay and chat, but I’ve still got some mail to deliver. What were your plans for today?”

“I was gonna check on Gummy like Pinkie asked,” I said. “If what she says is true, the little guy must be ‘really super-duper worried’ about her being gone. Or, at least, that’s probably what she’d say.”

Derpy giggled.

“He’s a funny little gator, isn’t he?”

“Yeah. He’s kinda cute once you get used to him. I might also stop by the library and check out a couple more Daring Do books. Twilight and Rainbow got me hooked on them.”

“Ooh, I love those books!” said Derpy. “So full of action and suspense!”

“Tell me about it. How about you, Derpy? Any plans before the rain hits?”

“Oh, er, yes!” said Derpy, suddenly sounding a little caught off her guard. “I was just going to meet up with a friend before the rain kicked in.”

“Oh? Anypony I know?”

“I don’t think so. He’s not much of an outdoors pony. Keeps to himself.”

“Heh, sounds kinda like me. Well, I won’t delay you from that. See you, Derpy!”

“Bye!”

Derpy took off, flying with unusual balance despite the heavy mailbag. Once she was out of sight, I headed off myself, toward Sugarcube Corner.

***

I entered the bakery to find Mr. Cake at the counter. From inside the kitchen, I could hear the sound of Pound and Pumpkin giggling and Mrs. Cake talking the kind of nonsense words all mothers must know to use when speaking to babies.

“Hello, Dave!” said Mr. Cake. “Anything I can get you?”

“Hi, Mr. Cake. Now that I think about it, a chocolate chip muffin sounds really good right now.”

I put three bits on the counter, which Mr. Cake swapped for the muffin.

“Thanks,” I said, taking a bite. “How are things around here?”

“Not too bad. It’s not quite the same without Pinkie Pie, though. We’re used to having her on hoof to help with the counter.”

“Oh. Well, if you want, I could-”

“No, no, I couldn’t ask that of you, Dave. We’ve been doing ok. Thanks for the offer, though.”

“I actually came to check up on Gummy, per Pinkie’s request,” I said, after taking another bite of the muffin. “How’s he been?”

“Hard to tell,” said Mr. Cake. “I don’t know how Pinkie does it, but she seems to know exactly what the little fella wants. Me? I can’t tell the difference between what a blink means and a tail twitch means.”

At that moment, I felt something latch onto my leg that nearly made me drop my muffin. Looking down, I saw Gummy gazing up at me with those bright purple eyes.

“Hey there, little guy!” I said, stuffing the rest of the muffin into my mouth, then picking him up. I swallowed before continuing, “When did you get down here?”

“Gummy!” said Mr. Cake, in a scolding tone. “How many times do I have to tell you? The bakery is off limits!”

Gummy snapped at his nose, making him recoil. He seemed to have momentarily forgotten that he didn’t have teeth.

“You worried about Pinkie, boy?” I asked Gummy.

He blinked unevenly.

“Well, don’t you worry. She’s gonna be back tomorrow. How’s that sound?”

His tail twitched. I chuckled and scratched him gently behind his eyes.

“The twins have been rather fussy without Pinkie, too,” said Mr. Cake. “They’ve known each other ever since they were born, and she’s always been their playmate and babysitter. Cup is keeping them happy, though.”

At that moment, there came the wet sound of a raspberry, and a squeal of laughter from Pumpkin. That brought a smile to my face, as well as Mr. Cake’s.

“I can tell. Well, thanks for the muffin, Mr. Cake. I should probably be off.”

“You’re welcome, Dave. Try not to get caught in the storm. I hear it’s supposed to be a doozy.”

“I won’t, don’t worry.”

I set Gummy by the stairs and watched him scramble his way up back to his and Pinkie’s room. With that taken care of, I took my leave of the bakery, the sound of a fresh raspberry and another squeal of laughter following me as I exited.

***

The blue of the sky was progressively disappearing as I made my way toward the library. I could see several pegasus ponies whizzing about with clouds in their hooves. Three in particular were very active. One was a black stallion with a blue mohawk mane. The other two were purple mares with blue manes, though one was wearing a pink bow while the other had a wild, ‘rock star’ hairdo. I wondered if the two were related. A yellow mare with a teal mane was hovering by, supervising, gesturing this way and that, probably telling them which clouds went where. I’d have to talk to Rainbow Dash about how Equestrian clouds worked, because I had no idea it took so much management...

When I entered the library, I found Owlowiscious seated as always on his perch.

“Hey, Owlowisc-OW!”

Something small collided with the side of my head with the force of a thrown baseball. Peewee the phoenix was whizzing about, twittering like a parakeet. Owlowiscious was looking particularly disgruntled.

“Still restless?” I asked, over the noise.

Owlowiscious gave a nod of assent, accompanied by a weary eye-roll.

“Well, don’t worry. Twilight and Spike are going to be home tomorrow. They’ll sort out whatever’s wrong with him, I bet.”

Owlowiscious looked quite relieved to hear that, and even wiped his brow with his wing.

“I’m just gonna check out a couple of books. You’re my witness.”

“Hoo.”

I browsed the shelf with the Daring Do books, while Peewee continued soaring around the room, tweeting and peeping shrilly. Twice, he came close to knocking off my glasses. I had a strong impulse to snatch him out of the air and find the nearest birdcage to put him in, but I choked it down as I continued to browse the shelf. Finally, I found the line of Daring Do books and, indicating where The Griffon’s Goblet was, I picked out the next two books in line: Daring Do and the Cloudcrown Tower and Daring Do and the Seapony’s Tear. I bent down at the table and scrawled a note telling Twilight I had borrowed the two books, then turned to Owlowiscious.

“I know he must be testing your nerves, but try and stay calm, ok? It hopefully won’t be for too much longer. Take care, all right?”

“Hoo.”

I left the poor owl and his hyperactive charge on that note, and not a moment too soon. The sky was almost entirely covered in clouds, and the wind was already beginning to pick up. The storm was fast approaching.

***

I felt confident that I had made it back in good time, the books pristine and safe from weather damage. I was prepared to hunker down for the day and immerse myself in these new Daring Do books with the rain and wind as a backdrop outside.

However, something quite unexpected happened to change that.

As I neared the house, there came a loud, particularly close crash of thunder...punctuated by a scream.

I felt the blood in my veins freeze at such a sound. It sounded like a mare, screaming as though she were being attacked. Heart thudding, I looked about, but couldn’t see anypony.

“Derpy?” I called. “Was that you?...Derpy?”

I had never heard Derpy scream before, so I didn’t know if it was her or not, but who else could it be?

Another crash of thunder, another scream. It wasn’t coming from the direction of Derpy’s house, however. It was coming from the house of my mystery neighbor. They sounded like they were in utter terror.

Not even considering what might happen, I rushed over to the house and began knocking hurriedly on the door.

“Hello?” I called. “Are you all right in there?”

There was no answer, but I could hear someone panting, almost sobbing. It made me feel as if my heart was being constricted.

“Hello!” I called, louder. “Are you ok? What’s the matter?”

There was another loud crash of thunder, more like a cannon blast, and another scream. Suddenly, the door swung open, and before I knew what was happening, a pair of hooves grabbed me by the arm and pulled me inside.

Everything was dark, the light muted from the clouds, but I could just barely see the form of a pony standing on its hind legs, holding me by the arm. I couldn’t see her face, but she was panting, nearly sobbing, and was shivering.

There was another loud boom of thunder, and the pony yelped, gripping me tighter.

“Are you all right?” I asked, hesitantly. “Do you want me to get help? I can do that, if you want.”

I began to turn towards the door, but the pony suddenly lunged forward, throwing her hooves around me.

“No!” she gasped out, in a very hushed voice, as if she had lost the use of speaking with it. “No! Don’t go out there! Not out into...that! It’s horrible! Don’t leave!”

She sounded absolutely petrified, and I was getting pretty scared myself. Another peal of thunder rent the air, and she let out a whimper like a wounded puppy, wrapping her forelegs around me tighter. She was shivering as if she had been dunked into icy water.

What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t just leave her like this, and she made it clear that she didn’t want me to leave her. Something about the thunder was scaring her, and it would have been a cruel act to just abandon her when she was in so much terror. I put my arms about her, comfortingly.

Still keeping a tight hold around her, I took her with me further into the house. She was quite light, though she was probably the size of an average pony. Looking about, I spied a room off to the back and headed for it. As luck would have it, it was a bedroom, and, wasting no time, I set her down on the bed. I fumbled about for a lamp and, finally finding one, turned it up, the glow allowing me a good look at her.

She was a thin pegasus, even skinnier, if possible, than Fluttershy. She looked older than a foal, yet younger than a mare Pinkie’s age. Her coat was moon-white, her mane and tail a soft, forget-me-not blue. Her cutie mark resembled a five-pointed star with a pair of wings.

I sat beside her, putting a comforting arm around her.

“Shh,” I whispered. “It’ll be ok. I’m here for you.”

The pony sniffled and hiccuped, but didn’t reply. She opened her eyes, tears still lingering in them, and I saw that they too were the same shade of blue.

“Are you all right now?” I asked.

She wiped at her snout and nodded slightly.

“I’m sorry,” she said, in that same hushed voice. “I didn’t want you to worry about me. I don’t know why it happens, but thunder scares me so badly...”

I patted her back gently. That must be a really horrible feeling, especially when it comes so frequently. At least storms like this were scheduled. Me? I hated freak thunderstorms out of nowhere.

“It’s ok. You’re safe now. And don’t worry about troubling me. I knew I was going to meet you eventually, but I didn’t think it would be like this.”

She smiled very slightly. Her blue eyes roved over me, and her expression became thoughtful, searching.

“Do I know you?” she asked.

“I don’t think so. We’ve never met face to face before.”

“Oh...all right. I just thought I’d ask. But you’re my neighbor, aren’t you?”

“I am.”

“And you’re the one who gave me the letter, aren’t you?”

“That’s right.”

“Thank you. I’ve never gotten a letter from anypony before, I think. It was really sweet of you to think of me.”

“You’re welcome, er...uh...Sorry, I don’t know your name.”

“Moonlight. Call me Moonlight.”

“And you can call me Dave.”

“Dave? That’s a nice name.”

“So’s Moonlight.”

“Thank you. I only moved here to Ponyville a few months ago, but I haven’t gone out much. I don’t like crowds too much, so I haven’t met anypony yet.”

Her eyes and ears both drooped, a gloomy look on her face.

“Well, you’ve met me,” I said.

She looked up at me.

“Sure,” I went on. “We’re neighbors, aren’t we? Besides, I can’t stand the thought of you being all alone. The next time you have a problem, you come to me, ok? You can even go to Derpy Hooves, the mail mare. She’s next door to me. Or Pinkie Pie at Sugarcube Corner. She’s one of the best friends a pony could ask for.”

She continued to stare at me, her eyes still wet with tears from the thunder scare. She didn’t say a word, but merely put her forelegs around me again, resting her head against my chest. I smiled and hugged her in return. She seemed like such a sweet, delicate little creature. If anyone needed a friend, it was her.

“Listen,” I said, “why don’t I stick around until the storm blows over? Do you like reading? I have a couple of Daring Do books to pass the time.”

She gave a slight gasp and looked up at me again.

“Daring Do?” she repeated, thoughtfully. “I think...yes! I love her books!”

“I’m just getting into them myself. I have #3 and #4 with me. Are you interested?”

“Mm-hmm!”

She finally broke out into a smile, one of the cutest, most heartwarming smiles I’d ever seen. It reminded me irresistibly of Fluttershy.

I picked up The Cloudcrown Tower, took off my shoes, and settled onto the bed, Moonlight settling cozily up beside me, and I opened up the book between the two of us.

***

It turned out to be a very pleasant time, despite the storm outside. The two of us lay atop the bed with the book between us, reading of Daring Do’s escapades. We progressed haltingly, however, as I had to stop every time thunder hit especially close, then I’d have to wait for Moonlight to come out from under the covers.

In the book, Daring was accompanied by a unicorn colt named Dowser, who had the strange ability to locate treasure by following his horn, like a divining rod. He had been rescued from the clutches of a group of greedy ponies who had wanted to use his talent for their own selfish desires, and now looked upon Daring as a kind of big sister. The eponymous Cloudcrown Tower was said to be the resting place of one of the biggest treasure caches in the world, left by the deceased tyrant King Bloodhorn. It was here that the band of crooked ponies were plotting to exploit Dowser’s ability, and where Daring’s path led her. Of course, Ahuizotl was once more on Daring’s tail, and it was a race to see who would make it to the tower and its treasure first...

Moonlight, like me, hung on every sentence, every word, as they all seemed to be imbued with a dramatic energy that kept our eyes glued to the pages. She’d giggle softly at Daring’s sarcastic wisecracks, eep slightly at something particularly hair-raising or dangerous, and frown whenever Ahuizotl or the leader of the evil group, a certain Baron Quartz, made an appearance. Whenever there was a very faint peal of thunder, she’d give a small whimper, but she seemed to remember that I was right there beside her, and she would nestle in closer against my side.

We had gone through the book completely in one sitting, reaching the surprising ending involving the entire tower crumbling to pieces from a particularly nasty booby trap, but Baron Quartz refused to leave its vast treasure behind, and, from the way it was worded, he seemed to have been buried alive in the rubble. Ahuizotl had vanished mysteriously as well, but Daring (and I) had a feeling that even losing the riches of the Cloudcrown Tower wasn’t going to keep him down for long. Sooner or later, he’d be back.

By the time we’d concluded, a ray of sunlight fell in through the window. Looking up, I saw that the clouds were being parted, and the sun was shining down on rain-soaked grass, a faint rainbow arcing the skies. Moonlight looked very much relieved.

“Looks like the worst of it’s over,” I said.

“Thank you,” she said, softly. “I’ve never had anypony sit with me through a storm and take my mind off of it. You’re very nice to keep me company.”

“You’re very welcome,” I said. “Remember, if you ever need anything, you can always come to me. Ok?”

She nodded, then leaned up and gave me a gentle nuzzle.

“I’ll see you again, then, Dave.”

“You bet, Moonlight,” I said, giving her a pat on the back.

We both got up, and she saw me out the door and back toward my own house. At the door, I turned to look at her. She smiled and waved, and I reciprocated the gesture. Then, she disappeared inside her own house, while I headed inside mine.

Sitting down at the edge of my bed, I let out a sigh. It was a great feeling to have finally met my mysterious neighbor, and to have helped her through such a tough experience for her. I felt confident that I could perhaps help her open up a little more, maybe take her into town to meet other ponies. Even somepony as shy as Fluttershy had many friends.

For now, I needed to grab some lunch. These ponies always seemed to have a way of making me forget certain things, only to have them return with a vengeance shortly afterward. Chuckling at my own mental joke, I set about to getting some pasta ready, wondering how Pinkie and the girls would react when we met each other again tomorrow.

Author's Note:

*Coming up with my own Daring Do sequel summaries is fun. XD

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