• 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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A Very Full Monday

*Knock-knock-knock*

Oh, for Pete’s sake...How many times was I gonna wake to ponies knocking at my door?

Wrenching myself out of bed and putting on my glasses, I stumped to the door and opened it up. A blast of cold air met me, as did the beaming face of Bon Bon, wearing a sweater and pants the same colors as the candies of her cutie mark. Standing behind her was Lyra, wearing her black hoodie and her own pair of track pants. The sun was just peeking up over the horizon.

“Good morning!” chirped Bon Bon, sunnily.

“Is it even morning?” I asked, sleepily. “Bon Bon, do you have any idea what time it is?”

“6:30 AM,” said Bon Bon, “the perfect time for a morning jog! Come on, Dave, put some gear on and let’s go!”

So this was what Lyra had been warning me about.

“All right, all right,” I muttered. “Just give me a few minutes, ok?”

“Sure, no problem!” said Bon Bon.

I closed the door (perhaps once I woke up some more, I’d worry about having possibly slammed it in her face) and went to get dressed. I just changed into some pants, a shirt, and my coat. I’d take a shower when I get back, since I didn’t want to keep them waiting that long. Once I was geared up, I joined my former boss and coworker outside, locking the door behind me.

“See?” asked Lyra. “What’d I tell ya?”

“Oh, hush,” said Bon Bon. “It’s best to do this sort of thing first thing in the morning, before you get distracted by the day’s events. Diet and exercise are all about initiative and self-discipline. By deviating even slightly from your plans-”

“Yeah, yeah, skip the speech and let’s get going,” interrupted Lyra. “My flank’s freezing.”

(And yet you’re wearing track pants. What have you got to complain about?)

“All right, you two, let’s get moving,” said Bon Bon. “Hup-two!”

With that, the candy-making mare started off at a brisk trot, Lyra right behind, and me taking up the rear.

***

I don’t care what Bon Bon said: 6:30 in the morning was way too early to be doing this kind of thing. I was more of an evening walk guy, especially if there was a cooling breeze. This trek around the countryside, bundled up as I was, was not my idea of fun. This was what Calvin’s dad would say ‘built character’, no matter how much everyone else was suffering. I still couldn’t believe ponies could stand to be out in this kind of weather with only their upper bodies covered, as I’d often seen around Ponyville. Technically, equines didn’t normally wear clothes, but if you’re going to dress yourself, why not go all the way? A silly image ran through my head, concerning myself running around in the dead of winter with nothing but a hat and scarf on. I shuddered, both at the cold feeling that brought, and the mental scars that would cause my neighbors.

Maybe I was thinking about this too deeply. That was all I had as I trooped behind Bon Bon and Lyra. I didn’t have my iPod, so I had no music to keep me occupied or stimulate my imagination. My only resource was the running, random commentary in my brain, brought on by my tiredness and the cold. I was so tired and drowned in my own thoughts that I didn’t even hear most of what Lyra and Bon Bon were talking about amongst themselves. All I could catch was something about the vegetarian candies Bon Bon was developing, which she was eager to proceed with, as it was not just a healthy alternative for Lyra, but an ambitious new project as well.

At last, after what felt like an hour, we came within sight of my house again. I was tired, hungry, freezing, and my legs felt like jelly with lead for feet. Lyra was a bit out of breath, but Bon Bon was all smiles. As we approached, I could see someone at the mailbox. It was Scootaloo, putting in the morning paper to keep it out of the snow. She wasn’t using her scooter, which made sense, since it probably wouldn’t have made it far in the snow, but I wondered how much more effort she had to put into carrying her satchel of papers via wing power alone.

“Morning, Scoot!” I called, as best I could with how tired I was.

Scootaloo turned and waved at us, though there was something half-hearted about the gesture, and she didn’t call back. She just closed the mailbox back up, flapped her wings, and moved on.

“What’s eating her?” Lyra asked.

“School starting back up,” I said. “She and Dinky were suffering from ‘End-of-Vacation Blues’ yesterday.”

“Ah,” said Lyra, comprehending. “I know how that felt, trust me.”

“And feels,” cut in Bon Bon. “Even today, it’s all I can do to drag your rump out of bed in the morning. How you managed at boarding school is beyond me.”

Lyra just rolled her eyes at this, and we finally stopped outside my house.

“Now wasn’t that fun?” Bon Bon asked, brightly.

“Whatever you say, Bon Bon,” I muttered.

“Oh, buck up,” she said. “The first day’s always the toughest. You’ll get into the swing of it soon. How about you, Lyra? You feel ok?”

“A little winded, but not too bad,” said Lyra.

“That’s the spirit,” said Bon Bon, proudly, before turning back to me. “Well, Dave, I’ve going to be busy with brainstorming and testing all day, so we’d better get going. See you soon!”

“Have a good one, ladies,” I said.

The two mares trotted off through the snow. I grabbed the morning paper, reentered the welcoming warmth of my house, and stumbled into the kitchen to get some breakfast started. Might as well as long as I was up. After that, I’d probably go to the library and ask for Twilight’s help in my latest assignment. I just hoped she wasn’t too busy. With how long it took to perfect my last work, I wasn’t sure how long this would take me, so an early start would probably be the best option.

***

It took me a while to finally will myself to head out, as my legs still felt weak and stiff from the morning walk. It didn’t help that I also took time to apply a second coat of paint to the sign. At last, however, just like last time, I bundled up the notes I had taken and headed out, making for the library. I was just nearing it when the door burst open, and a cyan streak came pelting toward me.

“WHOO-HOO!” crowed a familiar voice.

*WHAM!*

Rainbow Dash collided right into me, knocking me off my feet and sending my papers flying. As stars danced in front of my eyes (imagine, seeing stars in broad daylight), I caught sight of them fluttering away. Rainbow, rubbing her head in pain, caught sight of them as well, and seemed to guess what had happened.

“I got ‘em!” she said, and she took off before I could move a muscle.

As I watched, she scooped up the papers in her forelegs, flew down, and handed them back to me. I didn’t even know if the apologetic look she was giving me was for ramming into me, or for the haphazard way she’d put my notes back together. I said nothing as I rearranged them into a more uniform stack.

“Sorry,” she said. “Didn’t mean to bowl you over like that.”

“It’s all right,” I said. “No harm done. So, what’s got you so excited.”

“Couple things, actually,” said Rainbow. “I just got finished reading the first book in a new Daring Do saga!”’

“A new saga?” I asked, intrigued. “About what?”

“You’ll have to see for yourself,” said Rainbow, teasingly. “The second thing is that tomorrow’s weather is gonna be crystal clear: no snowfalls in Ponyville or anything, so, since I’ve got the day off, I’m gonna head over to Cloudsdale! You should totally come and be my travel buddy!”

On the one hand, I thought it would be great to finally be able to see the pegasus city of Cloudsdale, especially since Rainbow had been itching to show it to me for a long time. On the other hand, when I thought about getting there, everything seemed to turn sideways.

“Er, Rainbow,” I began, but she interrupted me.

“Don’t worry about a thing,” she said, airily. “I already talked about it with Twi, and she’ll give ya the skinny. You’re going to see her, right?”

“Well, yeah,” I said. “For some help on an assignment for my job, but I-”

“Blech,” said Rainbow, sticking her tongue out and cutting me off again. “Egghead stuff. Well, you have ‘fun’ with that. I’ll catch ya tomorrow. Betcha can’t wait!”

“But-”

And with that, Rainbow zoomed off into the sky, nearly blowing my notes out of my arms again. I watched her slowly disappear into the clouds, the jet-plane roar of her passing fading gradually as she went out of sight. Well, now I had even more reason to see Twilight: sorting this Cloudsdale matter out. I marched straight up to the library and knocked on the door.

“It’s open!” came Twilight’s voice.

Upon entering, I found myself bathed in a heavenly warmth, refreshing after the cold outside. Two armchairs were pulled up to the fireplace, one bearing Twilight, the other Spike. Twilight was wrapped up in a thick blanket, making her look like she was wearing a cloak, and had a book set across her lap. Spike, on the other hand, was wearing a velvet-red smoking jacket and a fez. I had to hand it to his taste in clothing, because fezzes were cool, but the posh effect was slightly ruined by the fact that he was reading a comic book instead of a novel.

“Hello, Dave!” said Twilight. “What brings you here?”

“One thing, originally,” I said, “but now, a few things.”

Twilight raised a quizzical eyebrow, but I waited until after I’d taken my winter gear off, hung it up, and then marched over to her, my notes under my arm.

“First of all, a little blue-and-rainbow birdie told me you’ve conspired to send me up to Cloudsdale tomorrow.”

“Conspired?” Twilight asked. “That’s a bit of a strong word, isn’t it? We thought you’d be happy to have the opportunity.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong,” I said, “I do want to see Cloudsdale, but there’s just one problem. ...I’m afraid of heights.”

“Right,” said Twilight, knowledgeably. “You mentioned as much before our big Q&A.”

“But knowing that, you still intend to go through with this?” I asked, unable to keep a note of indignation out of my voice.

“Just relax, Dave,” said Twilight, calmly. “It’s not like I’m going to grant you wings or make you as light as a soap bubble. You wouldn’t have proper control over it, no offense.”

“None taken,” I said, not desiring to contradict something I really had no idea about.

For some odd reason, when Twilight said ‘grant you wings’, I had a fleeting image of her with big, feathery purple wings. It was just a silly idea, though. Twilight with wings? If that ever happened, I’d have seen everything.

“We’ll send you up in the hot air balloon,” said Twilight. “I’ll pilot it, cast a cloud-walking spell on you, then let Rainbow Dash walk you around. Simple, right?”

“Er, I don’t know,” I murmured, not exactly comfortable with the idea of riding in a hot air balloon, before another thought interrupted that. “Wait, cloud-walking spell? Isn’t that one of the spells you were making into a potion?”

“That’s right,” said Twilight, proudly. “I’ve been working steadily at my Spell-born Potions in my spare time, but they’re still not quite right. I really ought to have a chat with Zecora for some tips.”

“How long does this spell last?” I asked.

“24 hours,” said Twilight, “plenty of time to walk around Cloudsdale and have you back for bowling.”

“Oh, you know about that?” I asked.

“Of course. Applejack’s told me how much Big Macintosh enjoys having you on his team.”

“Ah, well,” I said, modestly, “that was nice of him to think so. Still, are you sure about a hot air balloon?”

“Absolutely,” said Twilight, “and I’ll be there with you. You’ll be perfectly safe.”

Coupled with her kind smile, it was difficult not to trust her. As apprehensive as I was about this idea, Twilight’s reassurance did make me feel better about it. I might not like it, but I had to at least tough it out, seeing as it was my chance to see Cloudsdale.

“Besides, Rainbow Dash is a great catch!” she said, pride beaming from her smile.

I blanched. (Change the subject! Change the subject!)

“So, what else did you want to talk to me about?”

(Thank God.)

“W-Well,” I said, trying to maintain a calm tone, “the other thing was that Rainbow also mentioned the start of a new story arc in Daring Do.”

“That’s right!” said Twilight, happily. “Daring Do and the Stone of Light. It kicks off what’s currently an ongoing saga: adventures in the Tenochtitlan Basin.”

“Ooh!” I said, intrigued. “I’ll have to give it a look once this is done.”

I held up my notes.

“What’s that?” Twilight asked.

“The main reason I came to see you,” I said, apologetically. “Iron- er, Minister Ironmane wants me to write about the wild creatures of Equestria, about their habitats, behaviors, eating patterns, and how they’ve impacted Equestrian history. Well, I’ve made some notes of the history aspect, but I still need the other info, and maybe some supplementary information. Do you think you can help me again, since the last one you helped me on went over well?”

Twilight’s face immediately broke into an eager smile.

“I’d be more than happy to help,” she said. “Let’s go get ourselves set up.”

With the blanket still wrapped around her, Twilight got up, then used her magic to make it more snug about her (and probably to keep herself from tripping on it).

“Spike, I need you to grab a few books for me. ...Spike?”

Spike didn’t answer. His eyes were still glued to the comic book in his claws, his expression unchanging. Twilight rolled her own eyes.

“Spike!” she said, louder.

With a small yelp, Spike started, wrenching his eyes away from the comic to blink up at us.

“Oh!” he said. “Hi, Dave. When did you get here?”

“Not too long ago,” I said.

“Spike, Dave and I have some work to do,” said Twilight. “Can you grab me Fantastic Flora and Fauna and The Equestrian Zoologist’s Guide?”

“Sure thing!”

Setting his comic down, Spike scampered off to the movable ladder by the bookshelves, and Twilight sighed.

“I swear, the second he sits down with one of those comics, he’s in his own little world.”

“Heh,” I chuckled. “He’s that invested, is he?”

“Oh, he adores them,” said Twilight, “especially superhero comics. He’s gotten into this series called Power Ponies, but I think he’s the only one who could explain it and do it justice. Well, we might as well get set up.”

She trotted toward the table we had worked at last time, and I went to join her. Still, at the thought of the name ‘Power Ponies’, I couldn’t help visualizing equines in color-coded jumpsuits and helmets, and Spike dressed in a brown coat and trilby reading them avidly. My imagination was running quite wild that day, to be sure…

***

As I had anticipated, the work session was long and tedious. We did take breaks for lunch and to use the restroom, but other than that, it was research, research, and more research. As like last time, Twilight was insistent about the way I put what we found into essay form, though she was less strict this time. I tried to tell her I had all week to do it, but that was a mistake in and of itself. She made sure I was looking her straight in the eye and said, firmly,

“Words like that are the procrastinator’s refuge, Dave. ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’, ‘I have until Friday to turn it in’, and so on. It’s better to have it done early than to rush at the last minute. Isn’t that why you came to me?”

In a way, she had a point, and it was useless to argue. I’m not trying to say the work wasn’t interesting. On the contrary, I learned even more about these creatures than from what the history book had given me. Cockatrices, for example, could not only turn living creatures into stone, but could also undo their own curse. Despite their predatory nature and unsettling appearance (not to mention foul breath), timberwolves were quite fragile and could come apart if struck hard enough, but the magic in their wooden bodies allowed them to reform eventually. There were also sparse, but chilling (no pun intended) details on the windigoes I had seen at the Hearth’s Warming pageant, described as spectral entities born from and powered by hatred and ill will, turning the environment colder the more they fed on these feelings. This also applied to ‘illumi-bears’, the Ursas Major and Minor I had heard about. Somehow, it seemed fitting that information like this would be lacking. After all, with descriptions like that, who would want to or even be able to get close to beasts like those?

There were also several tidbits I had already gotten from the history book, which were expounded upon further. That was stuff like the windigoes being a major influence in the founding of Equestria, as well as more mentioning of the orthros being domesticated and imported overseas to other civilizations. There was something about this latter point that nagged at the back of my mind, but I just couldn’t figure out what it was. It could have been because I still had trouble wrapping my mind around a two-headed dog being made into a domestic, breedable pet, but somehow, I wasn’t sure.

***

The morning jog had been tiring for me, but I was in agony by the end of this. Both my back and my rear were sore from the way I had been sitting while I wrote, and my hand felt like it was going to collapse right off my wrist. I felt, as Orwell would have put it, ‘gelatinous with fatigue’ after today’s events, though the proper application of the term was much more taxing than what I had just completed. At last, however, I was able to set my pen down, and Twilight, looking tired but satisfied, whisked my notes over for a final check. Her keen amethyst-purple eyes roved over every line I had painstakingly crafted from the notes we had assembled, moving from one page to the next. Spike was in the kitchen getting dinner ready, and I could hear something frying. It couldn’t have been meat, so possibly it was a veggie stir fry.

At last, Twilight set the paper down.

“Very good, Dave,” she said, smiling at me. “Minister Ironmane should be happy with this. How do you feel?”

“Starving, dead tired, sore,” I murmured, “just to name a few.”

Twilight laughed softly and draped a foreleg across my shoulders, pulling me into a sideways hug that pressed her cheek against mine.

“You’ve worked so hard, but you haven’t complained once during it,” she said. “That’s the mark of a good student. I’m proud of you, Dave.”

“Does that make you my teacher?” I asked. “Because honestly, Minister Ironmane just gives me the assignments. You’re the one giving me the extra info I need. I’m glad to have such a brainy pony as a friend.”

“Well, now,” said Twilight, sounding slightly flattered, “there’s a difference between being someone’s teacher and being someone’s tutor.”

But whatever difference there was, Twilight didn’t get to say. At that moment, Spike came in, and Twilight released me from her lecture.

“All done in here?” he asked. “Dinner’s ready: fresh hot veggie burgers and sweet potato fries, ala Spike.”

“That sounds wonderful,” said Twilight. “Won’t you join us, Dave?”

“I’d be more than happy to,” I said. “Assuming I can get up.”

Stiffly, painfully, I managed to get myself onto my feet. My joints ached, but I managed in the end, and followed Twilight and Spike into the kitchen, the smell of cooked sweet potato making my stomach rumble.

***

For such a little guy, Spike really was an excellent cook. Even if I wasn’t normally a fan of vegetables, his veggie burgers were delicious, especially with ketchup. The same went for the sweet potato fries, which had just the lightest sprinkling of salt to really bring out their flavor. It was just the kind of meal I needed after all of that work.

“Well, Dave,” said Twilight, “now you can look forward to the rest of the week without having to do anymore work.”

“All thanks to you,” I said, taking a grateful swig of juice.

Spike cleared his throat.

“And you, Spike,” I said. “You did get the books we needed, after all.”

Spike grinned, and Twilight rolled her eyes again.

“So,” she went on, “make sure you get a good night’s rest tonight. Come to the library, say, 9 o’clock? I’ll put the Cloud-Walking Spell on you, and take you up to Cloudsdale. Like I said, Rainbow and I will be right there. You won’t be in any danger.”

I swallowed the bit of veggie burger in my mouth, then nodded to her.

“I know, Twi. I might still be nervous about it, but I’ll still do it, if you guys are there with me.”

Twilight smiled kindly, and dinner passed on in silence after that. I was aching to get home and get to bed, though I was both anticipating and dreading tomorrow: anticipating getting to see Cloudsdale, and dreading the hot air balloon; anticipating a week free from essay-writing, and dreading another frigid jog with Bon Bon.

Just as I was getting ready to leave, however, a book floated over to me, hovering at my elbow. Picking it up, I saw that it bore an illustration of Daring Do and Dowser standing at an altar, gazing, awestruck, at an egg-shaped object sitting upon it, which gave off an intense white glow. The title read, “Daring Do and the Stone of Light”. I looked over at Twilight, who was looking tired, but happy.

“Didn’t want to forget that,” she said. “I know you’ll enjoy it as much as Rainbow and I did.”

“Thanks, Twi,” I said gratefully. “Good night.”

And I took my leave of the studious unicorn, the book tucked carefully under my arm.

Author's Note:

Don't forget, place your votes on who you want to have a POV chapter dedicated to for Chapter 100! It can be anyone seen in the story so far. :pinkiehappy:

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