• Published 1st Aug 2012
  • 6,585 Views, 119 Comments

Gifts and Curses - flamevulture17



It is up to unpredictable magic to determine the link between fiction and reality, pony and human.

  • ...
11
 119
 6,585

15. Fable

[Chapter 15]

Fable


With Rainbow Dash tagging along with Twilight for some secret mission, Applejack was eager to get back to the hospital to check up on Andrew. She trotted in the direction of the medical building at a speedy pace, but was stopped by a shy yellow pegasus heading in the opposite direction.

“Oh, uh, hi Applejack,” said the sensitive pony in a very delicate voice. Applejack couldn't just ignore her shy friend.

“Howdy there, Fluttershy.”

“Have you seen Twilight today?” Fluttershy asked. “I stopped by the library, but she wasn't there.”

“Oh, ah have. She's, uh, busy... with somethin'. What ya wanna see her for?”

“Oh, um, I was going to borrow a book.” Fluttershy paused. “Are you in a hurry? I'm bothering you, am I?”

Applejack didn't know what to say to cut the conversation short without hurting the sensitive pony's feelings.

“Ah- ah'm fine, ah was just on mah way to the hospital.”

Fluttershy gasped. “Oh my. Is somepony hurt? Is it bad? Can I come?” She looked away, embarrassed to have asked so much of her friend. Applejack knew that Fluttershy wasn't the kind of pony that spread rumors like Pinkie Pie and decided to let her tag along the same way Rainbow did with Twilight.

“Of course, sugarcube. Ah have to warn ya, this here pony ain't no normal pony.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Follow me and ah'll show ya.”

Applejack and Fluttershy were relatively close to the hospital with respect to the library, so it was a short walk. As always, Fluttershy refused the use of her wings like that of her energetic friend Rainbow Dash, but for some reason had a strange feeling for what she had gotten herself into. It scared her to think of what Applejack meant by 'not normal' and was afraid to find out just what made the farm pony so persistent to visit the hospital.

They reached the entrance of the large building where they found more medical ponies than usual. It was almost like an epidemic had spread since Applejack was last here, but oddly enough, there were no patients, or very few ponies being treated for health problems at the very least. They slowly entered the front door. A sea of nurses and doctors made the place come to life. Something was definitely up.

Applejack found Nurse Redheart and trotted over to her with Fluttershy close behind, weaving around ponies here and there.

“Nurse Redheart,” she said. “What's with all the commotion?”

“That nice alicorn, Andrew, told us to liven up the place. So we did just that.”

Fluttershy perked her ears up at Nurse Redheart's slip of the tongue with a keen concentration on the word alicorn. Instead of burying herself him her soft pink mane, she stood with an interested stance, but remained silent.

“Where is he?” Applejack asked, concerned.

“He went out looking for you. He was determined to find you. Some pony you found.” Nurse Redheart rolled her eyes. Even though she was afraid of Andrew at the time, she was beginning to believe Applejack's story of not being any regular pony of two reasons, his behavior and appearance. She also perceived a peculiar sense of humor from the young alicorn and let her fears subside.

“Y'all let him leave?” Applejack said, a little annoyed and puzzled on how he managed to get up and walk out so quickly.

“Of course. He said he was feeling fine and all his injuries already healed.”

“Who is this pony you are talking about?” said Fluttershy, slumping back from being so direct, but continued. “You said somepony called Andrew. Who is he?”

“Yes dear,” Nurse Redheart began to say. “Our most recent patient Andrew was surprisingly a-”

“Okay, Nurse,” Applejack interrupted with a nervous smile. “Ah think ah can take it from here. Ah'll tell her mahself. But first, where did ya say he went?”

“He didn't, he just sort of wandered out. He might be in Ponyville.”

Applejack's pupils dilated. She began to realize her mistake seeping through to her mind and take over her emotion of anxiety. The first thing she wanted to do was sprint out the door and search for Andrew, but she didn't want to be disrespectful by ending a conversation so abruptly.

“Alrightly then. Um, thanks fer everythin' and take care of them ponies.” Applejack managed a convincing smile to hide her panic. “Come on, Fluttershy, let's go find a friend.”

“Okay,” she replied, still uncomfortable with the amount of ponies running around the hospital lobby.

As soon as Fluttershy got her act together, she and Applejack left the busy medical building where the noise was substantially reduced that made Fluttershy more mellow. Applejack picked up the pace, but Fluttershy was slow to catch up on her legs. She caught up to her orange friend using her wings, floating mere inches off the ground. Although the pink-maned pegasus was reluctant to use her wings for anything, her motivation was the fact that something bothered Applejack that made her running around Ponyville, looking for some peculiar pony named Andrew.

“Where are we going?” Fluttershy asked in a loud whisper.

“Ah don't know. Anywhere ah guess.” Applejack kept her eyes pealed with every turn she made down every main street, but had no luck of spotting a hard-to-miss alicorn... unicorn... pony. She still had trouble wrapping her head around that fact that her day was becoming something of a burden.

The both of the stopped to take a breath and Fluttershy glanced down the street where Carousel Boutique came into view. They had apparently went in a circle the long way because the boutique was the closest business structure to the hospital.

“Why don't we ask Rarity if she saw this pony?”

“Good idea.” Applejack took another short breath before continuing on with a normal trotting pace. Fluttershy followed.

“What does he look like?”

“He, uh... well, ah'll tell ya when ah ask Rarity.”

They came up to the dress shop and pushed the purple door open. With Fluttershy so close behind Applejack, the door swung back into place and trapped part of her pink tail between the the door and the frame, tripping her up and causing her to fall to the floor.

*thud*

Applejack heard the fall and turned around to find her fragile friend on the ground, face first into the floor.

“Y'alright sugarcube?” she said, walking her side to lend a helping hoof. Fluttershy was in a slight pain, but laughed it off for how clumsy an act it was.

“I'm okay.”

Applejack? Fluttershy? How lovely of you girls to drop by at this hour.” Rarity's voice echoed through the room as she walked in from another room. She immediately noticed her pegasus friend on the floor. “Fluttershy, darling, what are you doing on the floor?”

Fluttershy giggled. “I tripped, but I'm fine.”

“Howdy do, Rarity. We jus' came by to ask ya somethin',” said Applejack.

“Of course. What do you need?”

“Have ya seen a certain ali-... pony 'round these parts? He's a blue-green feller with some weird clothes on and a gray pack, sound familiar?”

“What sort of uncanny clothes do you speak of?” Rarity's attention was grabbed by the mention of weird clothes. The determination in Applejack's voice also contributed to her response for specifics and increased interest.

“Ah've never seen them kinds of robes of his before, it jus' look like a two-piece dress or somethin'. But a stallion don't wear dresses. Have ya seen anypony with them?”

“Only the most sophisticated and formal of ponies, yes,” Rarity corrected, avoiding the obvious question. “Tell me, where did this pony get these... robust designs?” She twirled her hoof in a circular motion, finding the right word to suit the mental picture of the stallion that Applejack was so eager to find, with large legs and handsome physique.

“Ah don't know, they ain't that stylish, but please, Rarity, have ya seen him or not?” Applejack demanded in a slightly rude and annoyed tone. Rarity noticed the anger and took a step back. “Sorry, Rarity, it's jus' that ah need ta know where he is.”

“I'm sorry, too. I'm afraid I haven't. I've been in here working on a new dress design all day, but I was interrupted by my sister and her two friends not too long ago. They wanted to make some costumes with the use of my fabrics, but I politely refused because I need it all for a monstrous order for next week. They left about, I'd say, ten minutes ago? I overheard them talking to somepony outside. They said they'd search for you for him, Applejack.”

“Me?”

“Oh most certainly. Those girls are always uptight. I could hear them talking to this somepony, but I had to get back to my work and didn't have time to see who it was. I've just completed the finishing touches of my marvelous designs, all I must do is sew them together.”

“That could be him,” said Fluttershy. “We could go look for the girls, if that's alright with you.” She turned to face Applejack.

“Another good idea, Fluttershy.”

Applejack and Fluttershy gave their last words to Rarity – who went back to work on her special order that took her Saturday away – and headed out the door on the hunt for three little fillies with a good chance of finding Andrew tagging along with them.

Shortly after her friends left the Boutique, Rarity's curiosity peaked from Applejack's display of determination in her eager ponyhunt, which by her friend's description, was possibly a stallion from out of town. That gave her an idea.


“Wait up, Rainbow Dash, I can't run that fast.”

“But you said you were in a hurry.”

“I know, but I need a break.” Twilight came to a dead stop, panting.

The high-flying cyan pegasus did a loop around in the sky before touching down next to Twilight for a quick rest. The only pony who didn't seem to mind the journey was Rainbow, having nothing else to accomplish for the day. Twilight, however, had her hooves full and was in the process of disappointing Princess Luna for her lengthy duration to acquire some reference books that she ran all the way the library to get, only to think of more of herself and not of who was most important. Lyra. She also felt uneasy for abandoning Lyra, even for as long as fifteen minutes. Twilight's decisions where getting more complicated by the second.

“Whew, you really had to run to Ponyville for some books?” said Rainbow.

“Yes.” Twilight took a final breath, then returned to a calm state for once. “I thought it would be a waste if we found something and I had nothing to base it on. That way, our investigation will be much easier.”

“So what's with this investigation thingy anyways? Are you spying on somepony?”

“No. It's secret enough that Princess Celestia wanted to keep from ponies.”

“Then how did YOU find out?”

“I didn't. The Princess called me over to Canterlot to talk to me and Lyra about it.”

“You went all the way to Canterlot and back? Today?” Rainbow's eyes grew, impressed. “But it's hardly mid-afternoon.”

“Yeah, I was there about five minutes before you found me. Can you believe it?” Twilight impressed herself with that statement.

“But how did-”

“Teleportation spell.”

“Really!? That far?”

Before Twilight explained, she pressed on along the side of the Apple farm with Rainbow Dash followed suit without flying off. They continued down the dirt path that leads out of Ponyville, but also contains the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight couldn't remember the exact location where she arrived with Luna and Lyra.

“Yes.” Twilight began. “Princess Luna is one of the very few ponies who are powerful enough to use the teleportation spell to make the trip that far. Lyra and I helped contribute to the magic so the spell could work with the three of us.”

“Where's Spike? I didn't see him at the library?” Rainbow Dash noticed the absence of a certain reptilian assistant by Twilight's side when in the library, but didn't think too much of it.

“He's... with Pinkie Pie. They're both still in Canterlot. We-”

“You said no pony else knew about that secret thing that Celestia covered up.”

“She didn't cover it up, she just kept anypony else from finding out by-” Twilight paused. “Okay, maybe she did cover it up, but she did it in the best interest of all ponies. Apparently, it's hard to keep secrets from Pinkie Pie. She found out where I was and followed me there.”

“She asked me where you were and I said I didn't have a clue, but that was early this morning. She said you didn't say where you were going.”

“She's right, I didn't.”

“Why?”

“I was told not to.”

Raindow Dash snickered. “So it comes back to this secret mission again, eh?”

“Yes.”

As soon as Twilight responded with a simple answer by turning her head away from Rainbow Dash, she caught sight of three figures through the thickness of the trees, beyond the white wooden fence that separated the road from the apple orchard. She ran to the fence, cutting off the rainbow pegasus from walking any further, catching her off guard.

“Rainbow Dash,” Twilight called over to her annoyed friend, whom was reluctant to acknowledge the purple unicorn sat first, but let it go. “You're welcome to tag along if you want. You don't have to.”

“Thanks, Twilight, I won't. Even though you told me all about your day, it's kinda boring. I'll see ya later.”

With that, the sonic-flying pony took off with great velocity and disappeared into the sky. Twilight simply shook her head with a smile and turned her head back the to the farm where she saw Princess Luna and Lyra, as well as Big Macintosh. They were apparently heading in the direction of Ponyville, but cutting through the entire orchard wasn't really ideal. Twilight lit up her horn with what little magic she had left and teleported away.

- - -

Big Mac led Princess Luna and Lyra Heartstrings through the apple orchard to look for both Applejack and evidence of magical distortions that only Luna could detect. The conversation between the Apple family was rather short because the only pony available was Big Macintosh, but he didn't say much. Granny Smith was taking a nap, Applebloom was in Ponyville, and Applejack was believed to be still working on harvesting apples. They were on their way to find Applejack.

“Are you sure she's out here somewhere?” asked Lyra.

“Eeyup,” said Bic Mac in his usual response.

*zap*

Suddenly, a small burst of energy, followed by an static crackling noise was heard behind the group. They all turned around to find Twilight Sparkle in an extremely exhausted state, like she was ready to drop dead. She wobbled in place for couple seconds from the weight of the saddlebags holding three heavy books, then shook her head, wiping a funny look on her face.

“Ah, Twilight Sparkle,” said Luna. “I see you found what you were looking for.”

“Not really, just a few necessities.”

“Are you sure you're okay, Twilight?” Lyra said with increased concern, trotting her side.

“I'm fine, just a little tired, that's all.” All three ponies knew that the purple unicorn was in more bad shape than she wanted to admit, but remained silent and worry later if it got too serious. “So, where do we go from here.”

“We are in search of dear Applejack and anything else that looks out of place,” Luna stated. “So far, we have not found either.”

“I have.” Twilight took another breath, feeling better to proceed with talking. “Applejack is in Ponyville. She came by the library the same time I got there. Talk about timing.” She rolled her eyes.

Big Mac seemed surprised by this. Applejack always gave him a heads of up if she were to take off somewhere. He did not know where she went or when it was she felt the need to leave her work unfinished. A bunch of the apple trees in their current sector were left unbucked.

“Is she alright?” Bic Mac asked.

“Oh yes, she's fine, but she wanted to show me something important.” Twilight paused in anticipation for a response, but didn't leave time for one. “At the hospital. I thought you might want to know.”

Big Mac's heart sank a little more the moment Twilight finished speaking. The thought that either an Apple family member was housed there, enough to pull Applejack of her work without time to tell her big brother about it and head of to the hospital.

“Do you think we should postpone this for later?” said Lyra. She turned to the midnight blue alicorn standing right next to her. “Luna?”

The Night Princess did not respond, nor did she make any movements for a few moments when the three other ponies stared at her. Twilight figured a light nudge would break her of the apparent trance.

“Huh?”

“What's wrong Luna?” said Twilight.

“Oh, we are close to the origin of the discharge. It is not too far into the orchard, I can felt it,” she explained.

“Are you sure we're allowed to-” Twilight paused mid sentence again. “...never mind.”

“Y'all go on,” said Big Mac in his deep voice. “Find what ya need. Ah'm goin' to have a word with mah sister.”

He ended without allowing for rebuttal and started towards the perimeter fence. Lyra and Twilight watched him leave for bit and began to follow Princess Luna as she continued along the gridlock of apple trees. They came across a few tree where apples had fallen off the branches. It was the first sign of proof they needed to confirm Luna's suspicions of recent magical activity.

The three magic manipulating ponies followed the distinct pattern of trees where more and more apples fell to the floor like some kind of earth tremor shook the landscape, but with limited range. Each of them avoided squishing any of the rotten apples, stepping over and around them, occasionally pushing some out of the way. After a few minutes of hopscotching over apples, they finally came to a clear, fresh patch of dirt surrounding a single tree that appeared violently disturbed recently by some means.

Princess Luna scanned the space for the slightest hint of anypony around, but found none. She and her two assistants made an effort to recreate what the most likely scenario based on the scene. Twilight took out a book from her saddlebag entitled Detective 101, which was the only book she brought that was explicitly helpful, and began scanning the pages while making a few observations. Lyra walked a little bit further towards the white perimeter fence, noticing two sets of tracks leading away to the road. Luna simply stood in place with her eyes closed trying to evaluate the type of magic and hopefully pinpoint the origin of the faint energy field, but came up short of nowhere. The only lead she had had faded. They were too late.

“Do we have anything yet?” Lyra asked as she returned from wandering off the beaten track.

“Well,” Twilight began. “Somepony definitely made an impact in this direction into the tree, but I can't tell how fast the pony was going.”

“Is that really important to know?” Lyra said.

“I guess not. I found these.” Twilight levitated a small ball of white fibers. “That somepony had some kind of clothing on. These are not hairs off a mane if you look close enough.”

“Who do they belong to?”

“How should I know?”

“Okay, well this check this out, I found two sets of hoof prints heading toward the fence over there.” Lyra pointed behind her. “Should we follow them?”

“Not yet.”

“Yes.” said Luna without taking her eyes from staring off into the distance.

“But we just got here,” Twilight argued.

“Lyra's right,” Luna explained. “Whoever was teleported here had some help leaving the orchard. I am assuming our friend Applejack knows where that pony may be and could take us to this pony. I think it's best we finish up here. Besides, we have no leads other than those tracks.”

Twilight was barely getting her head wrapped up in the scene that was presented, but it seemed like the Princess wasn't exactly concerned for the effect of what happened, and rather more focused on the cause. Unsure of how to respond, Twilight remained silent and went ahead with Luna's suggestive orders.

Lyra ran ahead to find exactly where the tracks stopped at the fence while Luna and Twilight took some time to catch up. Since she felt so close to something that excited her, she couldn't help but be the leader. As much as Lyra wanted the same thing as the Princess, the idea that her life was influenced by something similar and just as mysterious had boosted her morale. Her last guess was that they'd find an actual human being with enough knowledge to have a decent conversation with. But it was just a thought that only Lyra desired to be true. It pained her to have to move at such a slow pace in order to find out and the wait started to eat at her patience.


“Where are we?” Andrew broke the silence that started to linger on the group of fillies, leading the way through town. Sweetie Belle slowed her pace and walked beside him to answer.

“You sure are a strange pony,” she said.

“Thanks for telling me that,” Andrew said, implying sarcasm. “I'm getting used to this body, even though I don't really want to. I just want to go home.”

The two other ponies in front stopped walking and turned around to face Andrew, bring the group to a halt.

“Ah thought ya was looking fer mah sister?” Applebloom asked.

“You didn't tell us you wanted to go home,” said Scootaloo.

“That's the thing, I don't know where home is,” Andrew stated.

All three fillies lightly gasped. This whole time, they were helping a lost pony through the streets of Ponyville in search of Applejack. To Andrew, it was a little more complicated than that. Of course, neither of the little fillies were truly aware of the full picture. They were simply on a mission to earn their cutie marks for which they explained to Andrew, but he didn't understand what they were saying.

“Where did you come from?” Sweetie Belle looked up into Andrew's eyes.

“Never mind, I said too much already.” Andrew took a step before being stopped by Scootaloo.

“Aw c'mon, just tell us.” she said. “You said you just wanna go home, but don't know where you are, so maybe we can help you find your way back. What's the name of the place?”

Andrew looked at each of the eager tiny ponies, all nodding simultaneously. Not much disagreement between these colorful ponies, he thought. He gave them a weak smile.

“You probably won't know if I tell you, but it tell you anyways. Does Missouri sound familiar to you?”

Each face of the ponies turned from empathetic to confused.

“So you're here out of misery?” said Sweetie Belle.

Andrew closed his eyes, held his head down, and and laughed under his breath. The joke was getting old.

“Okay, let's try something else. What about America, United States, or Planet Earth? Any of those ring any bells?”

Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo each kept eye contact with Andrew as they quietly shook their heads. They have never heard of those places before and now that they have, it peeked their interest to know more about where Andrew true place of origin.

“Where are those places? One of those names sounds like Equestria,” said Scootaloo.

“Yeah, maybe if we find a pony around here who knows, then we might be able to get you home,” suggested Sweetie Belle. “Come on, let's see if Twilight knows.”

“Twilight? You mean like the book?” Andrew had a smeared look upon his face.

“No silly,” Sweetie Belle giggled. “Twilight is not a book, she's the most powerful and smartest unicorn we know.”

“Oooh. But the name 'Twilight' doesn't sound like a name to me. It's just a word. You know, the time of the day just before dark and just after sunset?”

“You really don't know much, do you?” Scootaloo said.

“Don't be rude, Scoots,” Applebloom poked her pegasus friend. “This pony ain't from 'round here. We're jus' tryin' to help this feller get on home.”

“I know, but there's just something odd about-”

Scootaloo was cut off by another nudge from her yellow companion standing right beside her. She let out a hardly audible sound to voice her displeasure, but gave Applebloom a contempt, yet friendly look.

“I've been thinking the same thing,” Andrew agreed. “Say, let's give this Twilight person, or pony, a visit, eh?”

He nodded and started walking in a direction that made the other ponies stop after several steps. Unaware for a few seconds, he took in the sights of the old-style village. Everything he saw ensured the lack of modern society or any sign of humans to be seen. The only sentient beings that were around were small talking horses with accents, hair dye, and, um, those cutie mark things the little fillies talked about.

Andrew noticed the tiny ponies weren't following him with no sound of hoofsteps but his own. He realized that he was apparently the only one leading the way in a random direction, assuming it wasn't the right direction with they way the ponies stopped walking.

“I'm going the wrong way, aren't I?” he called out as all four of them closed the gap between them.

“The library is this way,” said Sweetie Belle pointing in a completely different direction with a foreleg.

“Oh... right. Lead the way.”

The cobblestone streets were difficult for Andrew to navigate, stumbling over a few uneven surfaces as he and three young ponies walked through the center of Ponyville. In addition to watching his step, Andrew scanned the surrounding centers where several residential houses were founded. As far as he could tell, the town was completely populated by conscious ponies of all colors of the visible light spectrum. As the group passed by each pony, most often a unicorn, they were met with occasional glances of curiosity. Because he was neither pony nor knew how to act like one, he didn't say a word nor made eye contact with any of them. He tried to lay low and not draw to much attention that would lead to heightened suspicion.

The ponies that did stare at Andrew, few of them did so with an intimidated-like gaze that also scared him in the process. He began to feel uneasy and stupid for casually walking through the center full of weird looking miniature horses, living in a peaceful old-style village in an unimaginable fantasy-like world. He felt a little intimidated and threatened the look the inhabitants gave him, but overly accepted by how the medical ponies at the hospital treated him and the nice group of tiny fillies he just met. Before long, a large shadow draped over their heads as they came up an enormous tree.

“We're here,” said Sweetie Belle.

In front of them was an enormous tree. Andrew inspected every aspect of the tall plant, noticing windows and things that unlabeled it as an ordinary tree.

“Where is here?” he asked.

“The Ponyville Public Library of course,” Applebloom answered.

“In a tree?”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo uttered. “Isn't it cool?”

“If you say so.”

Scootaloo simply shrugged, then walked up to the small door.

*knock knock knock*

Seconds that passed turned into several. They waited for what took too long to answer the door.

“Maybe she isn't home,” Andrew suggested.

“Hmm...” Applebloom pondered. “She can't be anywhere else. Last ah saw her was yesterday.”

Each of them looked at each other and shrugged. They were out of obvious options and were slow to think of another. Andrew was clueless, regardless of what other ideas the fillies could come up with to help him out. Pretty much nothing in this new world was helpful to Andrew, other than a trip to the hospital. As helpless as he was, every minute that went by made him more curious. His stomach growled.

“You know where a guy can get some food around here?”

“Uh, yeah,” Sweetie Belle began. “Do you want to visit Sugarcube Corner? You can try the best cupcakes in Equestria made by none other than Pinkie Pie.”

“Sure, why not? I could use some sugar.”

“Follow us,” said Scootaloo as all three ponies started walking the opposite direction.

As much as Andrew wanted to deny everything to be a reality, he'd have to make sure if he was truly dreaming or dead if the sweets they served tasted right. If not, then surely enough there would be no there reason to live. If either bacon or chocolate didn't taste right here, he'd prefer to starve to death.

They back tracked the same way they came until a large candy-decorated building came into view, the one building that stood out to Andrew as the most child-like in appearance. The roof looked like that of a ginger bread house with a tall observation room of some sort, shaped like a cupcake with candles on top. However, for something so diverse and complex as candy and cake, the building didn't have much variety on the outside. He wasn't too optimistic for what lay on the inside.

A distinct, strong smell of fresh pastries filled the air as they neared the entrance. Andrew's craving for sugar grew substantially with every whiff of the baked flour to hit his nose. The bakery like doors were the only things standing between him and bliss. The group entered to sugar-coated building and were soon met with an extremely hyper pink pony who was unusually more happy than her normal self.