Tracy woke to the chimes of his phone alarm, only a little earlier than when he’d normally rise for work. Granted he usually got to sleep in on weekends, but… his only chance to participate in an alien holiday was probably well worth a little tiredness. He got ready in a rush, showering quickly in the bathroom with its embarrassing lack of privacy.
Rose wasn’t leading him on—at a time when the horse world outside was usually dark and subdued, the streets were lit with torches and lanterns from one end of town to the other. He cleaned up as quickly as he could, this time mercifully without any of them waving at him through the window.
He almost wondered if he was doing something wrong and they were ignoring him, until he noticed he hadn’t turned on the light. “Weird…” He flipped it on, then winced, shielding his face with the back of one leg. “When did that thing get so damn bright?” He flicked it back off, using the light of distant lanterns to style his mane.
He really didn’t know what he was doing, but even his own failures at horse fashion had to be better than the nothing he usually did.
Rose said the holiday should be spent naked, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to do that. Even if he wouldn’t be leaving through the Earthside door until Monday.
Granted, the pony equivalents of his clothes didn’t really do much. Stupid things on his legs and a vest in the same pattern as the polo shirt it was on the outside. But if he didn’t wear it, he might just die of embarrassment. Besides, Tracy had so much practice with clothing on the pony side that it barely even slowed him down. He was well ahead of schedule by the time he finally made it downstairs into the kitchen.
The ruin of the flower sisters’ hard work was spread everywhere, with fallen stems covering the kitchen floor and empty crates packed against one wall. The chilled cart was gone, though a damp stain remained on the carpet where it had stood.
Good thing I didn’t make that mess. The contract had fines in place for damage to the property, to be paid by the offending party. They were all sufficiently arcane that Tracy had just resolved not to do any of them.
Tracy made his way to the door, slowing slightly as he finally noticed the music from outside. It sounded at once traditional and modern, with ancient harpsichord and percussion occasionally blended with poppy beats. How are they even playing that? Maybe if he asked Rose about their technology this time, she wouldn’t assume he was planning for an invasion and might answer.
Tracy slipped out the door, hesitating for a moment as the light of so many candles disoriented him. The house had been so comfortable without any lights switched on.
The streets were packed with more ponies that he’d ever seen in one place, thronging together far closer than human ideas of personal space would permit. He approached nervously, wings spreading slightly as he prepared to flee. Not that the wings would help much with that. He didn’t know how to use them.
“Spring this way!” a voice called, over the sound of cheerful voices chatting together. “Remember, only one circuit for everypony! We have too many visitors for seconds!”
He couldn’t even guess at what that meant, but Tracy didn’t really feel like he had to. Rose and her sisters were in Spring with the fresh flowers, that much was obvious. He could catch up with her there.
He’d barely made it two steps into the crowd before someone thrust a plain wooden necklace towards him, tossing it over his neck. “You forgot yours!” they said, one high-pitched voice among dozens of overwhelmingly colorful blobs. “Here’s an extra!”
He looked down to investigate, though there wasn’t much to see. Like a charm bracelet without any actual charms. He tried to squirm out of it, but by the time he’d managed to take it off, he couldn’t even see the pony who had given it to him. Tracy shrugged and slipped it back on, head down as he squeezed through the crowd. The sooner he could get to Rose’s stall, the sooner he could figure out what the hell was going on.
He found her basically where he’d been told to expect, up against the city hall building. A line of ponies trailed out behind it for hundreds of feet, practically clambering over each other to reach the front. Tracy didn’t wait, walking along the line. They weren’t leaving in frustration when they got to the front, so he could only assume they’d been right about their purchasing decisions.
“You made it!” Rose appeared from behind the stall, waving energetically to him. She had a necklace too, though little wooden sections filled every opening with intricately carved flowers. That probably meant something, though he was as clueless about that as everything else he’d seen so far. “Enjoying the festival?”
“I have no clue what’s going on,” he said flatly. “But it looks like your stall is doing good. That’s enough reason to celebrate all by itself.”
She nodded, ears perking as pride filled her voice. “A few ponies were disappointed we didn’t have their favorites this year, but… on the whole it’s been great. But nopony could predict the princess would come here to celebrate. She usually prefers the bigger cities.”
What would a big city of horses even look like? “Your… royalty?” he asked instead. “Guess that is pretty exciting. All these people are here to try and see her?”
Rose shrugged. “See her, or just celebrate in the same place she is. Princess Luna has only been back a few years, so there are still lots of ponies who haven’t seen her for themselves. Maybe that’s why she picked Ponyville, so she could apologize for her first visit…”
Before he could ask what any of that meant, Tracy felt a hoof wrap around his, tugging him away from the flower-stand. “We can’t celebrate the whole Equinox from here!”
As baffled as he was, Tracy didn’t resist. There was just so much here to see, so much that as an outsider he couldn’t even guess where to begin. Then again, at least he had someone friendly to ask, so maybe he could start there. “You haven’t even told me what we’re celebrating.”
Rose nodded eagerly, or at least he thought she did. It was hard to get a very good look at what she was doing when she insisted on dragging him towards some unknown destination, instead of just talking to him like a normal person.
“You know what the equinox is, right?” she asked. But she didn’t even wait for an answer before barging on ahead. “Well, that’s what we’re here celebrating. In Equestria there are four seasons, and moving between them is important. Sometimes there’s more hard work for ponies to do, like the Winter Wrap Up. But the Equinox doesn’t really make us do anything to change the seasons, we just… well, focus on the harvest I guess. My family hasn’t done very much to help with that kind of thing in a long time. Generations.”
She slowed, enough that he could finally pull his leg free and catch up with her.
The more she said, the less confident he became. Maybe it would be better if he just asked the questions that would prompt the most direct answers. “There are several holidays like this on my world,” he said. What does ‘celebrate the Equinox’ mean for you, exactly? What are these necklaces, to start with?”
“Oh, those?” She beamed, holding hers up. “Yours won’t look like this; this shows I’m staff working in the Spring part.” They were rapidly approaching a tent in the middle of the road, with a wide entrance and several ponies outside. The whole crowd seemed to be funneling through it one at a time, so he wasn’t too worried. And they all have the ass-tattoos. I should probably ask about those when this whole thing is over. “I’ll see you on the other side. The staff goes through at the beginning, so I already did all this. It wouldn’t be right of me to go through twice.”
“Wait!” His wings splayed involuntarily in discomfort, and he reached out towards her. “I don’t even know what I’m doing! Is this a religious thing, because I really don’t want to—”
Too late. She retreated into the crowd, which parted around her far faster than he could keep up. He tried to follow, but the line kept shoving him back into place.
Soon he was shoved through a set of blackout curtains and into the tent proper.
For the second time that night, Tracy was completely blinded, by something that was almost sunlight.
“The time for seedlings is over,” said a high-pitched voice, not much older than a seedling itself.
The inside of the tent was covered in bright green things, flower displays, and an exaggerated cutout of the sun. If this was a religious holiday, it had striking similarities to an educational diorama. “The time comes to strike the earth and sow, or the summer will pass us by without a harvest.”
A tiny pony—even tinier than usual—waited by the back of the tent, handing out little bits of wood. This one had a flower and a leaf, and fit into place perfectly in his necklace.
Then he was out again, feeling more confused than ever by whatever the hell he’d just seen.
At least Rose didn’t leave him to be lost in the crowd, but joined him just a few steps outside the tent, grinning eagerly. Past this first tent, the decorations around town had changed. Instead of green and flower themed, these were yellow and orange, with trees and growing wheat and bright yellow suns. The Summer section, he supposed. “One down, three to go!”
He suppressed a groan. This might feel like morning, but this wasn’t what he imagined when he’d thought about an alien festival. “You don’t have anything more…” He hesitated. “Is this what it’s like? Going through the year by visiting different tents?”
She nodded. Her grin was so wide, whatever cruel thing he’d been imagining just wouldn’t come out. It was childish and pointless, but what was the point of telling her? “The procession of the Equinox is the least important holiday of the year for lots of ponies,” she said. “Now that we have better tools for remembering harvests, it’s mostly just an old tradition. Ponies like giving out gifts for Hearth’s Warming, or spending Hearts and Hooves Day with their special someponies. But the Equinoxes have always felt more… real…”
She trailed off, leading them out of the densest crowd. He was eager to follow, out of the flow where he could finally breathe again.
Out here he could get a better view of the whole event. Past some farming dioramas up ahead there was a marketplace, where most of the activity seemed centered. He could smell the cooking food even from here.
Yet the flower display gets to sell food earlier, while everyone is still hungry. No wonder you make so much money today.
“All those other days are really just celebrating things that ponies do. We could’ve done them differently, or maybe we did and it’s just lost to history. But the Equinox is… so much more important than that. If we didn’t advance the seasons, the planet would get sick, animals would die… it’s a reminder of our fundamental connection to the earth, you know?”
If we didn’t advance the seasons. Maybe there was a quirk in the translation he inherited whenever he came here, assuming it… even was a translation thing.
“I shouldn’t linger, though. There’s authentic Apple family cider in the Autumn section, let’s get there. You’ve never had any before, so I’m only buying you one mug. I don’t like being around ponies when they’re drunk.”
“You don’t have to buy me anything,” he said, hurrying to keep up with her. She knew a more direct route, dodging between the thickest crowds, behind a few displays, then past an alley blocked off with a plain wooden barricade. They emerged in a patch of open starlight, the first calm place in a sea of activity. “I just got promoted, actually. I can afford to get my own alcohol—”
He walked right into her rump, and nearly tripped over her in an even more embarrassing display of clumsiness.
Why the hell was she bowing?
A horse stood alone just in front of her, body all in dark blues and purples. Her mane was the strangest part, blowing faintly in a breeze that Tracy couldn’t feel.
“I didn’t expect anypony here,” she said, her voice low and confident. “Shouldn’t you two be somewhere else?”
Sure Trace, you got money, but did you remeber to exchange to local currency at the Dimensional Exchange service?
Tracy... as a representative of human kind, I hope you won't do something stupid in the next chapter.
A stallion and a mare wandering away from the festival down some alleys, that’s a situation that could be easily misinterpreted.
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Don't you mean... the conversion bureau?
Ah, here we go.
O hai Luna. Tracy, please keep your hooves away from your mouth if at all possible.
It probably isn't, but I might as well say it.
In any case, loving the Equinox festivities thus far. I do love seeing little cultural moments like this. They make the world feel that much more real and lived in. And it may do just that for Tracy as well... again, provided Luna doesn't punt him to the moon. I just hope there isn't any baggage between bat ponies and the night princess in this timeline that everyone will expect Tracy to already know...
Again, there probably is, but I might as well say it.
Huh. I guess it could've looked like that to Luna if she didn't see Rose bow and Tracy clearly run into her. Or Luna did and has a good sense of humor about these things.
Well excuuuuuuuse me, Princess!
your the princess well i got a lot of complaints for you about discord
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10245031
Rationally thinking through your decisions does not make for much of a story.
Oh. Hey, Luna. How are you this fine Equinox?
Wonder how this meeting will go, and if Luna will be brought into the know on Tracy's circumstances or not...could be interesting either way.
Sort of frustrated by Roseluck, though--she keeps assuming Tracy already has some frame of reference or other background explaining this whole celebration and isn't giving all the details I need, so I feel like I'm missing out on a whole heck of a lot of world building here, just because she ain't givin' me the details, and of course we can't expect Tracy to figure it out on his own.
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You realize that by saying that, you've jinxed it, right?
Well, that's certainly an abrupt ending...
Feels like it:
i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/031/750/https___api.thedrive.com_wp-content_uploads_2017_09_cliff-1.jpg
I wonder what is going to happen next. Also Tracy really needs to learn a bit more about Equestria.
Isolating the effects of increased traffic due to the princesses from the change in stock could be an interesting exercise. Or maybe it's trivial; I don't know enough accounting/econ to know for sure.
If Ponyville is as small as I think it is, perhaps it would be feasible to learn which ponies want something a bit more unusual and stock specifically for them? That way there's a much smaller chance for waste and it's good PR.
Seems Tracey has really been making an effort to not spend any time in Equestria. Not knowing about cutie marks after all this time and not knowing about the Princesses manipulating the sun/moon (although not knowing the latter arguably could make sense if Tracey isn't around to actually see the sun/moon move and given the changing of seasons doesn't occur very frequently).
I'm a little confused here, too; is this the fall equinox or the spring one? Rose talking about a harvest makes it sound like the fall one, but I'm not certain I'm not missing anything.
Hi Luna. Curious to see her reaction to seeing a bat.
Good time for the princesses to learn about Discord's involvement, too, although it seems Tracey is getting comfortable with the situation, so perhaps there's less incentive to get them involved.
10244993 If he didn't do something dramatically stupid, he wouldn't be human. That's our calling card to the galaxy.
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Unfortunately, I'm afraid he's contractually obligated. He really should have read the fine print.
I love this story, it's just the sort of slice of live that I like to read when relaxing. Keep up the good job, man.
A wild Woona apers.
i.pinimg.com/originals/a3/e7/81/a3e781594d3ea47826e74dee5f0a0407.png
Hi Luna. Don't screw it up, Tracy.
You don't even have to imagine anyone else naked to ease the embarrassment. They already are!
A bunch of naked ponies close together. Can't imagine the sort of awkwardness Tracy is feeling right now.
I hope that wasn't a thing with your previous boyfriends.
Hopefully, they didn't just walked into a restricted ceremony or Luna's private time by accident.
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But where's the fun in that?
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Imagine if bat ponies have special rules or etiquette around the princess of the night.
Now imagine a bat pony completely clueless about said rules or etiquette.
Let's hope Luna's a bit lenient about the number of faux pas about to be committed.
10245074
If said rational thinking and decision making creates results that appear to come out of an exploding blender, then yes, it's presence can make for an interesting story.
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Unless Roseluck gives him a foal's book on these things, explaining as Tracy goes would have to suffice despite its simplicity.
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Well, there were many reasons that happened. But even if he did spent a bit more time in Equestria, I wouldn't expect him to figure out the most basic information (cutie marks, sun/moon) without asking since it's universally known (to ponies) and need not be said. And he's apparently too prideful to look like a child and ask. That knowledge might be a curiosity but to him it's probably not vital to his continued (and limited) interaction with Equestria compared to something like the type of money or laws ponies have.
Of course, everything probably went out the window with Luna standing right in front of him.
10245074
Think rationally, act irrationally. ;)
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true
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You're right that he probably wouldn't have figured cutie marks and the movement of the sun/moon on his own and that it isn't particularly vital to his stay there. What I had in mind was that if he had spent more time in Equestria, chances are that he'd eventually stumble across those facts, whether by finding one or more friends, by overhearing someone, or by more direct means (e.g., someone asks what his cutie mark is or he witnesses sunup/sundown directly).
Finally got the time and am now up to date with this one again.
Now, I am not sure if I should be happy about your amazing work or upset because I have to wait six more days for the next Chapter.
Wooohooo. Best princess hath arrivedethetheth.
I felt just as confused as Tracy being dragged through the festival.
Interesting... I am almost as confused as Tracy is. Though Princess Luna has arrived, so things should get more interesting!
Heh, Rose you need to slow down! You forgot your alien in the midst of endorphin rush!
Interesting how his night vision is kicking in. And is that a bit more familiarity with them wings?
Wonder if Luna thinks he's a guard?
Keep going! ;)
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Yeah, he sort of has to be a incognito learner.
So Luna appears
Why haven't we seen any light-vision issues up until now? I.e. -- what has changed that NOW all of a sudden, room lights are painfully bright and moonlight is perfectly sufficient for him?
Is it an Equinox issue?
Is it that Luna is in town?
Is it Discord activating another trap clause? :-)
Tune in next week to find out
Same bat-pony channel
Same bat-pony time
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I think its mainly that he's just out and about at night on the Equestrian side for the first time. He's never really had to deal with this before.
You might be surprised at how familiar it is.
Rose is going to have the entire town convinced that Tracy is her new bat boyfriend.
I feel like he should have been expecting something at least roughly like this from a season based festival in a small agricultural village.
Hi, Pinkie. Bye, Pinkie!
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¿Que? She said they found bits. That means he didn't need to just make a program - the computer work had to have already saved them cash.
Why must I keep arriving upon the final chapter so suddenly?
Luna: “I didn’t expect anypony here. Shouldn’t you two be somewhere else?”
Tracy: "I've no-o-o-o idea of what's going on.... and.... you are....? "
Luna: ""
Oo oh welp xD