Ponyville

by milawynsrealm

Chapter 9: Pressing Matters

“I know that he screamed in front of the entire town. But why would a guard...” Rarity mumbled to herself as she entered the room.

But she stopped in her tracks and gasped as soon as she saw my mother.

“My dear, I don't mean to be rude, but how long has it been since you last took a bath?” Rarity asked.

“Rarity, this is—“ I began before being interrupted by Rarity.

“I was talking to her darling. But never fear my dear, I've got a coupon for a free bathing session at the local spa. Just come over to my boutique when you want to claim it. Completely free of charge, of course. Just consider it a welcoming gift from me.” Rarity said with a smile while my mother just gave a confused look at her.

“Rarity...” I began to protest.

“Daniel, really. You just can't expect me to carry every little thing with me all day. It's just not possible. And plus, it's rude to keep interrupting me like that. What would your mother say if she was here?” she said before setting her focus back to her.
My mom was just sitting there, trying to say something, but she just had a hard time getting it out. I wasn't sure if it was because she might be nervous of Rarity's presence, or because she simply had a hard time saying what she wanted to say in general.

“Don't worry my dear, you're pretty already. You just need to clean off all that dirt and you'll be as good as new.” Rarity continued, putting on a graceful smile.

“Y-you really think I'm pretty? The way I am right now?” My mother asked.

“Well, yes. But I...” Rarity started before suddenly realizing that my mother was now hugging her with a small smile and tears slowly streaming down her face.

“Thank you.” my mother said quietly.

Rarity didn't know what to say. Apart from giving a quick sniff of my mom's coat, and scrunching her nose as a reaction, Rarity just stood there trying to remain calm in midst of this perfect stranger.

After a moment longer, my mother backed off from Rarity.

“S-sorry about that. It's just...a lot has been going on right now. I'm...I'd better get going. Sorry.” my mother said before turning to the door.

She was about to reach for the door knob, but pulled her hoof back before she could touch it when she realized that she could not open it herself. Instead, she tapped the door with her hoof. The door opened, and the guard poked his head in the room.

“See you later. Now you stay out of trouble, okay?” my mother said with a light smile, right before being escorted out of the room by the guard.

“I...Whuh...buh.” Rarity uttered, obviously at a loss for words.

A moment later, she managed to regain her composure once more, or at least did her best. “Daniel, who was that? Do you know her?” she said.

“That's my mother.” I said.

“Your mother? You mean...Oh dear. I just figured that she was some mare off the street. I had no idea that she's your mother. I'm really sorry I offended her.” Rarity said, now worried.

It was tempting to simply tell her that I tried telling her she's my mother, but I quickly remembered how much of a drama queen she can be. If I had said anything bad to her, it would get back to her friends, and then back to me. This was especially a bad thing to do because of who I was staying with.

“Well...you did say that she was pretty. And I think that made her happy.” I said before I readjusted my body position, this time facing my body belly up. It was hard, mostly because my body was still really sore from taking that tumble down that hill, and because it was hard to turn my body around without any hands.

“How does it feel, to be a pony that is?” she asked.

I thought about it for a while. I even started flexing various parts of my body and focused closely on each feeling, and each sensation. As I flexed my forelegs, I noticed that after moving them around more closely, that they felt a little bit more like giant fingers. Before, I had just assumed them to be akin to my hands having been copped off.

As I started making faces in order to feel my new muzzle, Rarity just stared at me, confused at what I was doing.

“Darling, what are you doing?” she asked.

“You asked me what it feels like. I just haven't had any real time to think about my body that much.” I asked.

“I was just expecting a simple answer. Not...any of what you were just doing.” Rarity said, now a little bit creeped out.

“Sorry. Different. I feel different” I replied.

“Can't you give a less vague answer than that?” she asked.

“I honestly wish I could. My body feels and moves differently, my head is lower to the ground than I'm used to it being, and it's taking a while to get used to seeing this muzzle in front of my face.” I said as I gestured to my face. “Other than that, I can't really describe how it feels.” I said.

Then I went on to talk about my parent's little visit. About how my mother told me some of the conditions the camp was in, and of my encounter with my father. Rarity just listened to me patiently.

“The conditions are that bad at those camps? My word, no wonder she's so dirty. And no wonder your father was angry. I'd be angry too if I was forced to live in those horrid conditions. It sounds like whoever is in charge is obviously not doing their job that well.” she said, aghast of the descriptions that I had given her.

“Yeah. And my father never acted like this before. Sure, he's been angry before, and yes, he's yelled before. But never at the level he was when he came to visit me. I just get the impression that he doesn't like being a pony, at all.” I said.

“I could tell that from what you've told me darling. And for the record, hooves are not 'worthless stumps'. I should know, because I use them in my everyday life.” she replied, obviously bemused by my father's comments.

“Overall, my father's a good man. He's just having a hard time adjusting. That's all.” I said.

“Man?” she asked confused.

“Stallion. That's what I meant to say. Sorry.” I said, slightly embarrassed by the mistake. If it does turn out that I'm stuck here, then I'd better get started getting used to using certain words used by the natives. At the very least, it would really help me out in future conversations.

“It's okay. I just didn't know what that word meant.” Rarity said.

Then Rarity looked at the clock that was overhead the door. “Oh dear. I really must get going. I still have an order to finish up by tomorrow morning.”

With that, she got up and headed for the door. “I'll see you later Daniel. I hope you feel better. Bye.” she said. I waived her goodbye with my hoof, only to be momentarily distracted by it. When I turned my focus back on her, I found that she had already left. My guess is that she had a very large order to fill.

And here I was, alone again, with no other pony in the room. I guess after my little episode, I guess that the medical staff really didn't want me to be disturbing any of the other patients or making any of them nervous.

A few moments had passed, and nothing happened with only the ticking of the clock to pass the time. I even experimented with shifting my body to a more comfortable position on the bed only to find in the end that laying on my back was the least sore position to begin with.

After a while longer, a thought came to my head. I looked under my sheets to see if I still had a belly button. A silly thing to look for, I know, but I didn't have anything else to do. And yes, I do have one, but it looked a little bit weird to be honest.

A while longer, I just stared at the ceiling. I guess I now know how Rainbow Dash felt when she was in the hospital during that one episode. None of the nurses had bothered to check up on me, yet, and there was nothing else to do. I even looked around for a call button of some kind, but unless it was hiding in some obscure corner of the bed, I could not see anything that even resembled one. Yelling was out of the question because I didn't want to give any of the medical staff heart attacks, and plus, this was a hospital. I had to keep my voice down. I guess all I could do was just wait.

---

Twilight was hard at work getting all of her notes in order. Apparently, she was to give her notes to one of the lead scientists so they could put it to good use in their work. She just didn't know it would be this soon. But after all that had happened lately, they probably wanted it a bit faster than usual. The only thing that she was really surprised about was at how fast Daniel got out of the Everfree forest.

But it wasn't really the speed at which he got out that she thought about, it was mostly of his origin. Twilight was confidant in her teacher's decision to temporarily disrupt her studies for this task, and for now, she was alright with that. She was in constant contact with the scientific team that has been tasked with discovering more about these newcomers, although some of the staff had been starting to call them 'new foals'. If it hadn't been for her experiences with Daniel, she would have assumed that it was a premature label. But the more that she thought about it, she was essentially teaching a pony about topics that a foal would normally be learning, with the exception that he already is potty trained, which she was greatly relieved.

One of the other things that she had to do when she eventually got the chance, was to go shopping for him. She had to get him stuff like toiletries, a spot at the dentist's office to make sure his teeth was okay, and even get horseshoes fitted for him. This was becoming less and less like a simple friend staying for a few weeks, and more like being a mother. But at least Celestia generously increased her monthly allowance in order to compensate for his extended stay. That was something at least.

A knock could be heard on the front door. “Come in. The library's open.” Twilight responded. Seriously, ever since she came to Ponyville, she would get the occasional knock on the front door, treating the library like it was her personal home. Yes, she does live here, but there is a reason why she put up an open sign on the front door.

“Sorry to barge in like this miss Sparkle.” a male voice said. Twilight turned to face an orange unicorn pony in a white lab coat and coke bottle glasses. His pocket protector, which was beginning to sag after years of wear, just swung lightly as he walked. On his back was a filled up saddlebag, not to the point of bursting, but it was getting there. If she had guessed, it would probably be paperwork and an assortment of tools he may have needed for his job.

“That's okay. I was just in the process of getting my notes sorted out. I just wasn't expecting you to be arriving so early.” Twilight answered as she continued to sort out her notes, this time, a little bit faster than before.

“You know, you don't have to rush those notes so quickly. I want accurate notes, not something that has mistakes in them.” the scientist said.

“But I thought you wanted these notes today.” Twilight said, now a little confused.

“I do, but it doesn't have to be right this second.” the scientist said as he came over to the table full of notes.

“Then why are you here?” Twilight asked.

“I just want to ask you a few questions. If that's alright with you.” he said as he floated his clipboard out of his bag.
“About what?” Twilight asked, now setting her notes back on the table.

“About...” he began before looking at his clipboard. “Daniel? Is that his name?” he asked looking back to Twilight.
“Yes.” Twilight replied.

“Hm, weird name. But, anyways, back to the questions. Are you ready?” the scientist asked.

“Ready as I'll ever be.” Twilight responded.

“Okay. Has he ever hurt you in any way?” he asked, focused solely on the clipboard he had floated right in front of him.
“No. He has not. And if he had, I would have reported it by now.” Twilight asked, a little shocked at the question.

“I'm sorry. This is just a general list of questions made up by the staff. And no, I'm not the one who wrote them.” he said.

But before she could reply, he continued with his interview, “Has Daniel exhibited any unusual behaviors that you believe to be dangerous or harmful in the short and/or long term?”

“No. And again, if Daniel did anything bad, I would have reported it to somepony in charge by now.” Twilight answered, now growing weary of this scientist.

“Have you been teaching Daniel about magic in any way?” He asked, unphased at Twilight's answer.

“Yes, I have.” Twilight responded.

“Has he done any actual magic?” the scientist asked.

“Well, it was hard for him to draw it out at first. But once he was able to, he just sent out raw energy at first when I had asked him to levitate a feather. In the end, he was able to do it, barely, but at least he isn't magic intolerant” Twilight responded.

“Oh good, that's normal then.” the scientist said as he wrote down her response.

“But, how is that normal? He put holes and scorch marks in my ceiling.” she responded, a little surprised at his response.

The scientist stopped what he was doing and just looked at her. “Miss Sparkle, despite how much magic he's emitting, the fact remains that he's able emit magic. It's just now a matter of making sure that he is able to control it. Actually, I'm surprised that he was able to do anything at all so quickly, having been born another species and all.”

“Are we done with this interview yet?” she asked.

“No, not yet. I still have a few more questions to ask you. If that's alright with you.” he said.

Twilight just mildly sighed in exasperation. Applying the techniques that she had learned from Princess Cadence, she was able to calm down and just get on with it.

“Okay, what's your next question?” Twilight asked, hoping to get through the rest of the questions.

---

By the time the CMC got back to their clubhouse, it was already time for each of them to go home.
“Next time, let's not go there again. Agreed?” Applebloom asked.

The two others agreed in an uncertain unison. The house incident was still affecting them, and if they hadn't gotten out in time, they would have also gotten in trouble with each of their parents. Not the best way to spend the day.

The meeting was closed quickly and silently. Normally, they would have come up with a few ideas for what to do the next time, but frankly, none of them were in the mood. The trio left the clubhouse, and after Applebloom locked the front door, they said their goodbyes and then just left.

By the time that Scootaloo arrived to her home, she took her scooter and walked it inside the house. After putting it away and turning on a few lamps, she took her saddlebag and placed it on the coffee table.

She guessed that it was another late night for her father and her mother was most likely fast asleep. It wasn't unusual for Scootaloo to come home late, despite her parent's concerns, as there were a few times where she came home even later than usual.

It was late enough that she decided to call it a night and go to sleep. But before she did, she remembered something. After rummaging through her saddlebag, she dragged out a photograph. A photograph she had managed to take out of that house before a part of the ceiling came crashing down.

Author's Note:

I know that the word 'new foal' is taken from the TCB universe, but it seems to fit better than 'new comer', which is more confusing to say since the latter could technically apply to both natives and the new arrivals. That, and after a while, the word 'new comer' will eventually loose it's meaning over time during their stay.