Miracles

by awesomesauce4


Chapter 2 - The Town, Part I

They woke up the next morning to sunlight streaming in through the windows. Surprisingly, Josh was the first to wake, yawning as he sat up and stretched. His bed was incredibly comfy, but he had to get out of it sometime – it was Saturday, right? It felt like a Saturday. Time to work on that distillation reactor, then. Hopefully he could convince the welding teacher to let him borrow some stuff…

Wait.

Wait.

Josh looked around hurriedly, yesterday’s events coming back to him. There was the gold nugget he’d found, on the bedside drawer next to him. His clothes were in a heap on the floor – he’d never been one for cleanliness, and today was no exception.

“Hey, Ben,” he called out. “You up?”

There was a grumbling response from the other side of the door, and a lump shifted in Celestia’s bed. “Well, I am now,” Ben greeted in annoyance, sitting up as well.

“We’d better get moving soon if we want to make it to Ponyville at a reasonable time,” Josh reminded Ben.

“Right, right…” Ben acknowledged, then fell silent. Josh politely waited for five whole minutes.

“Ben?” he called out again.

The sound of soft breathing greeted him, and Josh sighed.

BEN THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE!” he shouted, and Ben jolted upright, looking every which way.

“Who – wha – oh, you dick!” he exclaimed angrily.

Josh laughed uproariously at his sleepily furious expression. “Ahahahaha, gotcha! Anyway, don’t fall asleep on me. I don’t want to get caught by the Pony of Shadows or some shit like that.”

Ben raised an eyebrow. “Who’s the ‘Pony of Shadows?’ Sounds lame,” he remarked.

Josh grinned. “Supposedly, some imprint of Nightmare Moon stuck around the old castle. There was an episode where they ran around scared of her, but it turned out to just be Pinkie. And then Lord Tirek.”

Ben stared at him for a moment, then rolled his eyes, hopping out of bed. “Whatever. Okay, lemme get dressed first,” he asserted, closing the door between them.

Josh did the same, sliding on his shorts and shirt. He noticed the chemical burn marks on his leg hadn’t been fully healed yet – oh well, that was what he got for distilling bromine on a whim one lazy Saturday a few months ago. At least they didn’t hurt anymore, or look yellow-brown. Now, they were just angry red splotches on his otherwise white skin.

After putting everything relevant in his pockets, he joined Ben in the hallway.

“Anything from the castle that would be good to take?” Sam asked, looking around curiously.

“Hmm…” Josh thought. There were a few pony suits of armor stationed along the walls, complete with sword and shield, and he approached one curiously. Grabbing the shield, he was dismayed to discover that it was too heavy and cumbersome to carry, despite being small. "No, I think we're good,” he finally admitting, casting a longing glance at the shields.

“Anything else?” Ben asked, noticing his look.

Josh shook his head. “Anything else might qualify as stealing. Remember, we’re going for a good impression here, which is going to be hard. You remember their reaction to Zecora, right?”

Ben raised an eyebrow. “Wasn’t that because she didn’t talk to anyone, though?”

Josh shrugged. “Pretty sure they locked their doors before she got a chance, but whatever. Just… smile, act friendly, and don’t attack anything.”

Ben rolled his eyes. “I won’t have to act friendly. These are ponies! It’s gonna be so cool!”

Josh chuckled. “Amen to that. Alright, let’s get going.”

They found two discarded rucksacks in a corner, and slipped them around their waists.

“Good thing we’re so thin. These ponies really are little,” Ben quipped.

“Speak for yourself, Railrod,” Josh grumbled, struggling to fit the sack around his belly.

“You’re not even that thicker than me? Hold on…” Ben muttered, leaning down to help him.

“Hrrk!” Josh got out as Ben managed to cinch them around his waist.

“Too tight?” Ben asked, looking at him in concern.

Josh tried moving around a bit. “Nah, I think I’m good. Reminds me of all those skinny jeans I used to wear.”

They stepped outside into the balmy weather, a morning breeze greeting them as the birdsong of the Everfree became louder.

“You know, this really is just a normal forest,” Josh remarked, looking around.

“Aside from the hydras and manticores and timberwolves and whatever,” Ben pointed out.

“Fair enough,” Josh amicably agreed. “Now, if I remember right, Ponyville’s at the north edge of the forest, which is quite a ways from here. So how do we find north…” he muttered.

“Wait… there’s a compass in my pack, I felt it earlier,” Ben happily exclaimed as he pulled out the item in question.

Josh stared at it in surprise. “Wow. It’s made of brass, and it’s one of those really old lodestone-water types. Cool! Alright, that means we go this way,” Josh declared, striding forth.

“But that’s back the way we came…” Ben muttered, reluctantly following along.

“So, is Ponyville downstream or upstream?” Ben asked curiously as they wandered through the woods a while later.

“Someone once laid out a potential map of Ponyville and the surrounding areas, using a ton of references. According to that, the river looped around the Everfree before going through Ponyville. I don’t remember which way it went, though, so I guess we’ll figure out when we get there,” Josh answered at length.

“Knowing them, they put it upstream just to dick with us,” Ben joked.

Josh laughed. “Heh. Definitely.”

Ben took on a ponderous expression for a moment. “What’re we gonna say to Twilight?” he asked after a while.

Princess Twilight,” Josh automatically corrected. “And… I’m not sure. The truth, I guess. We can only hope that humans aren’t toxic to ponies somehow…” he muttered.

“Wait. That’s a thing?” Ben questioned.

Josh nodded. “Some stories posited that because humans have no magic, we act like a magical black hole, and it ranges anywhere from uncomfortable to life-threatening for magical creatures to be near us. Hopefully we don’t immediately murder Princess Twilight on contact, or something,” Josh sighed.

“You mean kill, right? Murder implies decisive action,” Ben corrected.

“You know what I meant!” Josh retorted, grinning. “Besides, what about all the human diseases we have and nopony has any immunity to? Shit, this might be like the early colonization of the United States. 90% of Native Americans died before they even saw any white people, just because of the fucking flu or some shit,” Josh realized, beginning to worry.

“Hey, hey! These are ponies. They’re magic, remember? And they have flu, I’m pretty sure somepony had it once on the show,” Ben cajoled.

Josh slowly came down from panic. “Okay… maybe you’re right. Still… I’m taking no chances.”

Maybe an hour after they had started walking, they came to the edge of the same river they’d been walking by all day yesterday.

“Didn’t the Elements cross a river to get here?” Ben wondered.

“You mean the Mane Six?” Josh questioned.

“Don’t call them that. It’s a stupid term, and nobody here will understand it,” Ben replied.

“Jeez, sorry,” Josh muttered.

“It’s cool, it’s just… I left the ‘brony’ fandom a long time ago, and I associate a lot of terms and stuff with it still,” Ben explained.

“Fair enough. And yeah, I’ll just try to call them by their names. Revealing that we know almost everything is almost guaranteed to result in imprisonment or worse,” Josh mused.

“Hey, lighten up. This is a world of friendship, and magic! I’m sure we’ll be fine,” Ben proclaimed.

“You haven’t seen the things I have,” Josh muttered under his breath.

They squelched their way across the river, both of them extremely uncomfortable at the amount of water currently weighing down their socks and shoes.

“Why didn’t we build a raft, or something? Or topple another tree?” Ben complained.

“Would’ve taken too long. Besides, let’s just wring out our socks and shoes when we get to the other bank. The sunlight will dry them off in no time,” Josh explained.

They did just that, Josh wringing extra hard to get any last drops of water out of his socks. He’d had bad medical experiences with his feet before, and he had no desire to add any more surgeries to the list. That done, they kept walking north, hoping that the remaining obstacles weren’t quite as wet.

To their surprise, they shortly came to a steep cliff face, which sharply veered into the treetops.

“Well, now what? I don’t think I can climb that,” Ben informed him.

“We might have to,” Josh replied. “I’ll see if I can find a better way around.”

It took him and Ben a little over an hour of searching, but eventually they found a less steep way up the cliff face. It appeared as though it had been cut into the cliff by tools, and Josh wondered if this was the actual path the ponies took to get to the castle. It didn’t seem like much of a path yet…

They hiked up the cliff face, the zigzagging trail only serving to annoy and exhaust them as it forced them to turn again and again just to progress. But, finally, they made it to the top, and collapsed from exhaustion.

“Let’s… let’s have lunch… no sense going forward on an empty stomach…” Josh panted. Slowly, they pulled a sandwich each out of their rucksacks and chomped into them. “Hell yes, peanut butter. My favorite,” Josh exclaimed.

“Bleh! I’m starting to see why you didn’t like the flower sandwich yesterday,” Ben complained, and Josh laughed.

After a few more minutes of rest, they set off again, and Josh was surprised to find an actual trail stretching out before them. “Well. This’ll help,” he remarked.

“Can I have the compass back? It looks badass,” Ben asked.

Josh rolled his eyes and handed it back, careful not to disturb the metal-and-glass contraption too hard. “You and your obsession with pocket watches and compasses. Such a gentleman.”

Ben laughed heartily. “You say that like it’s a bad thing!” he mock-complained, and Josh rolled his eyes.

“Hey… we haven’t run into any wildlife yet, and it’s starting to worry me. With the ponies, it takes, like, five minutes before a timberwolf or something jumps them, and we’ve been in here for an entire day,” Ben mused.

Josh hummed in thought. “I think that might’ve been due to jumpcuts. Also, didn’t we see that thing behind us yesterday?” he reminded his friend.

“Well, yeah, okay, but that was one thing. I was expecting more than one thing,” Ben replied.

Josh shrugged. “Maybe they’re avoiding us because we're new. Or maybe this is some sort of post-apocalyptic Equestria.”

Ben scoffed. “Would you cut it out with the doom and gloom? Just because you read a fanfic about something doesn’t make it likely to happen!”

Josh raised an eyebrow. “Ben. We are in Equestria.”

Ben fell silent for a moment. “…Point taken,” he muttered. “Still, most writers don’t write about that stuff. Right?” he asked. Josh begrudgingly nodded. “So, odds are this Equestria’s fine, and we’ll be fine. That’s like, probability or whatever. Math.”

Josh laughed. “If you say so, Mr. Mathemagician. Personally, I feel like…” he trailed off as he caught sight of what lay ahead.

The small cottage was unmistakable, as were the animals bustling about it. To Josh’s shock, he thought he spotted a falcon leading a group of chickens to a feeding trough, squirrels running around stacking nuts in neat orderly piles, and even a bear dusting off a window.

“Wow. They weren’t kidding about the animals being smart, huh?” Josh noticed.

“So… that’s Fluttershy’s cottage, right? Either that, or Snow White,” Ben tried to joke, although Josh could tell he looked nervous.

“Honestly, I think we’d better skip Fluttershy for now. She would most likely panic, and I just don’t feel like causing her that kind of stress,” Josh remarked as they made their way around the cottage, giving the bear a wide berth just to be safe. The animals looked at them in surprise as the two passed by, but made no other movements, so Ben and Josh elected to continue onwards.

"Okay, so we’ve confirmed that this is a fairly normal Equestria. Like, 80% normal. Fluttershy takes care of animals, and they’re smart enough to do chores and stuff…” Josh began ruminating.

“Hey, left or right?” Ben asked as they came to a fork in the trail.

“Uhh… Right?” Josh guessed, still lost in thought.

Sighing, Ben began walking right, and Josh absentmindedly followed.

To their dismay, this was not the path to Ponyville. A few houses were in this area, surrounded by healthy-looking evergreen trees, and a clock tower loomed over them, the time displayed being around 5:55 P.M.

“Whoa. Didn’t think we were in there that long,” Josh remarked.

“…Anyway… let’s go back, Ponyville’s probably the other way,” Ben asserted.

“Where is everypony, anyway?” Josh wondered. “It’s unlike them to desert this place… I think.”

They found their answer almost as soon as they came back to the trail to Fluttershy’s. The hustle and bustle of activity was clearly audible even to Josh, and walking a few feet down the trail to the left gave them a view of the tip of the Town Hall.

“Well. I am apparently very stupid today,” Josh commented.

“Damn right you are, my shoes are still wet from the river. I thought you said the sun would dry them off!” Ben complained, walking forward anyway.

“Well, our sun would. Then again, if we were dealing with our sun, the two of us would have a nasty case of sunburn right about now,” Josh noticed. “I guess this sun doesn’t produce ultraviolet light?”

Ben nodded, warming up to the idea. “That would explain why we can look at it, right? Not enough energy to overload our optic nerves?” he posited.

Josh smiled. “Hey, you’re probably right. Huh. I guess Celestia doesn’t feel like blinding her little ponies,” he joked.

They passed by a barn on the way, and Ben stopped to look at it. “Is that Sweet Apple Acres?” he wondered.

“No, Sweet Apple Acres has a bigger barn, I think. This is probably somebody else’s farm,” Josh answered.

“Hey, there are cows inside!” Ben pointed out.

“Huh. Remember, cows are sapient here. They can talk, and stuff,” Josh reminded him.

“I know, I know. Trust me, I won’t be tipping one any time soon,” Ben snorted.

Just then, the sun began to quickly lower from the sky, startling the pair of them as the lighting quickly shifted from high noon, to sunset red, to a beautiful shade of midnight blue. The moon just as quickly took its place, though Josh could have sworn he detected a faint wobble on its way up. He elected to ignore it, and after some hesitation the two walked off, the cows who had been watching them blinking at each other in confusion.

They continued along the trail for a short while before coming into view of Ponyville. To their surprise, nopony was in the town proper, though the Town Hall appeared to be lit up.

“Looks like everyone in the town’s there, maybe a meeting or something,” Josh reported.

“Oh, good, we’re gonna have to introduce ourselves to all of them at once,” Ben groaned.

“Expect Rainbow Dash to tackle one or both of us,” Josh warned.

They cautiously walked through the town, heading across a bridge and arriving at the Town Hall.

“Okay, so, we go in there, introduce ourselves, and hopefully not die,” Ben planned, sounding worried.

“Wait… what’s that noise?” Josh wondered, holding up a hand to stop Ben’s machinations.

“What sound?” Ben replied, confused.

“Sounds like… a kid crying,” Josh mulled. “I’m going over there,” he decided.

“Oh – come on, it’s probably just some kid who dropped their ice cream or something-“ Ben attempted to reason, but Josh was having none of it.

“We’re going,” he declared, and that was that.

Ben gave one last, forlorn look at the Town Hall, before reluctantly following Josh into the shadows.

“Huh. Coulda’ sworn it was coming from this alleyway,” Josh muttered, facing the pitch-black alley in question as he stroked his beard in thought.

“This… this doesn’t look safe, Josh. Let’s go,” Ben cajoled.

“Hello?” a small voice called from the alleyway, and they both froze.

“…Who’s there?” Josh called back.

“Don’t hurt me, I friend,” the voice squeaked again, sounding both young and unreasonably tired.

Josh motioned for Ben to step back, now wary himself – did he really want to fall for the old “someone needs help in this alleyway” trick?

To their surprise, the creature that dragged itself out was by no means threatening. Her tiny carapace was bruised and mottled in the moonlight, and her eyes and thin stomach spoke of hunger too great for one of her size to endure.

“A changeling…” Josh murmured.

The changeling covered its face upon hearing this. “I friend, I friend! No eat!” it pleaded, quivering.

“Oh, jeez…” Ben muttered, looking apologetic but still suspicious.

Josh reached out a tentative hand. “Hey. I promise not to hurt you either. Friends?” he softly asked, smiling down at the small changeling filly.

“Josh…” Ben trailed off, a note of accusation in his tone.

Josh looked over at him, unimpressed. “What? It’s just a baby one. And a really hungry baby at that.”

The changeling adopted an indignant face. “I not baby! I four!”

Josh smiled down at her knowingly. “Whatever you say… uh… what’s your name, actually?”

The changeling smiled up at him, revealing her impossibly sharp teeth. “Chelicerae!” she introduced, though to Josh it sounded more like “Kuhlisseray.”

He smiled nervously. “That… is a fascinating name. So… you are hungry, right, Chelicerae?” Josh asked apprehensively.

Chelicerae gave him puppy dog eyes. “Food?” she pleaded.

Something was decided in Josh’s face, and he held the tiny filly up and brought her in for as gentle a hug as he could muster. “Food,” he agreed.

The changeling’s tongue poked out, a squeaky hissing noise emitting from her maw as she greedily ate something Josh couldn’t see. “So much…” she moaned cutely, licking her lips as she pulled away. Already, she looked in significantly better shape, and Josh was intrigued to notice that the mottling on her carapace had disappeared, replaced by the glossy smooth texture he had expected.

“Does it hurt?” Ben asked curiously.

Josh shook his head. “I didn’t feel anything. Maybe she’s too small to affect me much?”

Chelicerae looked up at him nervously. “Feed friends?” she asked.

Josh nodded. “Sure, where are they?”

Chelicerae excitedly led them further into the alleyway, the two stumbling along in the dark. “How did you get here, Chelicerae? Like, how did you enter this town?” Josh asked.

“Momma took us here! Said Twilit help!” Chelicerae answered happily.

Josh exchanged a look with Ben, though it was mostly lost in the darkness.

“Did Twilight help?” he asked carefully, but Chelicerae ignored him as she walked up to a lump that Josh had thought was a trash bag.

“Momma! Food friends!” she called out, poking excitedly at the black, glossy lump.

An orifice opened on top, and a much older, though just as worn-out changeling peeked out warily.

“Food?” she asked, her voice sounding raspy and dehydrated.

“Um, yeah. Hi,” Josh introduced, waving at her.

Her head snapped around, then tilted at the scene of the two tall, bipedal strangers in her alleyway. “What you?” she queried.

“We’re human,” Ben spoke up.

“Hue-man love?” The mother changeling asked.

Josh looked at Ben. “Um… yes…?” he asked.

Her hackles raised. “Hue-man court daughter?” she challenged, and Josh immediately backed away.

“What?! No! She’s four, I was just trying to make sure she didn’t starve!”

At this, the mother’s hackles slowly lowered, though she still glared intimidatingly at them. “I am Coxa,” she introduced, sounding as though she’d been taught to say this. “You feed daughter?” she asked, sounding less wary but still apprehensive.

“Yeah… is she… does she need more?” Josh wondered, looking over at the small changeling filly.

“I full!” Chelicerae happily added to the conversation.

Coxa looked at her daughter appraisingly, then slowly climbed out of her cocoon, joints creaking.

Josh extended his arms in the universal “hug plz” position, kneeling down, and Coxa nodded. She began stalking toward him with an almost predatory leer, causing Josh to reel in his arms slightly as a touch of fear chilled his veins.

Sniffing the air, Coxa stopped, looking at him almost apologetically. “Sorry,” she apologized wearily. “Old habit.”

Josh nodded, re-extending his arms, and she slipped into them, just barely managing to wrap her hooves around his neck. “It’s okay,” Josh answered, wondering if he really meant it.

Coxa opened her mouth to begin feeding as well, and Josh twitched as he felt a vague tugging sensation in the center of his brain, almost as though he were on pain medication for a headache. She fed for a long time, and the tugging slowly increased until Josh began to feel oddly numb.

“Okay, I think we’d better stop,” he lazily informed her.

Coxa ignored him.

“Um, lady?” Josh asked again, beginning to feel slightly worried.

Coxa immediately pulled away, regarding him with displeasure. “You fine,” she chided. “Don’t be baby.” She was about to start again, but Ben intervened, putting a hand between her mouth and his forehead. “What now?” Coxa asked, annoyed.

“How about you feed on me instead? No sense draining one person, right?” he tried.

Coxa sighed, rolling her compound eyes, and moved over to him, Josh watching in fascination as she fed off of Ben instead. She stopped much sooner than she had for Josh, and pulled away, licking her lips in satisfaction.

“Good love…” she murmured.

“Thank’oo!” Chelicerae squeaked, sounding as though she too had been taught to rehearse this line.

“You’re welcome,” Josh amicably answered. “Are there any more of you?” he asked.

“Others out getting love from Queen Twilight,” Coxa informed him. “Waiting on Town Hall meeting end.”

Ben raised an eyebrow. “Why aren’t you two with them?” he asked.

Coxa sighed. “Not enough love,” she murmured. “We take turns.”

Josh looked worriedly at the pair of them – they’d clearly been starving when he first saw them.

“We… we’re going to speak with Twilight right after this. We’ll tell her you need more-“ Ben began to assure them, but Coxa looked frightened and pressed a hoof to his mouth.

“No!” she frantically hissed. “Queen Twilight too nice already! Cannot ‘overstep bounds!’”

Josh raised an eyebrow. “No ‘bounds’ should prevent you from getting enough food to survive,” he countered. “What has Twilight done for you that you would be unwilling to ask her for more?”

Coxa hissed threateningly at him. “Queen Twilight gave food and home when no pony queen would. Celestia hates us, Luna hates us, Cadance… Cadance despises us. Twilight gave us a chance.”

Josh raised his hands in surrender. “I didn’t mean to insult her… or you. I just want to know how best to help,” he softly replied.

Coxa grumbled something. “Thank you. But… we survive. We better off than in hive,” she whispered.

“Well, I’m going to help. I don’t know how, but I will,” Josh declared.

“I’ll help too,” Ben added. “You don’t deserve to live in an alleyway, you’re not… not vagabonds.”

Josh refrained from adding that the changelings technically were vagabonds, if not refugees outright.

Coxa sighed again. “We start small. Maybe, someday, we have… home. Chelicerae already go school, I work in castle.”

Josh’s heart twinged – how could anyone have allowed this to happen? “Until that day, I will do my best to help you along. But… I must go. We must get home first,” he regretfully admitted. “Be good, okay?” he told Chelicerae, who nodded enthusiastically.

“Bye,” Ben called as they left the alleyway.

“Will never forget you, friends!” Coxa called back, suddenly sounding emotional.

“Oh, man, that was so sad…” Ben murmured as they returned to the Town Hall.

“Yeah… still, I bet I can help. Remember when we talked about artificial love?” Josh reminded him.

Ben halfheartedly chuckled. “You mean that ‘entirely theoretical’ device that basically involved you shooting magic at a bunch of drugs until love comes out?”

Josh laughed. “Yeah, that. Now I want to see if it works.”

Ben rolled his eyes. “First things first. We get home, we figure out if we want to establish diplomatic relations between Earth and Equestria, and then we can get started on your magical inventions.”

Josh sighed. “Fine… This is why I hate making promises. It’s always so hard to just drop everything and fulfill them.”

Ben hummed. “At least we know Twilight’s nice… sort of. Celestia and Luna are still on the table for ‘evil overlords.’”

Josh laughed. “Them hating changelings doesn’t really prove anything one way or the other. Anyway… here’s the Town Hall.”