//------------------------------// // Year 1: Summer; Week 3 // Story: Harvest Moon: Friends of Ponyville // by Rokkurin //------------------------------// A new dawn arises on a single outcasted farm just east of Ponyville. The sole resident, a human, stirs from his sleep. He wakes up, feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the day. Kasey gets up and starts his morning ritual of showering, brushing his teeth and getting dressed. Before long he was outside in the heat of the morning sun tending to his crops. His field was still small compared to the bountiful one he had back on Castinet, but he knew that in due time it will be on par with Sweet Apple Acres or better. Kasey shook the thought out of his mind with a chuckle, “If only I knew what was happening in the world will that ever happened. And I still have no idea as to what is causing it.” Before long Kasey has finished his task for the day and pondered on what to do next. The schedule for tomorrow calls for rain, so a break from work would be nice. An idea popped into his head, “I should go to the beach!” he said out loud to no one in particular. “What a coincidence! The girls and I are also going to the beach!” Shouted a new voice. This caused Kasey to jump in surprise. He looked over and saw Twilight walking towards him. “I was coming by to see if you would like to accompany us, but it seems you have already decided to go. So it’s perfect!” The human thought about it for a while, it would be nice to go to the beach with some people you know. It beets going alone. “Alright, I’ll take you up on that offer.” Twilight beamed at him with a huge smile, “Wonderful!” she proclaimed, “I’ll let the girls now. We will meet you at the beach, if that is okay.” “Sounds fine to me.” Kasey responded. The purple alicorn gave him a wave goodbye and walked back to her home. The young human looked up to the sky to see that the sun still has yet to hit its highest peak. With a smile growing on his face, Kasey went inside to grab the necessities he will need for a good beach trip; A towel, sunblock, shades, and his swim trunks. He packed his supplies into his rucksack and left his house. On his way down the path to the train station, Kasey was greeted by a pony who he doesn’t talk to very much, and that pony is Rarity. She stood at the platform waiting on the train in a very beautifully designed sundress. The patterns of the flowers that adorn it gave it a sense of beauty while the material looked like it was made to stretch, yet it hung to her body. Which made every inch of her curves stand out. She wore a pair of sunglasses with a sunhat on top of her head. She lowered her glasses when Kasey approached. “Hey Rarity, where are the others?” Kasey questioned. The white unicorn placed her glasses back into position, “They went on ahead and asked me to wait for you since it takes me longer to get ready.” Kasey rubbed the back of his head, “Did I make you wait long?” Rarity gave a small smile, “I didn’t wait that long. Only been here for only a few minutes.” The human sighed in relief, “Well that’s good. How long do we got before the next train arrives?” he asked. “Oh we are not taking a train,” Rarity said with a small giggle, “I will be teleporting us there.” At that mention, Kasey looked a little pale, “Teleport? Is that safe?” Rarity laughed a little louder, “As safe as walking to and from town. Now, come over here I need to be incontact with whatever I wish to teleport with me.” She said with her hand held out. Kasey looked to her hand then back to the white unicorn. He was feeling uneasy with this, but he wanted to go to the beach with everyone. He took a quick breath to ease his nerves and walked over to Rarity. He shakingly brought out his hand and slowly moved it closer to hers. “Please do hurry this up Darling. We don’t have all day.” Rarity said as she began to channel the spell. Before he could think any further on it he reached out and grabbed a hold of her hand. Rarity let the spell go and before long, the two disappeared and then reappeared at the beach. Kasey fell back onto his bottom as his head was spinning. He shook his head to clear his mind and then checked himself over. He was there in once peace. “Now come along Darling, the others are waiting.” Rarity said as she sauntered over to join the others farther down the beach. Kasey looked to where she was going and sure enough, all the others were there at the waterfront splashing around and swimming in the water. He picked himself up off the ground and ran towards the others. He placed his towel between a spot next to an orange towel and a pink and yellow towel. He guessed they belong to Applejack and Fluttershy respectively. Once that was finished he took out his trunks and looked for a spot to go and change. He looked left and saw nothing but beach, the same to his right. Then he looked behind him and found a changing hut. He proceeded to the hut and went into the one marked with a stallion. Once inside, he took off his clothes and placed them neatly into his rucksack, before he grabbed his trunks and slipped them on. Outside the hut, Rainbow Dash quietly approached the changing hut in order to scare him. She placed her hand over her face to hide her laughter from coming out. She went to the backside where a small hole like window was open to let in the cool wind and some light. She slowly approached it and took a quick peek to make sure he was still inside. What she didn’t expect was to get a full view of his birthday suit. He face instantly went red, her heart began to race and in a flash she flew to the water. Soon, the human came out of the hut, confused to why he heard such a loud noise of wings flapping and then nothing. He looked around and saw all the girls down at the beach still. Even Rainbow Dash was in the water. Kasey took off in a sprint towards his spot. He dropped off his bag and continued to where the girls were at. He charged straight into the water, splashing it everywhere. He went underneath and then shot up taking a deep breath. Again, he went back under the water. This time he attempted to stay put in one spot as he felt the currents wash away the tension he had. The cool water felt great on his body. He slowly rose to the top and breached with just his head. He turned to the girls who looked back at him with amused looks. Except Rainbow Dash, she didn’t even try to make eye contact. Kasey smiled at them and decided to lay on his back in the water and float around. As he floated around, he could hear the others play with some distortion from the water. The human closed his eyes in bliss. He enjoyed the feeling of being carried around by the water. Just as he was about to get up, he heard a voice. Slightly surprised, he called out, “Did you girls say something?” he asked. But he got no response. He lifted his head up out of the water, but all around him was white. Startled he got up, only to start flipping around in the empty space. “What the heck?!” he cried out. “Do not fear, Kasey, this is the only way for me to communicate with you.” A voice called out to him. “Who are you?” he asked, still a little shaken up by the change in scene. “I do not have much time in explaining who I am. I must be quick. You must have noticed as why all the plants are rotting at a rapid pace.” Kasey looked around, the voice came from everywhere, but was not loud. It was more like it was coming from within him. “Yes, I have noticed. Isn’t this the reason why I am here in the first place?” he asked. No response came. The human began to panic, thinking he would be stuck in this place forever, until the voice came back. “You are not only here just for the fruits and vegetable disaster. You are here to also find your home.” He gasped. “I have felt your plea for a new and better life. So, I brought you here. But enough of that, all answered will come when you have dealt with the problem for the ponies. Thankfully it’s very simple. You-” The voice was suddenly cut off as Kasey was jerked up by Rarity. “Darling, are you okay?” she asked. Fear and desperation present in her eyes. Kasey looked around and saw he was on the beach surrounded by everyone. They all were looking at him with a mix of emotions; Fear and sadness were the most prominent. “What happened?” he asked. Twilight was the first to speak, “We found you just floating belly down in the water. We all feared for the worst until we brought you on dry land. You were breathing just fine, it’s just that you were not responding to anything. That is until Rarity shook you.” The mentioned white mare looked away in embarrassment, her cheeks flushing red, “It was all I could think of. No one moved and we were scared.” The human just smiled, “Thanks Rarity.” “So what happened?” asked Twilight. Kasey looked down at the ground, bringing back the memory of him in that white space with that voice, "I'm not exactly sure. But I'm all right." He flashed the girls a smile. Twilight wanted to push further, but Applejack placed a hand on her shoulder. She understood this action and backed down. "A-are you sure?" asked Fluttershy. "Yeah, I'm sure." The girls understood and left it at that. They all decided that the time at the beach was over and to all go home. Twilight was the one to teleport all of them back to her house and from there they all went there separate ways. "Kasey." Twilight called out. The Rancher stopped and turned to look at the purple Alicorn. "Do...do you want to talk about it?" she asked. Kasey sighed and shut the door, "You are the only one who can help me understand what happened. So yes, let's talk."