“So basically, that show you used to watch before the war...”
“My Little Pony.”
“Right. That one. It's... somehow become reality, and we’re all stuck in this world called... Equestria?”
I nodded. “Pretty much.”
“And this tattoo thingy on my rear end is a... Cutie mark?” My older brother, Percy, tilted his head, an eyebrow raised skeptically. “...And this cutie mark represents my special talent... basically what I’m good at?”
“There’s a little more to it, but basically, yes.”
“Huh.” Percy laid in a bed in Ponyville Hospital, where he’d recently woken up after my entire family had been moved there; Some more conscious than others. He was the last to awake, and so I took it upon myself to explain our little... situation. “You know, if I wasn’t currently looking at my own body, which happens to be a horse...”
“Pony.”
“Whatever. A PONY with red fur and a freaking brown curly mane, I’d recommend you for phsychiatric evaluation.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” I was smirking. Man, how I’ve missed these fun little conversations over the last year.
“Hey, can you blame me?” Percy smirked back. “You’d do the same if we’d ended up in one of my favorite anime worlds.”
Touche “Touche.” We chuckled together for a bit, before awkward silence once again reigned.
“So... What now?”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Well...” Percy raised a hoof to gesture at the room. “A few hours ago, we were all prepared to die. Well, we survived, and now we’re all in this place.”
“And...?”
“So now what? Where are we going to live? How are we going to eat? How does the economy work here?” He dropped his hoof back on his bed. “Moto, we very well might still die in this place. Sure, we escaped instant death, but now we might be facing a slow death by starvation. We have no jobs, no food, no way to support ourselves. We jumped out of the proverbial kettle and into the frying pan.”
I considered this, silently regarding my wings. “Percy, If I know anything about Equestria, it’s that it’s one of the friendliest, most helpful countries on this planet. I highly doubt we’ll starve here. As for accommodation and the economy, I’m sure Princess Twilight and her friends will be more than happy to help us get on our feet as soon as possible.” I shuffled my wings into a more comfortable position, and sat down on one of the provided chairs by my older brother’s bed. “There’s an entire castle on the edge of Ponyville... Don’t say a word, yes it’s a dumb name for a town...” I ignored my kin’s smirk. “That castle is a lot larger than it looks; It could probably house an army, let alone a family of sixteen. As for jobs... I’ve been meaning to speak to Twilight about it, but there’s a farm here in town. It may be a little more primitive than what we’re used to, not to mention the ridiculous thing that is applebucking.”
“Applebucking...?”
“...You’ll see... Anyways, my point is that if we play our cards right, I’m hoping that we might be able to help out at Sweet Apple Acres in exchange for some bits... Oh, yeah, bits are this country’s currency.”
“Like Bitcoin?”
“Ha. Funny. Yeah... No. They don’t have computers here, so guess what? That means no more anime, videogames, Google, Fanfiction... Manga...” I laughed at Percy’s outward groan. “Oh, you’ll get over it, you big baby. So no. Not like bitcoin.”
After recovering from that particular revelation, Percy rubbed his forehead.
“Darn headache. That portal really did a number on me.”
I rubbed my own head sympathetically.
“Yeah. I still feel a little nauseous.”
“So... When are we going to be discharged?”
I looked around the room, hoping that maybe a doctor or nurse would be nearby.
“I’m... not sure. You’re the last one awake. I’ve already been checked over and cleared to leave, so...”
At that moment, a white earth pony with a pink mane and a red cross for a cutie mark stepped into the room.
The waifu of many has arrived. I chuckled, ignoring the frown from the nurse.
“Ah, you’re awake Mr...?”
“Percy.” My brother regarded my merriment with confusion, much to my own amusement, which only added fuel to the fire. He leaned over and whispered; “What’s so funny?”
“I’ll tell you when you’re older.” At this I began to laugh out loud, though I tried to stifle it with a forehoof.
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave, Mr. Motodrop. I need to run a few tests before I can clear your relative to leave the hospital, and we require some privacy.”
I nodded, still chuckling to myself.
“Is there some joke that I missed?”
“I have no idea. He gets like this sometimes.”
I closed the door to the room behind me, still chuckling, and made my way down to the main waiting area where the rest of my family, along with Twilight and Spike sat, in the chairs that had been provided for them. Busy day at Ponyville Hospital, it would seem.
As soon as I entered into the room, my parents stood, or at least, they tried to stand before tripping over their own hooves and nearly crashing into the floor.
“Blinkin’ hooves! This is nearly impossible!” Otto managed to scramble up first before helping Panara to her feet... I mean hooves.
Ugh, 25 years of saying it one way, and now I have to try to learn it another. I can only imagine how Mom and Dad must be coping with this. “He’s awake. I’ve already informed him of what’s going on. He took it a little better than most of you did.” I trotted over to where the rest of my family was currently trying to gain basic control over their motor functions. Amusingly, it was the younger ones who’d figured it out the quickest, and even little Vivid was now running around with her cousins and sibling.
That horn of hers is going to get her into trouble sooner or later, mark my words. I shuddered. That little terror with magic? Well, she seems happy enough for now anyways. Unlike a certain brother of hers.
Young Blaze was sitting with his parents. He seemed... dejected? No... maybe a little more embarrassed... angry, even. Or perhaps a little of all of them. I made a mental note to speak with him later. For now, though, my folks were in need of answers.
“How soon do you think he’ll be discharged?” Panara implored me.
“Well, when I left, nurse Redheart was just about to run some tests on him, so it shouldn’t be too much longer. Based on how soon our results came back, and assuming all goes well, I would assume that he’ll probably be discharged in the next hour or so.”
My whole family breathed a sigh of relief at this. We were all ready to leave the sterile confines and clinical atmosphere of the hospital.
Spike grinned. "I'm just happy you're all okay. You're some of the few that have survived a Twilight experiment."
I burst out into laughter as Twilight swatted Spike over the back of his head, eliciting a yelp. Unfortunately, her ire was turned on me with a very pointed glare.
Oh. Was I the only one laughing?
"Anyways, we haven’t really had time to get acquainted yet, but maybe we should wait until the final member of your family joins us.”
We all agreed, and settled down to wait. I glanced over at my nephew.
I should really talk to him. I moved over to Maelstrom, and sat in the empty seat between him and Blaze.
"Hey, Blaze, what's going on, man?"
Blaze just glared at me, and turned away awkwardly.
I looked questioningly at Maelstrom, who glanced over at his son before turning his attention to me.
"Is he okay?", I whispered.
Maelstrom shook his head. "I don't know what's going on, but he won't open up to us no matter what we say. Personally, I think he's too embarrassed to talk about whatever's bugging him."
I hummed, and considered my nephew. "Um, I'm not going to try to tell you how to raise your son, but I do know more about this world than any of us, so maybe I can help him with whatever he's dealing with? I don't know if it'll make any difference, but I can try, maybe."
Maelstrom shrugged. "Maybe it'll work. I know that sometimes going to your parents with... issues can be too embarrassing. Might be a good idea."
I nodded. “I’ll do my best.” I turned to Blaze, and quietly got his attention. "Hey, can we talk?"
He just glared at me. "I don't want to talk about it."
I lowered my voice. "Is it because of where we are? You're worried about everyone else overhearing?"
His eyes darted around the room, and he gave an almost imperceptible nod.
"Do you want to speak in private?"
He nodded again, this time more firmly.
I turned to Maelstrom. "Hey, can I take Blaze somewhere more private to speak?"
Maelstrom nodded.
I stood from the bench with only minor difficulty, and Blaze hopped down beside me. Together we made our way to an empty section of the waiting room, and sat down on a secluded bench.
"Alright, so what's up?"
Blaze glanced around the room one more time before answering; "Um, this is going to sound weird, but... everyone is naked."
Say what?... Oh. OH! I paused. "Huh. You know, I never really thought about it, but I guess we are. Weird."
Blaze raised his voice a touch. "How is no one embarrassed about it? Like, you didn't even notice?"
I placed my hoof under my chin in thought. "I guess we've been so busy with everything that the thought hadn't really crossed our minds. That, and we have fur, so I never really felt like I was undressed."
The little earth pony blushed. "But I can see everyone's junk."
Oh. Right. "Umm, well, does it really bother you that much?"
"Not really, but the fact that I'm not bothered about it bothers me! It's just so unnatural."
I tilted my head. "Um, I'm not really the one to talk about pony physiology, but is it really so unnatural?"
It was Blaze's turn to tilt his head in confusion. "What? But we're naked! I can just stare at a lady's parts all day if I wanted to. What's stopping me from doing that?"
My gaze turned serious then. "Do you consider yourself a man, Blaze?"
"Uh, yeah?"
I snorted. "Well, then, do you know what the mark of a true man is?"
He blinked. "Uh, no?"
I turned to him, with seriousness etched onto my muzzle. "The mark of a true man is in knowing that they could do something, but choosing not to, because they know that it would be wrong. A true man knows the meaning of restraint, and self-discipline."
Blaze frowned. "So what you're saying is that the only thing stopping me from looking at other ponies' junk is restraint?"
I shook my head. "No, restraint is born of something much more important than that. Restraint and self-discipline come from respect; Respect for the opposite sex, respect for your peers, respect for your parents, and respect for yourself." I shifted in my seat. "It's important to not mix up self-esteem and self-respect. Self-esteem is about making yourself look good in your own eyes. Self-respect is about being able to look in the mirror and know that you did all you could to do the right thing. Self-Esteem is about elevating your opinion of yourself, self-respect is about elevating yourself to your opinion."
Blaze leaned back in his seat, his brows furrowed. "So how am I supposed to never look at... THAT when it's everywhere?"
I chuckled. "You won't be able to avoid it altogether. I accidentally caught a peek at a few today myself. But you're missing the point; it's not about never seeing it, it's about knowing what to do when you do accidentally see it, and avoiding it the rest of the time." I tapped my head with a forehoof. "It's all in here. You need to train yourself to not dwell on it when you do accidentally see it. Let it slip from your mind. It's the same with women on Earth. We could spend all day staring at a woman's derriere, or her breasts, but what good would that do us? Any self-respecting man is able to not dwell on it. Otherwise we'd be walking around with stiffies all day."
Blaze chuckled. "Yeah, and with us being horses, that might be a little harder to hide." We both laughed at that. "But seriously... why ponies?"
I laughed. "What, are ponies not manly enough for you?"
"Well, I mean... they are kinda cute and cuddly, and I know that for you, being the way that you are, that's fine and all..."
I froze. "What do you mean by 'the way you are', Blaze?"
He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Well, I mean you're into that kinda girly gay stuff, right?"
I squinted at him. "Blaze, do you think I'm gay?"
He blinked. "You're not?"
My mouth dropped open, dumbfounded. "No, of course not! I've been straight all my life." I shook my head. "Why would you think that?"
He shrugged. "Well, you like shows about ponies, and you kinda act weird when you watch it, so I just assumed..."
"... What does that have to do with my sexual orientation?"
Blaze shrugged again, not really committing to an answer.
I sighed. "Okay. Yes, I liked watching MLP. And yeah, it definitely was not aimed for my age or sex demographic, but so what?"
He raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
I smiled gently. "I liked the show because I felt a connection with the characters. They reminded me of myself in many ways, and I understood many of their struggles. Why would that have any bearing on my sexual orientation? I liked the show because it's what I liked. Nothing more, nothing less." My smile relaxed somewhat. "You know, there used to be a lot of bronies that wished they could go to Equestria and start a life there, and I'll admit I always would have enjoyed a visit here, but I never wanted to leave Earth permanently. Do you know why that is, Blaze?"
He shook his head.
"It's because my family was there. Why would I ever want to leave the people I love for a fantasy? If I couldn't take my family with me, then it would be pointless. Do you know why I now consider Equestria my home? It's because it's where my family is. The fact that we happen to be in pastel ponyland is just secondary."
Blaze snorted. "Ha, 'pastel ponyland'. It sounds like a bad theme-park."
I laughed out loud at that. "Heh, you're right about that. But seriously, Blaze, are we cool now?"
He nodded. "Yeah, we're cool."
"It's okay to think that my interests are weird, but don't ever assume something about someone just because of what they like, okay?"
He nodded, and together we hopped off the bench, and shared a hoofbump. As Blaze wandered back to his parents, I couldn't help but wonder...
How many other people think that way about me?