It was the following morning after me, Shane, and the girls returned from the desert, and my body was already responding accordingly; not wanting to move for anything… great.
Then again, I honestly don't blame it… blame myself, or whatever. Given that over the past few days I've been battered by beasts, pissed off by an AI, and outright confused by the physics (or lack thereof) of this planet. As such, every inch of my body felt like it'd been viciously broken apart and put back together, and I hated it.
At point, I was at an impasse; getting up would mean facing this pain, but so would staying in bed. At least staying in bed came with the chance of going back to sleep…
What the hell? What am I talking about? Rule 1 about me; sleep is optional!
…
Even though I was tempted to take the sleeping option…
Or I would've if it wasn't for the quiet muttering I heard while in bed. Turning over and forcibly opening my eyes revealed it to be… Shane and Scootaloo, not that there was any surprise.
Nope, I'm getting up.
Channelling every muscle in my body, I pushed the thick, warm duvet from my bed and onto the floor. Impractical, I know, but it got everyone's attention. Even if the cost was a leg cramp.
"Was there any need to do that?" Shane asked, drinking from the cup of coffee he… somehow made. This was made unusual by the lack of packed coffee on my ship, but I was too tired to bring it up right now.
"Don't talk. Too tired. Need food, now," I said slowly, moving my way over to my food storage area to prepare myself some food… or find a good third of an omelette on the counter.
"Luckily for me, I thought ahead. Help yourself," Shane told me, turning in his seat and smiling warmly.
Given my prior knowledge of Shane's cooking, along with my currently rebelling stomach, I took the plate without a second thought, placing it on the main desk and pulling out a chair from underneath. I quickly noticed Scootaloo though, given she was sitting atat on the table… and now sat between me and my meal.
"Morning Scoots, sleep well?" I asked, briefly leaning back and stretching, before reaching around her and grabbing my plate.
"Great, thanks! What about you?" she asked somewhat politely.
"Yeah… not the best, but I've had worse," I told her, about to take a bite out of my breakfast… before remembering something slightly important. "Wait a minute… why aren't you in school?"
"It's a Sunday, Marc. I don't know about where you come from, but we get weekends off here," Scootaloo explained, chuckling lightly and moving away. "I was just getting to know Shane a bit. He only got here last night."
"I know. I'm the one who brought him," I explained, taking a somewhat decent bite of the omelette Shane made. It tasted decent. "Cheers, Shane."
"Don't mention it," Shane said, returning to the book he was reading. "So kid, any plans for today?"
"Well, me and the other cutie mark crusaders are helping Pinkie at the party she's throwing for… A friend of hers,"
Scootaloo explained, standing up and moving over to the edge of the table, presumably to jump down. However, Shane seemed to have a curious expression on his face.
"If it's ok with me asking; what even is a cutie mark?" he asked, sitting up and temporarily putting his book down.
"You… don't know what a cutie mark is?" Scootaloo asked, visibly shocked.
"Aliens, remember?" I reminded Scootaloo.
"Oh, right. Almost forgot," Scootaloo said, moving closer to the table’s centre in order to explain. "A cutie mark is… a symbol a pony gets on their flank when they discover their special talent."
"What, like the ones Rainbow and the others have?" I asked.
"Exactly! But as you can see, I haven't got mine yet," Scootaloo explained, turning to show her visibly blank flank. "That's why me, Applebloom, and Sweetie Belle formed the cutie mark crusaders. That way, we'll all get them together."
"Hmm… intriguing. A bit gimmicky, but impressive nonetheless," Shane said, standing up and taking away two plates, possibly from when he and Scootaloo ate. "So it's essentially a coming of age thing?"
"Pretty much," Scootaloo answered, jumping down from the table. "I'm going to meet my friends up. Thanks again for breakfast, Shawn!"
"It's Shane, but no problem kid," Shane said, Scootaloo having now left the room. "Seriously? People are getting that wrong here too?"
"She's just a kid man, don't blame her too much," I told him, having finished my food and taking the plate away myself. "Besides, she's alright."
"Yeah. She's similar to Sam, isn't she?" Shane asked. "Isn't that why you're letting her stay here?"
"How the hell did you figure that one out?" I asked, shocked.
"I travelled with the both of you for half a year, Marc. I have a firm memory of both Sam, and what you're like around him," Shane explained, sitting back down at the table and picking up a clipboard. "Forgive the sudden subject shift, but I'd just like to tell you I've done some work around the ship."
"Sounds like someone's been busy this morning," I said, moving over as taking a look at the clipboard.
"I linked in the extra solar cells with the ship battery, set up the backup generator in case of emergency, and connected the ship to the nearest water source. It took a while, but it was necessary," Shane explained, stating what he'd done as I read it in the list.
"D-do you even sleep?! How did you get all this done?" I asked in wonder, seriously shocked Shane could do this much work in such a short time. I knew he liked to keep busy, but this took the cake!
"I find manual labour stimulating. Besides, I'd only feel content with the job if I completed the task myself," Shane told me, grabbing his hammer and putting it in my equipment storage. "I also did the morning chores for us. Turns out whacking a tree with my hammer is an effective way of harvesting apples."
"… I seriously question how you function sometimes," I groaned, taking a particular interest in the book he was reading, the same book Twilight gave me. "Am I the only one who found that book confusing?"
"I'll admit the physics and power-scaling in the book looks abnormal to anything we've ever seen, but I find the history of this nation quite fascinating," Shane noted, sitting back down an opening the book. "This stuff about the rulers moving a sun and moon is surely propaganda though… right?"
"Meh, I blamed the nation being on cactus juice," I joked, skimming forward a few dozen pages to a page about some 'Discord' guy. "I got up to here last night. A mishmash reality warper."
"Ugh, this place has the physics of a cartoon! It makes zero sense!" Shane moaned, bashing his head on the table. "Not to mention 'magic' is a prominent force here."
"Yeah… I don't think they're the only ones who have that," I stated, making Shane put the book down for a moment.
"Remember back in the desert? That shield thing you did?"
"What shield-thing?" Shane asked, having no recollection of creating it.
"I was about to be attacked by the Sand Wraith, but you jumped in to protect me. After that, the shield appeared, took the force of the blow, and disappeared," I listed, running the information back through my head and being shocked at how well I remembered the ordeal.
"Wait, that was me? I can do that?" Shane yelled, looking into the palms of his hands in awe. "That's fairly impressive, although we need more evidence if we're to link it to this world’s magic."
"So, more than just a bubble shield. We need more proof," I muttered to myself, trying to recall if anything else peculiar happened while we were here… and then it hit me. "I… think I have a healing ability. Does that count?"
"Healing… I don't know how we're supposed to prove that without you getting injured." Shane noted, flipping to another page and noting this info down. "It'd help if we had someone else to run this by. Someone who's familiar with this planet’s magic."
"What, like Twilight?" I asked, getting a blank look from Shane. "Oh, you've only met AJ, Rainbow, and Scoots, haven't you?"
"Yes, I've only met them," Shane stated, looking at me blankly. "Is this 'Twilight' experienced with magic?"
"Well from what I've seen of her, she seems to be the most fluent in the group at using the stuff," I noted, recalling all the times she levitated stuff around. "I heard she lives in a library, so if anyone has the knowledge we're looking for, it'll be her."
"Okay, then that leaves one thing; we go into town and visit her," Shane declared, waking over to his bag and picking out a new, white shirt.
"Yeah. Last time we were in town, I got stared at by half the ponies there. You know what I'm like when I get direct attention from large groups of the unknown," I told him, standing up in objection.
"If you could take it at the train stations, I think you can walk through a town," Shane claimed, folding the sofa-bed back up.
"I recommend you change. You wore that shirt to the desert, and don't mind me saying, but you smell like shit."
Seriously doubting Shane's claim, I took a quick whiff in my pits--
And it was nearly strong enough to knock someone out. I threw that shirt to the other side of the room.
"Message received. Changing shirt," I said, moving over to my clothing area, spraying some quick deodorant and picking out a white shirt with red short-sleeves.
"I still don't want to go out. You know I'm an indoors person," I moaned, slipping my shirt on.
"Alright then, we'll settle this fairly," Shane stated, pulling his hands out of his pockets. "Are you alright with rock/paper/scissors?"
"I guess that's fair…" I said, walking over to him. "You know how good at this game I am, right?"
"Yeah, because you always used to play it with me," Shane argued, rolling his eyes. "I win, we go. You win, we stay."
"Looks like we're staying here then, because I'm not losing!" I boasted.
-0-0-0-0-0-
I lost.
Yeah, yeah. Keep your comments to yourself, the idiot went with paper. I got overconfident.
Anyway… we were in the town, Ponyville! The most uniquely named town after Humansberg! (Seriously, where's the originality?)
Despite some obvious as hell naming, the small town wasn't all bad. There were some notable landmarks to look at, like the town hall, clock tower, and fountain, all of which were impressively built. But there was one thing missing…
"Aren't towns supposed to be… populated?" Shane asked, looking around at the emptiness of the town.
Yep, the entire area was empty, no one to be seen. It felt like the start of one of those weird zombie apocalypse films. It was… creepy to say the least.
"My brain is screaming zombie apocalypse, but there's clearly no damage or signs of struggle," I noted, looking into the houses, or at their closed blinds. "Think they're scared of aliens or something?"
"That's a definite possibility. But if that was the case, wouldn't this world’s law enforcement be here?"
"Yeah, that's true. And they weren't like this the past couple of days either," I added, continuing to walk through the towns alleys, still unable to see a single pony.
"Found anything yet?" Shane called over, walking through the alleyways between a couple of buildings.
"If I found something, I probably would've told you by now," I responded, joining Shane where he was.
We continued aimlessly wandering the town until we came across the market district, which was also empty.
Not only that, but every shop had their signs listing 'closed' up. Food carts to retail shops weren't open.
Well, all except one.
"Sugar Cube Corner?" I read from the sign and saw the place was open. "It isn't a library, but if the place is open, it might be worth asking directions."
"Worst case scenario; the shop is empty. I'd say it's worth a shot," Shane agreed, giving a confident nod and opening the door… to find the room pitch-black and empty.
Nonetheless, we walked in, despite having no clue what we were faced with.
"Hello? Is anyone in?" I asked, trying to look around the room for anyone who was there…
Then the lights immediately went back on, nearly blinding me. Almost immediately afterwards, a series of confetti cannons went off at once and I heard a small army’s worth of galloping heading towards us.
(Please don't tell me this is what I think it is…)
"SURPRISE!!!" A chorus of voices yelled at me and Shane, causing me to nearly pass out from shock. God knows how Shane was keeping his cool.
I opened eyes to find the entire room covered with ponies of all colours, sizes and genders, all staring at me and Shane… it was terrifying.
"I bet you didn't see that one coming, did you?" a distinctly familiar squeaky voice called over, revealing themselves to be Pinkie Pie. She gave Shane an excited look. "Hey there, you must be Shane. I'm Pinkie Pie! Dashie told me about you. Welcome to Ponyville!"
"Well, erm… hi?" Shane greeted, giving an awkward wave to everyone inside. "Is this the reason the town is near enough deserted?"
"Oh, right. Almost forgot about that!" Pinkie said, rushing over to the door and… somehow pulling a megaphone out of her hair… with the tip of her hair. "YOU CAN COME BACK OUT NOW EVERYPONY!"
And as if by a click of a finger, the town once again livened up again. Ponies wandering the street, shops open for business and all that jazz.
"Well… that's a thing," Shane muttered, turning to find me still shocked out of my skull. "Hey Marc? Are you alright?"
I don't recall telling you all about how my brain works for the most parts, but allow me to explain what's going through it right now:
Get the fuck out of there! Run!
And as if my life was in the line, I leaped out of the door and ran into the distance, clearly wanting some space right now.
-0-0-0-0-0-
I… suppose you guys deserve an explanation. I mean, running out like that isn't exactly the coolest thing for me to do at this
moment. Well… it's a long story, and I'll get around to it.
After the pre-mentioned freak-out, I ran away from the party that Pinkie set up, retreating to the side of a nearby bridge.
The advantage of this was not many ponies actually noticed me, and the few that did just… ignored me. It was a kind of
ignorance I was glad for.
So I just sat there… staring into the river, all the while my head was at war. While I understood 'why' I did what I did, I was still upset I went and ran. You never get a second first impression, and I used mine to run away!
But luckily for me, it seemed as though fate offered me a way to explain why I ran, as I heard someone approach from behind. I turned around and saw a familiar yellow and pink colour scheme.
Yep, it was Fluttershy.
"Are you alright, Marc? How come you aren't at Pinkie's party?" she asked, stopping her approach up to a certain stage.
"I got there, freaked out, and ran here. There was just… too many people there." I explained, leaning my head against the side of the bridge.
"Wait, you're scared of big groups of ponies too?" Fluttershy asked.
"Well… only in certain situations. If I know everyone there, and there's about ten or twenty people, then I can handle it. Up those numbers to about fifty… and you get the picture."
"Okay, I'm not going to that party either," Fluttershy declared, slowly walking over and sitting next to me. "But this is weird. You seemed really confident around others last time I saw you."
"As I said, smaller group. Besides, you said they were friends," I said, shifting over to give Fluttershy some room. "It's just… complicated."
"I understand. Everypon-- I mean, everybody, has their reasons for freaking out." Fluttershy explained, offering me a warm smile in an attempt to cheer me up.
"Yeah, mine comes down to my autism," I explained, getting an awkward look from Fluttershy. "It's not a disadvantage, I know. It's… more like a set of scales."
"How so?" Fluttershy asked.
"Well, something good, something bad," I began, leaning back up. "On one hand, I'm much better at focusing on a specific objective in most situations. This goes for fighting, conversations, and even movies. In that regard, it's more convenient than hindering."
"And I'm guessing the other side is your fear of bigger groups of others?" Fluttershy guessed.
"Pretty much. If we're talking technical, it's social anxiety. It means unless I know a large quantity of people there, places like parties are like hell on earth for me… or hell in Equestria, or whatever."
"That makes sense," Fluttershy agreed, looking over to me again. "I'm sure if you tell that to Pinkie, she might be able to lower the numbers a bit."
"Yeah… I'm not exactly… comfortable talking… feelings. Especially about my autism," I told her. "Let's just say I wasn't exactly treated the best for having it."
"Bullies, right?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yeah. Not even Shane knows about it. I kept it to myself through the entirety of Project Horizon. The only one to know was the director, and even he kept it quiet."
"That's understandable," Fluttershy said, standing back up. "You probably just need some time to gather your thoughts."
"Yeah… thanks for the talk. I can't say it helped, but it felt nice," I returned, nodding in her direction.
I was now hoping for a bit of headspace, given everything that had happened…
But no, someone else approached. And considering it was two footsteps at a time rather than a series of four, I knew who it was.
"Let me guess Shane; here to tell me running away was wrong?" I asked, turning to my fellow virtue, who was slowly approaching.
"Quite the contrary actually; all things considered, I get why you ran," he said, also taking a seat next to me. "Why is this spot warm?"
"Fluttershy beat you here, she already spoke to me," I explained, looking over and still seeing her walking away. "Why do you think it's OK that I ran?"
"I didn't say it was OK, I just said I get why you did," Shane corrected, laying down in the shade the bridge was casting. "I saw the personnel files this morning. That included yours, which listed your autism."
"Invasion of privacy much," I muttered, my head sinking into my hands again.
"I'll give you one thing; you hide it pretty well. Not to mention it does help explain quite a lot," Shane said, looking over at me. "Was there really a need to hide it?"
"With the shit I was put through in school? Yes. There was need," I explained.
"That was years ago Marc. You need to stop living in the past!" Shane groaned, turning around and staring me in the eyes.
"If it was so bad, it would've been an issue during the project.
"I perfectly understand the literal hoard of ponies Pinkie rounded up. I don't have what you have, and it even made me uncomfortable. But if you think running away will help in any way, you're wrong."
"If you think you're helping here, you're wrong. I just want to be alone right now!" I groaned, turning away from Shane.
Shane sighed. "Okay man, what's up? There's clearly more than just the party freaking you out right now," Shane asked, placing his hand on my shoulder. "Is it about that nightmare you had the other night?"
"I thought you didn't care," I said, turning back to staring at the river.
"No, I said you're better than letting a nightmare affect you. Those are two distinctly different conversations," Shane corrected. "If it makes you feel any better, you could explain it to me?"
"Sigh, you sure you want to know?" I checked, looking over at Shane for his response.
"Do you want to get it off your chest or not?" Shane asked.
"Ok, jeez!" I moaned, turning back to face him.
And thus I explained the dream I had… and every detail of it. The spooky castle hallway throne room. The smashed glass windows. The mysterious voice and the fact he was on the floor, dead. Safe to say the sheer detail got him a little shocked himself.
"How the hell do you remember all of that?" Shane asked, shocked out of his system.
"How would I be able to forget it? It was so bloody graphic!" I answered, my hand shaking uncontrollably, my nerves having once again returned to me.
"Seriously man, calm down," Shane instructed, grabbing both my shoulders and once again staring me straight in the eyes, his face appearing a mixture of caring and stern. "It's freaky as hell, but it shouldn't be something to keep you up at night."
"No, because dreams happen while you sleep. Losing sleep over a nightmare is a logical paradox."
Shane groaned. "That wasn't what I meant. A nightmare is just a nightmare, you shouldn't let it affect you."
"You… do realise I was over it until you brought it back up, right?" I responded.
"Alright. Jeez, blame a guy for trying to help," Shane said, standing back up and walking slightly away. "I'm heading back to the party. I convinced Pinkie to whittle down the numbers a bit. Feel free to head over when you feel up to it."
Shane must've walked…about five or six feet? It didn't really matter. I was done feeling bad for myself.
"Wait there a minute, Shane," I called over, slowly standing up and stretching my legs, Shane turning back. "You're right. I'm not going to let it affect me anymore."
"I'm sorry, what was that? I didn't hear you," Shane joked, staying still until I'd caught up with him.
"Yeah yeah, shut up," I responded, making Shane laugh a little. And to my surprise, I couldn't help but smirk. I knew Shane was decent in the emotional speech department, but this was completely new.
Nonetheless, it was time for take two.
-0-0-0-0-0-
And thus, me and Shane were once again outside the door to Sugar Cube Corner. We hadn't gone in yet, we were just standing there as I gathered the confidence to go in.
"Really? I thought you were ready for this," Shane moaned, pressing his hand against his forehead.
"Look, I will be, alright? I just need something for the nerves," I explained to him, reaching for the inside of my shirt and pulling out… a can of coke.
"How the hell did you get one of them down there?" Shane asked.
"Most of my shirts have a pocket for a pistol in them for some reason. I just decided to… repurpose this one." I explained, cracking open the can and taking a decent swig. And as if by magic, my nerves disappeared. "Alright… I'm good."
"Okay then, no turning back now," Shane declared, slowly walking over to the door… and pushing it open.
As soon as the door opened, I could immediately see a definite change from before. That being that now I could actually see large chunks of the flooring. There were still slightly big groups of ponies present, but they seemed to be keeping to themselves for now. Not to mention Pinkie was in clear view, rather than hiding away to surprise me.
"Hi Marc. Sorry about earlier," she immediately said, bowing her head in apology. "I didn't know you didn't like big groups."
"Well, at least you fixed things… ish." I noted, still seeing about twenty to twenty-five unknown ponies in the room. "I really didn't make things better for myself though, all things considered."
"Don't worry about it, we're used to it through Fluttershy," Pinkie responded, before dashing off in a pink blur, reappearing in seconds. "Cheese sandwich?"
"Yeah… maybe later," I said, scanning the party for absolutely anyone recognisable. From which, I saw a familiar orange pegasus filly carefully squeezing between some other ponies’ legs. "I'm going to have a look around first."
"Suit yourself," Shane said, walking off to do the same.
After a couple of minutes of carefully attempting to squeeze past ponies, I'd managed to track her down to a table a little further in.
I also noticed she was with a couple of other ponies her age. The first being Applebloom, who I remembered from that incredibly awkward mealan with AJ's family. The other one… was completely unknown. I noticed a pale coat with a light pink and purple mane. From the sight, I guessed that they were the group Scoots mentioned earlier.
"Hey Scootaloo!" I called over, barely being able to broadcast my voice above the music. Luckily for me though, she heard.
"Marc, you made it!" Scootaloo shouted, running over to me and jumping up, seeming to expect me to catch her… but I didn't. This resulted in me being hit in the knee by her head.
"Ugh, nice shot," I groaned, relieved she didn't jump any higher… that'd make this a completely different conversation. "You alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I've been hurt by worse," Scootaloo moaned slightly, looking up to me and giving me a smile through her pain. Luckily for her, she was somehow able to shake off the pain… unlike me. I had to endure it. "Come on. My friends want to meet you!"
"Alright then… might as well if I'm here," I said, rubbing one of my kneecaps as I walked over to the table.
"Marc, these are the Cutie Mark Crusaders! You've already met Applebloom, but that's Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo introduced, gesturing to the member I hadn't met yet.
"Nice to meet you, sir!" Sweetie Belle said, her high-ish pitched, squeaky voice seeming quite fitting for her age. She seemed a lot more excited than me about meeting me… given the other two were more shocked than impressed.
"Same with you, I guess?" I said awkwardly, somewhat caught off-guard by her manners. I turned my attention back to Scootaloo. "You could've told me the party you were helping Pinkie with was for me."
"Yeah, that's how surprises work; you don't tell anypony about them," Scootaloo explained.
"Ok, fair enough," I responded, taking out my can of coke and taking another drink of it… and that's when the fire nation attacked.
Nah, I'm just fucking with you. Pinkie appeared, seemingly interested in the can I was drinking from.
"What's that stuff? I haven't seen it before," Pinkie asked, leaning over me to take a look. I shoved back defensively.
"This 'stuff' is a fizzy drink from my world, and it's off limits," I told her, holding the can away from her.
"Come on Marc. Please can I try some? PLEASE?!" Pinkie begged, doing the whole 'enlarged eyes' thing I'd seen in several movies. Most find it cute, I just found it cliché… and annoying.
"Alright. If I let you call saves on the can, can you give me some space please?" I asked, met with an incredibly fast nod in response.
Sighing in response, I threw the remaining third of a can’s worth over to pinkie, who seemed to grab it… with her hair… what the fuck? How does that work?
…
Anyway… she immediately downed the remainder of the can… and her face somehow became even more lit up than usual.
"What is this stuff? How is it so good?!" Pinkie asked, looking as though she'd just found god… or her planet’s equivalent.
"Welcome to my world, Pinkie. That stuff is what helps me function, so to speak," I answered, attempting to take and
dispose of the can she had, but instead got a snake-like hiss in return.
"No! I must learn to make more!" Pinkie yelled, scanning the ingredients at the back of the can for the answer.
"Good luck with that. They had a secret ingredient that they don't put on the can. With what you have, you can't recreate it," I explained, giving her a brief pat on the back. "If you ever want more of the stuff, I have some on my ship. I suppose we could come to an agreement."
Within an instant, I was immediately tackled to the ground by Pinkie, whose face seemed desperate.
"I'll give you 250 bits for ten cans!" Pinkie seemingly demanded, with everypony around us gasping.
"Wait… is that a lot? A little?" I asked, trying to get Pinkie off me desperately.
"That's actually enough for a whole month’s rent!" somebody from behind the counter answered, a fellow ginger wearing kitchen attire. "Pinkie, how do you have that much money lying around?"
"Party ponies are actually paid quite a lot," Pinkie answered cheekily, turning over to the pony behind the counter, then back to me. "Do we have a deal?"
"Chill out Pinkie, I don't need that much money," I answered, another idea popping into my head. "How about this; 20 bits per can, and when you buy five cans, you get a sixth free. Deal?"
"Yes, deal!" Pinkie yelled, shaking my hand incredibly fast. I could see she was really happy with the offer I suggested.
"Alright. Come to my ship tomorrow and I'll sort you out with some," I told her, attempting to roll from under her. But this was pointless, as she finally decided to move.
"Okie-doki-Loki!" she said, singing to herself as she bounced off. This was when Shane walked up, offering me a hand up.
"You do realise you only have a limited supply of that stuff, right?" Shane asked, pulling me up from the floor.
"I know, but I know the secret ingredient. Once all this drama is over, I might be able to start selling the stuff for a living," I contemplated, thinking about how much income I could've gotten from that possible path.
"Well, you'd have to redesign the seal at the top so ponies could open it, but it's not that bad of a concept," Shane thought.
"You could've done a slightly lower price though."
"She suggested ten for 250 bits, that's 25 per can. I lowered that by five bits, and offered an extra can for bigger buys. That's six for a hundred bits, much better value than she suggested," I explained, feeling my offer was justified in the situation.
"It's the basics of supply and demand. And it was much nicer than just accepting the price she suggested."
"I agree with Marc, darlings; it was much nicer for him to offer her a better deal," a familiar posh voice called over… Rarity. "I like the little freebie he put on the end for her as well."
"Well, my dad did run a shop, and I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree?" I said, groaning at the dumb as hell apple joke I just made. maybe being around the apples comes with side effects. "Anyway, how've you been Rarity?"
"I've been busy with me boutique, but that's exactly how I like it, darling," Rarity answered, her horn lighting up and telekinetically raising a package. "That said, I still managed to fix up that shirt for you. Consider it a gift."
"You know, you didn't have to do that," I said, opening up the package to reveal… a completely changed shirt.
For starters, the sleeves were no longer green. It seemed the arm fabric was salvaged in order to repair the torn parts of the shirt’s chest. This made it into a sort of short-sleeved shirt… until I noticed some extended, bandage-looking white sleeves. I had to admit, it looked fairly cool.
"Wow, it looks pretty cool," I complemented, holding up the shirt to get a better look at its size in proportion to myself.
"I'm glad you like it, it was a particularly hard job," Rarity said, brushing the bandage-like sleeves lightly. "I decided to enchant these sleeves. Now, if you're injured while taking care of a Timberwolf, the bandages should instantly cover the wound."
"You… really didn't have to go that extra mile you know," I told her, holding up the shirt and hanging it over my shoulder.
"I almost gave up on it myself, but I had Twilight give me advice on how to properly distribute the magic," Rarity explained, unintentionally reminding me of the original reason me and Shane came out in the first place.
"Speaking of Twilight, do you know where we can find her?" I asked. "Me and Shane have something to discuss with her."
"Hmm… she should be here somewhere," Rarity guessed, looking around the room for any hints. "Keep an eye out for a purple baby dragon. Wherever Spike is, Twilight is probably close."
"Wait a minute… this world has dragons too?" I asked, seeming shocked at first, although I calmed down fairly quickly. I shouldn't really be surprised by this planet’s inhabitants anymore.
"Don't worry about it, you'll get used to Equestria eventually," Rarity sympathetically said. "I'll catch you later."
"Alright. Thanks for the heads-up," I moaned, now realising I had to do yet another hunt for someone in this party… yaayy.
And I thought the Triforce fetch quest in Wind Waker was bad.
That said, spotting a reptile-like creature in this party wasn't that hard, as I quickly saw Spike pinching some food from a table a few feet ahead of me. So I watched him return to his original position, revealing both his and Twilight's location.
"Hey, Twilight!" I called over, once again only just being heard over the music. I managed to grab her attention, but had to go closer in order to actually hold conversation.
"Hey Marc, just in time!" Twilight said, galloping over to me and immediately holding out a tape measure against me. "Hmm… twice the average height of a pony… do you know the average human height?"
"Any questions you have about my species can be asked at my ship later, but I have something to… ask… you?" I explained, switching to looking down at Twilight's purple and green assistant, who had his head covered in tin foil. "What's with the kid?"
"I'm not taking any chances, 'alien'! I'm not letting you read my mind!" Spike growled, attempting to put on a defensive face. But in return, I couldn't help but laugh.
"Finally! A superstitious one!" I yelled, trying my hardest to avoid the urge to pick up the midge and spin him around for the rational thinker he was. "But… foil around the head works on psychics, not aliens."
"Yeah, that's what you want me to think…" Spike muttered, slowly walking away from us, still keeping eye contact the entire time.
"Well… that was a thing," I summarised, turning my attention to Twilight. "Anyway, back to what I was going to say. I, well,
me and Shane need a favour."
"You mean your friend? Sure. What can I help you two with?" Twilight asked, levitating a chip over to her and eating it.
"Well, it's about when we were coming back through the desert yesterday. Something weird happened," I began to explain. "We ended up fighting this sand wraith, which was about to hit me with this weird 'hyper beam'-like move. Shane blocked the blast, but something… peculiar happened in the midst of that."
"Was it a bad thing?" Twilight asked, her expression having changed almost as soon as I mentioned the sand wraith.
"Quite the contrary actually, it might've saved the both of us," Shane interjected, taking over my explanation. "I can't fully recall how or why, but I seemed to be able to create some form of light-based shield that protected both me and Marc from the beast’s blast. As such, it raises a few questions."
"Yeah, what he said," I finished, turning back to Twilight. "Given you seem to be the magical guru around this place, me and Shane figured you're the woman to speak to."
"So… you seem to think there's a link between Equestria's magical field and your newfound abilities. Is that correct?" Twilight asked, getting a firm nod from both me and Shane. "It's definitely a strong possibility, and not something we haven't seen before. But it raises the question; what's your ability Marc?"
"I… think it's this incredibly fast healing I've got," I guessed, pointing towards the same spot where I was hit by wooden shrapnel post Timberwolf explosion. "That'd be my only guess. But that said, I have no idea how these supposed 'abilities' work, or what the cost is."
"If I were to guess, then I’d say it consumes aura like with ponies," Twilight explained, me and Shane giving a weird look in response. "You… do know what aura is, don't you?"
"I've… heard of it, I think. I think it's 'life energy' or something like that," I guessed, shrugging at the thought.
"I'm not superstitious. That kind of stuff never interested me back on Earth," Shane said.
"Well, Marc isn't far off," Twilight explained, sitting down and seemingly about to start a long explanation. "Aura is energy that Is given off by your soul, which is distributed around your body. For ponies, this power is concentrated in different places for different purposes.
"For earth ponies and pegasi, this energy is generated constantly, as their magic is also constantly active. Earth ponies gain enhanced strength from this, as well as the ability to share their aura with the earth around them. This allows them to easily farm sustainable produce on a quick and easy cycle. The same can be said for pegasus ponies, who can gain enhanced speed from this, as well as flight and the ability to manipulate the weather."
"Of all the times to leave my notebook at home…" Shane groaned, realising how important this info could be later on down the road.
"Hmm… do unicorns’ magic work the same way?" I asked.
"Not entirely," Twilight began to explain, giving a confident smile as she began to describe her own race. "Unlike the other races, unicorns are capable of using their magic as they choose, rather than it being constantly active. Our horns allow our aura to manipulate the magical field of Equestria, which we can use in order to cast spells."
"So, earth ponies and pegasus ponies have their magic constantly active, while unicorns are able to choose when to have it active or not," Shane noted, a brief pause falling over the group for a moment. "I'll admit, this stuff isn't as far-fetched as you'd first think."
"They're basically semblances," I claimed, getting two distinctly different looks from Shane and Twilight. "Come on Shane, are you telling me you've never watched RWBY before?"
"No I haven't, so could you explain how semblances are similar in this case?” Shane asked, reaching over to a nearby table and taking a sandwich.
"The fact aura is the key to activate it. The fact that the special power is different from person to person. The fact it also allows us to heal wounds," I explained, listing the features with my hand. "Wow, they're more similar than I thought."
"It's likely a coincidence, and I doubt that's how simple the magic works here," Shane responded. "We'd be able to work it out if we could see the difference between a human soul and one of a pony, but I'm guessing bodies of spiritual energy are harder to pick up with scientific equipment."
"It really isn't," Twilight said, backing off slightly, turning to the others around us. "Alright everypony, could you all move out of the way for a minute?"
"Twilight, what are you doing?" Shane asked, noticing as Twilight's horn began to light up with a deep purple colour. After a sudden flash, a series of scientific scanners and other equipment appeared, catching Shane completely off guard. "Unholy mother of Sephiroth! How the hell?"
"Hey! References are my shtick. Just stick to being the smarter one," I told him, walking over to some of Twilight's equipment. "What's all this for, anyway?"
"These smaller devices are made to tell us about your aura. Its colour, strength, and all," Twilight said, picking up a couple of wristband-like devices. "The bigger machine behind me is capable of scanning and recovering data in your harmonic core, as the technical name for souls are here."
"Okay?… Does that mean we need to use the bigger machine first?" Shane asked, still slightly caught off-guard by how much Twilight was able to seemingly teleport at once.
"All you really need to do is place your hand on the bigger machine’s scanner, and wear the bracelets until the next time your abilities activate," Twilight explained, walking closer to the machinery. "Who wants to go first?"
"... I’ll save the argument," I sighed, wishing to just get stuff out of the way first. As such, I placed my hand on the soul scanner’s orb-like sensor for a few minutes. After Twilight told me the testing was done, Shane went up next and did the same.
"Alright, I should have the results back to you within the next few days," Twilight noted, hovering two of the bracelets over to us. "As I said, you'll need to wear these for a few days too. Once your ability activates again, bring it to me to analyse."
"Twilight!…" we heard someone call over. I barely recognised the voice as Spike, who seemed to be gagging.
"Spike, didn't I tell you to go easy on the food?" Twilight asked the baby dragon in a somewhat motherly tone. Kind, but stern enough for intimidation.
"Twilight… it's not… ugh!" Spike groaned, burping out green flame… which also caused a white scroll with an apparent seal attached to it… because magic, right?
"It's a letter from Princess Celestia! But I only sent the letter about you a couple of hours ago!" Twilight claimed, either shocked or excited to have a reply so soon. With her tone of voice, I couldn't tell a difference. She immediately lifted the scroll with a levitation spell and opened it, reading its contents.
"Hey kid, you doing good?" I asked, crouching down and offering to help him up.
"Yeah, I'm alright. But don't think this changes anything!" Spike told me, doing the old 'eyes on you' hand message.
"Yeah, alright. Just don't get too carried away, okay?" I told him, turning back to Twilight for her reaction to her letter
"Princess Celestia… has summoned us all to Canterlot. We're needed there immediately!" she gasped.
"Is that a good or bad thing?" Shane asked, unsure due to Twilight's current confused look.
"I don't know, it doesn't say. All she's told me is to bring my friends and 'the humans' to Canterlot as soon as possible," Twilight explained, holding up the scroll to Shane's face, from which, Shane grabbed the scroll and read it for himself.
"Hmm… alright then. Guess if the nation’s ruler requires our presence, we don't really have any choice but to accept, do we?" Shane claimed, rolling the scroll back up and handing it to Twilight. "I recommend we return to the ship and change into something more… fitting of royalty. And Marc?"
"What?" I asked.
"No weapons," Shane demanded.
"Agh, come on!!" I yelled.