BIZARRO POV
My eyes fluttered open slowly letting me to see an old white ceiling above me instead of the open skies I had grown accustomed to for the past week. And instead of smelling the fresh air of an open clearing, I smelt a musty odor and the familiar scent of vintage furniture.
I weakly pushed myself up as I properly looked around the room. The bed was pressed up against the far left corner of the room near one of the left window of the room, both of the windows were covered in white tarps that looked to be in a constant state of repair as the makeshift patch job barely held the partially eaten tarps together. The holes in the tarps allowed the light to seep through them, giving the room an odd sense of lighting as light hit random areas of the room. The walls of the room were covered in an old green wallpaper that was yellowing with age, causing the intricate patterns on it to fade into obscurity, only noticeable to the most trained eye or those with Super Vision.
Across from the bed on the other side of the room was a large wooden bookshelf that held a massive array of books, each one painted in a heavy layer of dust, with the only exception being the bottom row of books which looked like they were used quiet regularly. Next to the bed was an old looking nightstand with a glass of water that looked about as old as everything else in the room. Lastly, there was a wooden rocking chair covered in a knitted red and green blanket and was surrounded by stacks of cardboard boxes in the far right corner of the room near the white painted wooden door. The paint of the door was slowly chipping away, creating a cracking pattern that ran all over the door, it looked as if slamming the door just hard enough would cause all of the paint chips to fall off at once.
All in all, the room felt peaceful to me. It reminded me so much of my Great Grandmother’s farm. Heck, if there was a mysterious boot-print on the ceiling somewhere I’d think I somehow teleported back home. I never did find out what caused that boot-print, I wish I asked her about that before she passed away. I wished I talked to her more.
I wished I talked to them all more.
I fell back down onto my pillow, kicking up a cloud of dust as I did so. I lazily watched it drift in the air as I stared at the ceiling, my mind almost refusing to believe anything that happened after Comic Con. I wanted so badly for this to be all a dream, to know it wasn’t real and that I’d see my mom and sister if I just got out of my bed. But, I knew that wasn’t the case, I knew that when I went downstairs I’d only see Applejack’s house. I’d see her, her family, I’d probably even see some of our friends, but I wouldn’t see Trixie there with them.
I felt so tempted to just stay in Applejack’s guest room, to just lay down and return to another dreamless sleep and never wake up. But, I knew I couldn’t just lock myself away, despite how much I really wanted to. I’d have to leave sometime, and I didn’t want to worry anypony by staying cooped up in their guest room.
I threw the old heavy blanket off of my body and kicked my legs over the edge of the bed in one motion, the bed frame squeaking slightly as I did so. As my feet touched to floorboards, they creaked loudly, as If anymore weight would break them instantly. It was yet another reminder of home that made me feel almost nostalgic. "Almost" being the optimal word, as it was still a reminder of what I could never see again.
I forced myself out of bed and to the door, the floor boards creaking with each step, and the hinges on the door squeaking silently as I pulled it open. Once I was out of the guest room, I closed the door behind myself and made my way down stairs. The sounds of ponies talking and something sizzling in a pan greeted my ears as I walked down from the top of the stairs and made my way to the kitchen.
Once inside, I saw Big Mac, Applejack, and Applebloom sitting at the table. Big Mac was whittling a new wooden spoon out of a tree branch, Applejack was half asleep at the table, struggling not to fall face first into her bowl of cereal, and Applebloom was writing something in a little notebook. I also noticed a large old mare in the room at the stove, cooking what looked like slices of apples in a frying pan.
“Oh, why look who got up.” The green mare said as she looked over her shoulder.
Applejack looked up at me with a smile and a quiet yawn. “Mornin’ Bizarre. How’d ya sleep?” She asked.
“Me am sleep good. Thank Applejack for room.” I told her.
“Shoot what’re friend’s fer? *Yawn* Oh, let me introduce ya, this here is my Granny.” She said as she gestured to the older mare.
Applejack’s grandmother wiped her hands off on her apron as she held out her hand for me to shake. As I accepted her handshake, she properly introduced herself.
"Howdy youngin. Name's Sweetie Smith, though ya can call me Granny Smith, might as well get used to it." She said as she nudged me in the arm.
“Uh, ok me guess. Me thank Granny for Hospital tally.” I told her as I took a seat at the table.
“Please. It’s that least we can do. AJ told us about what’cha did out there an what happened. No way in heck am I gonna let a stallion like you bum it on the streets, 'specially after what happened to ya.” Granny Smith told me as she set down a plate of cooked apple slices and eggs in front of me. “Now dig in.”
Nodding in thanks I started eating some of the eggs on my plate as Granny went back to cooking. Big Mac finished carving his new wooden spoon and glanced at Applejack for a second before he looked over at me.
“Hey Bizarro, me an Snowflake were gonna go to those new Nickelodeon machines they got at the theater. Ya wanna come with us?” He asked.
“No. Bizarro thinking me just walk around town for bit.” I replied. Truthfully, I wanted to see how Trixie was doing. But I knew that’d be stupid since I couldn’t do anything to help her and I’d only end up making things worse.
At that moment, Applejack promptly passed out into her bowl of cereal after fighting a losing battle with Mr. Sandman. Once she started snoring softly into her cereal Big Mac sighed and shook his head. “Dangit, guess I can’t go with ‘er tuckered out like this.” He said before he glanced over to the clock on the wall with his eyes widening. “Shoot! Hey Bizarro, mind takin’ Applebloom ta school while I put AJ ta bed an’ do some chores?” He asked.
“Sure, me can do that.” I told him before he shot up out of his seat and tossed Applebloom her back pack.
“Thanks Bizarro, yer a life saver.” He said before he picked up Applejack and took her out of the kitchen. Once they were out of sight my gaze shifted to the youngest Apple of the family as she was stuffing some books into her bag.
“Thanks a bunch Mr. Zarro, now I need ta get goin’!” Applebloom shouted as she rushed out of the kitchen. “Come on, Mr. Zarro!" She screamed from the front door of the house.
Realizing Applebloom must have been pretty late I jumped up out of my chair and ran to the door. “Thank Granny for food!” I shouted back to Granny Smith before I closed the door and followed Applebloom as she ran down the dirt path towards the entrance of Sweet Apple Acres which was still a long run away from us.
“Hurry up, Mr. Zar-Whoa!” I cut Applebloom off as I raced past her and scooped her up into my arms, running much faster than she could towards the entrance of Sweet Apple Acres.
“How late am we?” I asked.
“School’s gonna start in a few minutes. Hurry!” She told me.
“Ok. Hang on.” I warned her before I jumped up into the air and took off. The least I could do for Applejack and her family was make sure Applebloom got to school on time.
Flying for the first time seemed to startle her for a second, but whatever fear she felt seemed to melt away as she instantly began screaming with joy as we soared in the air. It took us less than a minute to fly over to the school where I dropped her off at the front of the building after I landed.
“Yeehaw! That was awesome Mr. Zarro! Can we do it again?” She asked as she hopped in place. I nodded before the school bell rang, calling all of the students inside.
“Come in class!” A motherly voice yelled from inside. The rest of the stragglers raced past Applebloom and I as they ran inside.
“Bye Mr. Zarro, thank’s fer the lift!” Applebloom called out she quickly raced inside after the other students, giving me a quick wave before she disappeared inside the building.
I gave a little wave back to her as she fully disappeared and the door closed behind her, hoping that she would have a good day at school. I remembered back when I was…
What grade is Applebloom in? I questioned inwardly as I wondered if the Equestrian school system was the same as the one back home.
In the Equestria Girls series it was implied that the younger students either went to a different school building that was nearby or were high school students, which I sincerely doubted Applebloom was since she was still ten years old.
Deciding to question it later, I turned on my heels and walk around town for a bit. I didn’t really have any idea what I would be doing, my only goal was to just decompress after what happened in those woods. I didn't want to think about how Trixie was hurt, how we barely managed to escape, or how I...
A sudden moment of fearful realization hit me like a speeding train, causing me to panic and pat down my pocketless costume, hoping beyond hope that I didn't do what I thought I did. But, to my complete horror I absolutely did, I had forgotten the Lightsaber in the woods and left it next to the dead changling's body. And since I heard the cacophony of dozens of changelings heading towards the campsite when we left, the changelings would undoubtably find it when they got to the campsite.
Because of my ignorance and fear, I had just handed one of the most powerful weapons in fiction to creatures who could presumably change their appearance at will. I had essentially given them the perfect assassination tool, a small device that could be easily concealed in a bag and be passed off as a harmless metal rod should any guard find it in a "pony's" luggage.
I inhaled deeply as I internally cursed myself out for my own stupidity before I expressed my self-loathing anger outwardly with one booming word.
TWILIGHT POV
"YIPPIE!!!" A loud voice boomed out from outside, taking my attention away from my book as I closed it and made my way to the window of the hospital room.
Moving the light blue curtains out of the way, I looked outside to find the source of the loud noise which sounded like Bizarro. For a moment, I pondered what made Bizarro so happy that he would shout like that before I shrugged it off and turned back around to sit in my chair.
As I sat back down and attempted to find the page about changelings I was previously reading, Trixie began to stir slightly in her sleep. I put the book down and scooted my chair closer to her side as I held her hand. My small gesture thankfully seemed to calm her down as she slept more easily. Since going through a heat cycle, especially an unplanned one, can be a painful experience the doctors all agreed that it would be best to place a few calming spells to help her rest through the process, but it wouldn't keep her knocked out if a stallion came into the room.
I desperately wished Sleep magic wasn't so difficult, if I could help her get through this time with relative ease then I would do it without hesitation. But, one slip up with a sleep spell could spell complete disaster for her body and especially her mind. Only ponies who devoted their entire lives to the study of dream crafting such as Princess Luna could wield such powerful and dangerous magic, and I had neither the time nor the resources to learn it to help Trixie in her time of need.
The only thing I could do was be with her and send a letter to Princess Celestia to request that her sister looks into Trixie's dreams. I desperately wanted to do more to help her, to ease the burden of going through this forced heat in some way. But all I could do was continue to stay by her side and make sure she was at least somewhat comfortable during this strenuous time. And I couldn't even do that for much longer as Nurse Nursery, a cream colored pegasus mare with an magenta mane, came into the room.
"Mrs. Sparkle, I apologize but we need to run a few tests on Trixie, as well as reapply her muscle numbing and calming spells. If you want to, you can come back around 1:30 or so after Trixie is given some food and bathed." The nurse informed me. I reluctantly nodded before I silently gathered the few books I brought with me and turned to Trixie to give her a quick peck on the head as I wished her good health.
I quickly made my way out of the hospital room, tears threatening to once again spill from my eyes as I tried to reassure myself that Trixie would be alright. As I walked through the long stretching corridors and made my way down three flights of stairs I held the tears back with a great deal of effort. I kept telling myself that Trixie was in capable hands, that she would be fine, that I did everything I could. But no matter what I told myself there was still that small feeling inside me that I could have done more, that I haven't even done close to enough.
I walked out of the Ponyville Hospital, looking back at Trixie's window once more before I walked away from the building. I desperately needed something to distract myself, something to take my mind off of Trixie, something that—
"Twilight?" Bizarro called out.
I turned my head to look around for Bizarro before I saw him sitting on a bench near the town's fountain of Princess Celestia. Bizarro slowly straightened his posture as he looked at me with a hopeful smile.
"Hi Bizarro." I said to him.
"Hi Twilight. Am... Am you just get back from Hospital?" He asked me. I nodded my head before I took a seat next to him on the bench.
"Yeah. I was there all night. Normally they don't allow visitors after a certain time, but because of... What happened, they decided to make a special exception to the rules."
"Good. Good... She am good, right?" He asked me.
"Yeah. I just wish I could have done more." I told him as nervously rubbed my hands together.
"Me know what you mean." He stated. A short silence fell over us as we listened to the birds and the sound of rushing water from the fountain.
"Bizarro, how are you holding up?" I asked him. Bizarro shrugged before he looked in the general direction of the hospital.
"Me am alright, me am just worry... Bizarro mess up, and now me hurt other ponies."
"Hey, you did everything you could, Bizarro. And it's not your fault for what happened. You didn't hurt Trixie, those changelings did." I reassured him as I placed my hand on his lap. Bizarro shook his head as he refused to meet my gaze.
"Me am no talk about that. That am Bizarro's fault and me feel bad, but me do something else bad... Me give them weapon by accident." He told me.
"What do you mean?" I asked quickly.
"Bizarro had weapon in forest. Me use it to kill bug, and now they am have it. Bizarro am stupid. Stupid! STUPID!" Bizarro shouted as he hit himself on his head with his fist. I quickly grabbed his arm as he swung again. I wasn't able to stop him with brute strength, but my action did get him to stop as he looked at me.
"Bizarro, stop it! Everything's going to be ok. Just calm down and explain what you mean." I told him. He let out a heavy sigh before he lowered his hands and looked at the ground.
"Twilight. Am you know someone named Darth Vader?" He asked me. I was a bit surprised by the seemingly sudden change in topic.
"No, I don't think I've ever met anypony named Darth before. Why do you ask?"
Bizarro had a contemplative look on his face as he bit his bottom lip, seemingly debating with himself about something as we sat there in silence. Bizarro soon let out another sigh as he still refused to look at me in the eyes.
"Vader am man Bizarro know, he was Sith Lord, feared across Galaxy. Bizarro am find his weapon in forest and use it against bug. But me leave it behind like big dummy." He told me.
"Well, how dangerous is this weapon?" I hesitantly asked. If Bizarro was telling the truth about this 'Darth Vader' than I could only imagine his weapons would be as equally fearsome as his name.
"It am Lightsaber. It am laser sword that can cut through anything.., or anypony." He explained grimly. "Only thing that stop Lightsaber is Lightsaber, and me just let bugs take it." He told me as he buried his face in his hands. I patted him on the back reassuringly as I digested that information. A sword that could cut through anything did sound extremely dangerous, and it was possibly in the hands of one of the most violent races on the planet.
"Don't worry Bizarro, it's not your fault. You couldn't have known at the time, and you're assuming the changelings find it and know how to use alien technology. And even if they didn't find it, I'll send a letter to the Princesses warning them about the possibility of the changelings coming with one of those Lightsabers." I told him, although it didn't seem to help him out much. I internally debated how I could hopefully improve his mood before I quickly came up with an idea.
"Hey Bizarro, would you mind talking about your home?" I asked him. Bizarro took his face out of his hands as he finally looked at me.
"What?"
“Well, you’re an alien, meaning you have otherworldly cultures and customs that would be literally alien to the rest of the world." I tried to explain. "I thought it might be nice to talk and ease our minds about everything that's been going on. I also wanted to find out as much as I could so we don’t accidentally offend you. Unless we did offend you. Oh no, is it offensive to ask questions like this back on your homeworld, is it offensive to call it a homeworld, is—“ I started to rant, but I quickly cut her off by placing a hand on my shoulder.
“Be calm. You no upset Bizarro with words. Me… Me think it good to talk about home. Clear head, me head and your head too.” Bizarro reassured me. I relaxed a little bit after he removed his hand and I gave him an eager smile.
“Thanks, Bizarro. Okay, my first question is, what was your planet called?”
“It am called Earth in Milky Way Galaxy.” He told me.
"So... your planet's name is 'Earth'?..” I hesitantly asked. “Is it one large land mass with a minimal amount of water?”
"No, it am seventy-five percent water."
I nodded my head slowly. “Oookayy… You... Bizarro, does earth means dirt and rock on your planet?“
"Yup." He casually told me.
"And your planet is seventy-five percent water..."
“That right.“
There was a long silence that fell over us after that asI tried to comprehend the naming convention of Bizarro's planet. I suppose it was a bit hypocritical to judge his planet's name since I lived in Ponyville after all, but his planet's name just seemed so... odd.
"So, what is 'earth' like?" I finally asked, breaking the previously built up silence.
“It am a lot like here me guess. We am have a sun, a moon, blue sky, and we am look like Ponies. We am no have tails or am as colorful, and homes back home am more advanced, we am no have sticks for roofs.”
“Sticks? Oh, you mean thatch. Yeah, it’s a custom a lot of ponies in more rural areas hold onto, many ponies used thatch because they don’t like using things that weren’t made by the Equestrian government. It’s not motivated by specieism or anything, well at least for most ponies. The ones who aren’t spiciest just think that by purchasing things made by other countries they’re harming Equestria’s economy. But not everypony goes along with this line of thinking and have broken the mold by having roofs that are made of tiles and sometimes buying fish from traveling hippogriff butchers.” I explained.
“What am Hippopotamus?” Bizarro asked.
“Hippogriff," I corrected him. "a hybrid species of ponies and griffons. There used to be an entire empire out in the sea, but it mysteriously vanished one day. There are a few around today, but they aren’t as nearly large a species as they were in the time of Starswirl. The haddock they sell is delicious once you get the taste for it. But I guess hippogriffs aren’t common where you’re from then?”
“No, me no hear about them. What else am there?”
“Well, there’s the different races of ponies, unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies, and Alicorns, with crystal ponies being a distant evolutionary cousin of earth ponies that went extinct with the fall of the Crystal Empire, and thestrals being a different race of pegasi specifically. Then there are dragons like Spike, Spike is only a child now even though he’s old enough to be considered a legal adult. Dragons age at a much slower rate than ponies, think of it like reverse dog years.” I explained.
“Then there are the yaks who live far up north past the old remains of the Crystal Empire along with the minotaurs which are a species similar to yacks but with clover hooves instead of feet, then there are the buffalo of the south who are mainly a nomadic race, and finally the diamond dogs. It’s theorized that diamond dogs are the evolutionary descendant of crystal wolves, pets crystal ponies would keep and help so they could both survive the harsh winters of the north. Finally, there are the griffons that live in the east on a separate continent called Griffonstone. They're an avian species with physical features similar to lions, it's commonly believed that griffons evolved from a species of Manticores during the stone age of Equis and evolved through their use of advanced tools and invention of written language. Finally, there are the zebra shaman, another race that was they byproduct of earth pony buffalo relationships, which are one of the most rare relationships you'll probably find out there. And That’s pretty much eyerycreature.” I finished. I decided to exclud changelings from my list of creatures who lived on this planet. I wasn’t sure if Bizarro caught onto that fact or not, but if he did he didn't say anything.
“So, what is the dominant species on your planet called? I noticed you said they were ‘like’ ponies, but didn’t have tails or were as… colorful?” I asked.
“We am have limited colors, nopon—er, me mean say nobody am green, purple, or red like ponies am.”
“I see. So skin pigmentation doesn’t have as large a variety as ponies do, so the dominant species would probably be closer to griffons then in terms of skin pigmentation.”
“Me guess. Oh, and they am called Humans.”
“Humans.” I silently repeated, trying to get a feeling on the foreign word. I found it interesting that the dominant species was named after the word humane and I assumed that that meant they were a relatively compassionate and peaceful species, similar to ponies. “Interesting. What else can you tell me about them?” I asked.
Bizarro went on about all the topics he said he learned in high school that he could remember, like the Big Bang, how his planet was covered entirely in lava, how the air was toxic, but then the chemicals spontaneously combined to create O2 and H2O, and then a large continent called Pangea formed, leading to dinosaurs becoming the top of the food chain before a meteorite crashed into the planet, breaking Pangea apart and causing the dinosaurs to go extinct in the process. I found it interesting that his planet also had Dinosaurs, and was even more surprised to learn that like our planet, all of their dinosaurs went extinct because of a meteor. I wondered if the meteorite that wiped out the dinosaurs on his planet also imbued his planet with magic like our meteorite did. If it wasn't for that, then it would be likely that magic wouldn't have existed at all on Equis. The similarities between our respective planets was almost jarring.
He had to back peddle a bit when he forget to tell me how the moon formed and had to explain what a gun was, which turned out to be a smaller and more advanced version of our muskets. I was also very interested in the elements on Earth after he told me about the Periodic Table. When I wanted to know more Bizarro surprised me by reciting all the elements between Hydrogen and, funnily enough, Krypton. When I asked how he knew all of that he explained that his teacher made him and the other students watch a chemistry film repeatedly for several weeks in a row to memorize a science song. The idea of an entire song dedicated to science sounded so great that I could hardly contain my growing excitement. I made sure to write down the lyrics so I could try singing it later.
“This is all incredible!” I exclaimed as I placed down another parchment on the ever-growing mountain of papers I had. Half of the large stack was Bizarro's words verbatim while the other half was a translated version with proper grammar and phrasing.
As I levitated another parchment into my hands I looked at Bizarro with a bit of trepidation. “Ummm. Bizarro, this might be a bit… personal, but… Do you miss Earth?” I asked. I was worried about how he would respond, but I needed to know how he was doing. I know that I would miss Equestria if I was forced to leave.
Bizarro let a sigh escape his lips as he looked at the sky with a sad smile. “Me... Me do… Bizarro am miss family and friends.” He told me.
“Your family? You mean your sister, right?” I asked since I wasn't sure how he viewed Lex Luthor or Superman. Bizarro only nodded in response as he let another wave of silence wash over us before he finally broke it.
“Me do miss Lilly, and me am worry about her. She too good, too young... Lilly am turn eleven in month. Me wanted to take her to zoo to pet animals.” Bizarro recalled fondly. My heart ached as I looked at him, as he spoke I could see him fighting back a few tears.
I instantly hugged Bizarro without hesitation. "I'm so sorry." I told him, realizing that I had once again overstepped my bounds by bringing up his family.
"It... It okay Twilight. Even if Lilly am no here, she am still here." He told me as he placed a hand over his heart. "Bizarro am no forget Lilly, and... me am hope she no forget me." Bizarro finished with a little bit of pain evident in his voice. I couldn't stop myself from giving Bizarro an even tighter hug after I heard that.
"I know she didn't, Bizarro, and she won't. You're a great Stallion, and probably one of the best big brothers out there. She will always be you Little Sister Slash Best Friend Forever." I reassured him. Bizarro seemed to go stiff before he slowly started to relax and embrace me in a hug as well.
"Thank Twilight."
We sat there in silence once again for a few moments before we broke off the hug and continued talking. Bizarro told me more about his sister and I in turn told him about my big brother, Shining Armor. Something told me that they would get along pretty well if they ever met each other.
We spent the rest morning and afternoon talking about our respective planets, our histories, and cultures. I was especially intrigued by his stories about space travel. I found it interesting that Bizarro and Superman’s home planets were named after elements, Bizarro’s obviously being earth and his biological original’s being named after the element krypton. It made me wonder if we were the weird ones for not naming our planet after an element.
Maybe I should discuss this with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, I think Harmonious would be a nice name for a planet. I thought as we continued to converse throughout the rest of the afternoon until it was time for us to depart. Bizarro understood that I needed to get back to the hospital to check up on Trixie so, after a quick goodbye and a promise that Trixie would be ok, I went back to the hospital while Bizarro made his way towards Sugarcube Corner.