Not too long after leaving Fluttershy’s cottage, I made my way back over towards Ponyville, all the while pondering what my best lunch option would be. It was during this time that the thought occurred to me that I hadn’t even had breakfast that day. I’d been soo caught up in the fact that I was missing one of my legs as well as trying to make the proper accommodations to this new development that I’d unfortunately neglected this most basic of needs.
With this realization, it only figured that my best meal option would most likely be something within the realm of “brunch” and no place would be better for that than Sugarcube Corner. Hobbling my way over towards the court of confectionaries, I could only hope that there wasn’t too much of a line of customers when I finally arrived. Being the holiday season, Sugarcube Corner was particularly busy with customers who all had various and sundry orders of baked goods for their own celebrations. Normally, I’d try to make it there as early as I could to avoid these long lines, but that hadn’t exactly been in the forefront of my mind on that particular day.
Fortunately, by the time I got there, there only seemed to be a few customers ahead of me. Those customers turned out to be a Unicorn, 2 Yaks, a Changeling, and a Dragon, the latter 2 seemed to be together as a couple. In fact, looking at them from behind, something struck me as strangely familiar about these individuals. My brain was going through everything I’d remembered watching from the show over the past few seasons during the time that I’d been back on Earth.
Suddenly, it all came back to me at once. I now knew who these 2 individuals were in front of me as I spoke their names.
“Smolder? Ocellus?”
Upon hearing their names mentioned, the 2 of them turned to look back at me before speaking up themselves, eyes wide with surprise at my presence there.
“David?” Ocellus followed up, a smile making its way across her face. “It’s great to see you again. I didn’t know you were back here in Ponyville.”
“Neither did I,” Smolder stated. “How’ve ya been doing, bud?”
“Ah’ve been doin’ O.K. Jus’ business as usual. How ‘bout you 2?”
“We’ve been doing pretty good,” Ocellus replied. “Just getting some desserts for Hearth’s Warming Eve. Some Sapphire Cupcakes for Smolder, a few Cinnamon Swirl Muffins for me.”
“Ah can mos’ certainly vouch fer tha muffins. Tha cupcakes, not soo much as Ah’d prob’ly crack a tooth on one of ‘em,” I smiled.
It wasn’t until after I’d made my reply that Ocellus first noticed the fact that I was using a crutch and that my left leg was missing. Upon that realization, she let out a gasp before speaking back up again.
“David, what happened to your leg?!?”
“This? Well that’s kind of a long ‘n complicated story. Let’s jus’ say that there was some magic that went awry ‘n Ah was caught in tha crossfire. It’s nothin’ too serious ‘n should hopefully be resolved soon.”
“Even so,” Smolder began, “I think it would be best if you were to take a spot ahead of us so that you won’t be waiting around as long on just one… hoof? Paw? What do you call that thing again?”
“Foot,” I stated.
“Right. You won’t be waiting around on one foot for very long and can just be on your way that much faster.”
“Ah really wouldn’t wanna cut in front o’ you 2. Ah could jus’ wait.”
“What were you planning on ordering?” Ocellus posed the question.
“Just a quick muffin fer brunch,” I answered.
“Then it’s perfectly fine for you to go ahead of Smolder and I. We have a larger order when compared to you so we have no problem waiting a little bit longer while you get your muffin.”
As the 2 of them stepped aside for me to go on ahead of them, I couldn’t help but smile at their giving spirits towards me in that moment before speaking back up.
“Thanks you 2,” I answered, shuffling on ahead.
“No problem,” Smolder commented. “Tis the season and all that.”
I let a soft chuckle escape me at Smolder’s remark just then as we continued to wait our turn in line. It wasn’t that much longer before the Unicorn and Yaks had left with their orders and I finally stepped forward to make mine. Briefly looking behind myself, Smolder, and Ocellus, I noticed that the line behind us had grown significantly in that time. Good thing I’d gotten here when I did as I turned back to face Pinkie Pie at the front counter.
“Welcome, Davey,” she cheerfully greeted. “What can I get for you today?”
“Hey, Pinkie,” I followed up. “Do ya happen ta have any more o’ those Lemon Muffin Surprises ‘round here?”
“For you, your good buddy Pinkie Pie always keeps an extra few of them around. Let me just go and grab that for you.”
As Pinkie headed into the back to grab my order, I waited patiently for her return. It was during this time that somepony else came from the back of the store; a little yellow colt with a frizzy pink mane and tail to match his mother’s.
“Hey, Li’l Cheese,” I called out to him.
“Oh. Hey, Uncle Davey,” he replied before noticing my missing leg. “Where’d your leg go?”
Trying to think of the best way to explain something like this to a colt of his age without scarring him, I realized that, as much as it pained me to do so as well as knowing how much Applejack would’ve disapproved, I had no other choice but to lie to him about the details regarding my missing leg.
“Well,” I began, “it’s kinda like a game. Ma leg has gone missin’ ‘n Ah need ta find it.”
“You mean like hide and seek?”
“Yeah. A lot like that.”
Pinkie then came in from the back with a Lemon Muffin Surprise for me in a brown paper bag. Reaching into my pouch of bits, I pulled out a few before passing them off to Pinkie with my free hand while gratefully accepting the bag from her.
“Thanks, Pinkie.”
“No problem,” she piped up. “See you later and I hope you find your leg.”
I smiled softly at her farewell to me as I made my way out of the establishment and back to my place to enjoy my muffin. Now that I had more freetime on my hands without having to worry about working for the time being, I really wasn’t sure what else I would do with my time. With all this extra time that I had now, the thought occurred to me that I now had even more of it to focus on trying to win my beautiful Flutters’ heart back. How exactly I would use that time, I didn’t know. As I hobbled along back to my home, I knew that figuring that out would be the most crucial conundrum for me to solve, hopefully before it would be too late for me.
* * * * * * * *
A few hours had passed by since I’d gotten my muffin from Sugarcube Corner as I reclined on my bed reading one of my books that I’d brought along with me, having consumed my muffin quite a while ago. The book in question that I happened to be reading was called Cress, a book that was part of a larger series known as The Lunar Chronicles. I particularly loved the series for the way that it took these classic fairytales like Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White and set them in a distant, futuristic, Sci-Fi/Fantasy setting while also interweaving them together so that they created kind of a shared universe.
I was just a fan of shared universes in general when they were done right. The Marvel Cinematic Universe was the only good example that I could think of at that time. Most attempts at creating shared universes like that were not nearly as successful like the DC Extended Universe or even the epic failure that was the Universal Dark Universe that couldn’t even make it past one movie. The latter was dead in the water before it even started half a decade ago.
Literary universes like The Lunar Chronicles were something that I genuinely hoped would eventually be picked up for a movie series just so that there was more variety in regards to quality shared movie universes; the author of the series, Marissa Meyer, had even stated years ago in an interview promoting Cress (based off of Rapunzel) that the first book in the series, Cinder (guess what that’s based off of), had been picked up by a yet unnamed studio and was looking for a director. The only other examples of book series’ like The Lunar Chronicles that had that type of larger universe feel to them were the works of Rick Riordan, who had created a fascinating blend of Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythologies, among others, as a cohesive whole with his books, and Cassandra Clare with her Shadowhunter Chronicles, a series that had grown soo large and spanned many different time periods that I seriously doubted I’d ever be able to get completely caught up on it.
Even as I lay in bed reading my book, I was unable to fully focus on what I was reading at the time. Lingering heavily in my mind was how I would go about spending the next few days in regards to trying to win Fluttershy’s heart back. With me being off of work for the time being, I had more time available to spend with her and I seemed to be making progress in regards to rebuilding a friendship with her, but rebuilding a friendship is completely different from rebuilding a romantic relationship; the latter taking even more time that I was rapidly running out of. Hearth’s Warming Eve was only a few short days away and, with it, the last days of my existence if I failed to win her love again.
Sitting there in thought, I was suddenly drawn out of my ponderings by a knock at my door. Setting my book down, I used my magic to draw my crutch over to me before standing up and shuffling my way over to the front door, a process that took nearly a minute for me to complete. Reaching the door, I opened it to reveal Rainbow Dash standing in my presence.
“Hey twin,” she greeted, before noticing that I was missing a leg and using a crutch. “What happened to your leg?”
“Hey, Rainbow,” I followed up. “Jus’ a little bit o’ magic gone awry. Ah’m hopin’ that tha issue will be rectified relatively soon.”
“Oh. O.K.”
“Was there a reason why ya stopped by here?”
“Oh yeah. I’m just going around to let everypony know that the weather team has a major blizzard scheduled for the day after tomorrow and advising them not to go outside at all during that time.”
“Why a blizzard?” I questioned.
“Some bonehead at the weather factory made some major miscalculations in regards to our scheduled snowfall so we have a massive backlog of snow that needs to be gotten rid of and fast. I just found out about it earlier today and figured that it would be best to give everypony here at least tomorrow to focus on getting prepared for the upcoming storm.”
“Well Ah ‘ppreciate ya givin’ me tha heads up on that, Dashie.”
“Anytime, bud.”
It was then that I knelt down to her level in order to give her a gentle, sibling-like hug which she gratefully accepted before speaking back up again.
“Well, I should really be going. Got a lot of ponies and other creatures too I still need to notify about the upcoming blizzard. It was nice getting to see you again, twin, and I hope that you manage to get your leg back.”
“Thanks fer that, Rainbow.”
“You’re welcome. Hope you have a great rest of your night.”
“You too, Dashie.”
And, with a quick smile, she turned away and flew off into the night as I closed my front door. Hobbling my way back over to my bedroom, I thought about what had just transpired. Rainbow’s news that there was an intense blizzard coming a day after tomorrow along with the need for everyone to stay inside during that time led me to a startling realization: I now had one less day to spend with my beautiful Flutters to try and get that Kiss Of True Love.
The time that I had left to attempt getting the kiss from her was already far too short, but finding out that I was now losing an entire day on top of that was extremely unsettling for me. With that factored in, I realized that I only had one full day for certain to try and win her heart back. Sure there was Hearth’s Warming Eve the day after the scheduled blizzard, but I had no guarantee that I’d have the entirety of that day to try and break the curse.
Settling myself back down in bed and having lost interest in reading my book, I decided to call it a night, setting my crutch and glasses off to the side. Sleep wouldn’t come easy for me, though, as I continued to play those thoughts over and over in my mind. All the while, I could literally feel the time ticking away; time I was rapidly running out of, time that I’d never get back, time that was not on my side. I knew right then and there that this was going to be a long night.
* * * * * * * *
Morning finally came about after far too long as I woke up to yet another unsettling fact. Just like the previous morning, I now found myself missing an additional limb. In this case, it was my entire right arm. Being without an arm made it all the more harder to pull myself up straight from my reclined position and being that my right arm was my dominant one was even more problematic for me. I just hoped that I wouldn’t be called upon to write anything in the near future.
With no small amount of difficulty on my part, I was finally able to pull myself up from my bed, even with only one arm. Putting on my glasses with my one hand, I then tried to use my magic to draw my crutch over to me, but it was then that I came to a strange, unsettling realization. When I stretched out my hand to magically pull my crutch towards me, I found out that my magic was rather unstable, lifting my crutch for 2-3 seconds before dissipating, causing the crutch to fall still outside of my reach.
A rather discouraging thought occurred to me that I hadn’t originally considered. I’d known all about how this curse was causing me to slowly vanish from reality over the course of about a week, but what about my magic? Was it possible that the more of me that vanished out of existence, the more my magic would begin to falter and go awry?
After several attempts of getting the crutch to magically come over to me, I finally managed to get it close enough where I was able to grab it and use it to pull myself onto my feet… or foot in this case. It was then that I began to think about what the day had in store from a schedule standpoint. I knew that I’d obviously be going over to Fluttershy’s to spend more time with her and hopefully get that Kiss Of True Love I needed to break our curse, especially with as little time as I had to do so now, but I also knew that I would need to grab breakfast from Sugarcube Corner first before I forgot about it like yesterday.
During my ponderings in that moment, I thought to myself why not get something for both myself and Fluttershy while I was there? Gathering up a pouch of bits for myself, I hobbled my way out of my house and began the lengthy walk towards Ponyville to get breakfast for myself and my dear Fluttershy. I just hoped that she’d appreciate the surprise.
* * * * * * * *
Several minutes and a short wait in line later, I’d purchased a Cinnamon Swirl Muffin for each of us as I made my way from Sugarcube Corner back towards Fluttershy’s cottage. Being that I had only one arm now, it was relatively difficult for me to manage holding my crutch and the bag of muffins with the same hand, but, by some miracle of God, I was able to manage it well enough. While shuffling my way over towards my destination, I couldn’t help but think about what exactly the 2 of us would talk about while I was there. I planned to be there for as much of the day as I could in the hopes that the curse would finally be broken, but, as for what we’d talk about during that time, my mind was a mad flurry of thoughts at that moment.
Before too much longer, I’d finally arrived at Fluttershy’s where I was suddenly faced with yet another conundrum: how exactly would I go about knocking on her door? The only hand that I had at the time was already holding onto both my crutch and the bag with our breakfast, not to mention that I couldn’t even tap on the door with my crutch as I would risk falling flat on my face with only one leg to balance me. As I stood there in thought, the front door suddenly opened before me to reveal my beautiful Flutters on the other side.
“Oh. Hi, David,” Fluttershy pleasantly greeted. “I thought I heard someone outside.”
“Hey, Flutters. How ya doin’?”
“I’m doing pretty good,” she replied before realizing that I was completely missing my right arm. “Oh my! What happened to your arm?!?”
“Same thing that happened ta ma leg. It’s just a minor inconvenience really. Nothin’ too serious.”
“How can you say that it’s nothing serious?” Fluttershy questioned, a twinge of worry and concern in her tone. “I think that you should have this looked at by somepony.”
“Ah have,” I began, “‘n they informed me that tha problem should go away relatively soon. All that really matters ta me now is gettin’ ta spend time with one o’ ma closest friends.”
Fluttershy let out a soft blush before speaking back up.
“Why don’t you come inside and sit down for a bit?” she moved aside, granting me entrance into her cottage.
“Thanks, Flutters,” I gratefully accepted, making my way over towards the couch before settling myself down.
I then set the paper bag down on a nearby table before continuing.
“Ah hope ya don’ mind, but Ah stopped by Sugarcube Corner before comin’ here ta get us some Cinnamon Swirl Muffins fer breakfast.”
“That sounds lovely, David. I appreciate you being soo considerate.”
“Yer welcome,” I answered with a smile while pulling our muffins out of the bag and passing one off to Fluttershy.
Gratefully accepting her muffin from me, Fluttershy then took a seat on the couch just across from me as the 2 of us ate our muffins happily. Not too long after polishing off my muffin, I posed a question to the beautiful mare sitting only a short distance away from me.
“So, Flutters, was there anythin’ in particular that ya wanted me ta talk ta ya ‘bout?”
“Not really. I’m pretty much open to just about anything you wanted to talk about. We do have the whole day to ourselves, after all.”
“That we do,” I agreed.
As I thought long and hard over what we’d talk about with each other, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this might very well be the last chance I had to win Fluttershy’s heart again, get True Love’s Kiss from her, and break the curse that had afflicted us both. This much I knew: I was determined to make sure every last moment I had with Fluttershy didn’t go to waste. My very life depended on it.
* * * * * * * *
Despite some worries at first in regards to coming up with something for us to talk about, I did manage to come up with a few topics to discuss with Fluttershy as we sat and talked for hours, Fluttershy herself only pausing for a few minutes to fix us a lunch of cucumber sandwiches. She listened quite intently as I told her some more about my immediate family and even about some of the media I enjoyed back on Earth like favorite movies, TV Shows, and music. The concept of the former 2 was particularly alien to the amnesiac Fluttershy, yet by no means any less interesting as I did my best to explain it in terms that she’d understand.
“So… these movies and TV Shows… are like… moving pictures… but with sound accompanying them?” she puzzled.
“Precisely,” I stated. “Some o’ them can be live-action, some can be animated, but there’s still a wide variety o’ movies ‘n shows ta choose from.”
“Animated?”
“Yeah. Tha best example Ah can think o’ fer animation that ya might understand is actually right here in Ponyville. Everythin’ in this land is animated, even Ah’m animated, a fact that took me a little bit o’ time ta ‘djust too when Ah first arrived here.”
“But if this place is… animated, as you say, does that mean that… we’re part of a movie or TV Show?”
In spite of having lost all of her memories of me and everything we’d been through just a few days prior, Fluttershy was still managing to pick up really fast on stuff that I talked about with her, sometimes even before I’d said the words myself.
“Yes, it did,” I began. “Where Ah come from, there was a TV Show a while back that had ta do with tha err day lives of all 6 o’ y’all called My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Tha show itself was quite successful, runnin’ fer a total o’ 9 seasons, 9 years, ‘n over 200 episodes altogether.”
“Oh my! I never would’ve thought that anypony else would be that interested in our daily goings on, at least nowhere near as long as you’ve said our show ran for… but…, if there was this show back in your world that had other… humans putting it together, does that mean… none of us are real? That we’re just figments of someone else’s imagination?”
“No. O’ course not,” I replied. “Every single one o’ you guys here are very real. There are jus’ certain special storytellers back in ma world known as ‘Authors’.”
“Authors?”
“People who witness many different stories, both wonderful ‘n terrible, ‘n write ‘bout ‘em fer others ta experience. These Authors are given a glimpse inta other worlds ‘n are tasked with recordin’ what they witness as it’s revealed ta them, not changin’ any details o’ these stories fer personal gain or satisfaction. Yer guys’ show was a revelation that came ta these people, allowin’ them ta share yer stories with ma world. Does that make sense to you?”
“Umm… I guess so.”
“There have been many great Authors throughout the ages, but it’s definitely not a power that’s ta be taken lightly either. Regardless, all o’ y’all are very real ta many others back home. Yer real ta tha showrunners, yer real ta tha viewin’ audience, ‘n, most importantly, yer real ta me. Growin’ up back on Earth, Ah was exposed ta many different stories ‘n other worlds, worlds that Ah always longed ta visit, but never got tha chance too nor did Ah think Ah ever would, worlds that were inaccessible ta me. Ah always figured that Ah’d jus’ be stuck with ma normal err day life in ma normal err day world.
“But, then, Ah was magically brought here ta Equestria many years ago ‘n Ah got ta witness this wonderful land fer tha firs’ time as well as meetin’ ‘n becomin’ friends with all o’ y’all, some o’ tha only friends Ah had left anymore. Havin’ friends like you guys has greatly altered tha course o’ ma life fer tha better ‘n Ah can’t even begin ta imagine what ma life would be like without y’all in it… ‘specially you, Flutters.”
As the words came out of my mouth, I came to realize that this was my big chance to make my move and try to get that kiss needed. First, I just needed a little more patience when it came to hopefully reeling her in as I continued speaking.
“Ya’ve been one o’ tha closest friends that Ah’ve ever had here in Equestria, even if ya can’ remember at tha moment. You were always a pony Ah could go ta whenever Ah had somethin’ that was troublin’ me, always willin’ ta listen ta ma concerns.”
A heavy blush formed on Fluttershy’s face as I softly placed my hand on her right forehoof, much to her surprise.
“‘N as a fellow friend o’ yers, Ah wanna do everythin’ within ma power ta help ya get yer memories back so that ya can remember bein’ that friend Ah know you are. Ah care deeply ‘bout ya, Flutters, even bein’ willin’ ta move Cloudsdale itself if it would get ‘em back fer you.”
“What about that girl you mentioned before?” Fluttershy posed the question to me. “The one you used to be really close friends with?”
A smile crossed my face as I answered her.
“Ah’m lookin’ right at her.”
Her pupils dilated and an even heavier blush came to her cheeks as she rubbed one forehoof against the other, a smile of her own slowly making itself present.
“Why, David… I’m honestly flattered,” she started, “and a little relieved too. You… you might not have known this…, but, over these past few days, I… I slowly began to develop… feelings for you through our interactions, feelings… I didn’t quite understand at the time… with you being human and I a pony. However, I was worried my feelings towards you…, strange and confusing as they might have seemed, weren’t reciprocated.”
She then stretched out her other forehoof to gently brush some of my hair aside before continuing.
“But, now that I know you feel the same, it… it’s like a great weight has been lifted off of me. I… I love you right back, David.”
Smiling softly back at her, we gazed into each other’s eyes before I spoke back up.
“Trus’ me, there’s nothin’ strange ‘bout that at all.”
It was then when we slowly leaned in towards each other, eyes closed and hearts racing. My heart was racing even moreso as I was finally about to get the Kiss Of True Love necessary to break our curse. The distance between us closed as our lips got even closer to one another.
However, at the most inopportune time that it could’ve ever happened, we were interrupted by a knock at the front door, snapping us out of the consensual liplock that would’ve restored my body and her memories.
“Who could that be?” Fluttershy asked as she got up from the couch and went to the front door.
Opening it wide, we were greeted by Discord. The sight of the draconequus produced a mixture of feelings within me, one of them being nervousness when taking into account my personal feelings over the fact that he was without his magic and my belief that it should stay that way. It was probably a good thing that he had no way of reading my mind at that moment to know these thoughts I had.
“Fluttershy, it’s soo good to see you!” he exclaimed. “Sorry that I wasn't here earlier, but, when one is without their magic, it makes traveling from place to place much more of an exercise. I do hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
“Not really,” she answered back. “Me and David here were just having a pleasant chat together.”
“Good to know.”
“But, what did you mean when you said you were without your magic?” Fluttershy puzzled.
“What do you mean? Have you already forgotten what I told you about it over a week ago?”
“There’s been an incident that occurred recently ‘n Flutters has lost some o’ her memories,” I chimed in, more than a little peeved at this interruption when I’d been soo close to getting the kiss needed for everything to return back to normal, though I did my best to hide it for Fluttershy’s sake. “Even all memory of me.”
Discord looked absolutely shocked by this revelation, but I also could’ve sworn I saw a slight, possibly mischievous gleam in his eyes before he followed up with Fluttershy.
“Anyways, I came here because I have something important I need to talk with you about… privately.”
I could immediately feel the fear stirring up inside me, swiftly replacing my annoyance from not only being cockblocked out of the kiss that would break our curse, but also fearful that that moment was now gone forever and I’d never get it back.
“I don’t see any problem with that,” Flutters spoke before turning to me. “Are you O.K. with heading back to your place, David?”
No I’m not O.K. with leaving when I won’t have any other opportunities to get the Kiss Of True Love from you ever again, were the thoughts that swirled around in my head at the moment, but I bit my tongue and said what I figured she’d want to hear.
“Sure,” I replied as I reached for my crutch and pulled myself up before shuffling over to the door. “Thanks fer having me here, Fluttershy. Ah hope ta see ya ‘gain later.”
I doubt I ever will, though.
“I hope so too. Bye, David.”
“Goodbye, Flutters.”
Goodbye forever, I thought to myself as I left her cottage into the night and made my way back to my house.
Step after heartbreaking step I took on my way back home, an uncontrollable wave of panic spread over me as I realized that this had been the only chance I’d had left to win Fluttershy’s love again and break the curse. That chance had now been shot straight to Hell all because of that one interruption from Discord. With the blizzard scheduled for all of tomorrow, I didn’t have any guarantee that I’d even get another chance with Fluttershy the day after said blizzard: Hearth’s Warming Eve. By that point, who even knew if there’d be anything left of me.
As I finally reached my house to call it a night, I was haunted not by the bitter cold of Winter that I’d come in from, but the bitter cold of death that awaited me in a couple short days. There was no longer any hope for me as I fell into troubled, restless sleep.