Magic was obviously real. That much was evident from the simple fact that Howard and his family were horses in this strange land. But as strange as it was being here, as strange as it was watching Thornton shapeshift in front of them before and feed off emotions, it was ten times more weird to do magic himself.
He grasped the concept of lighting up his horn more quickly than his daughter did, although his surprise at the ability was significantly higher than Denver’s was. He looked up at the limb sticking out of his head and gasped when it softly glowed a faint reddish color, gently warming up after a few moments. Not hot, but the temperature change was noticeable.
Howard smiled as his daughter copied the move along with him. “I’m actually doing it, aren’t I?” he said, more proud of himself than he expected. “I wonder if this is something we could do when we’re back home, too?”
“It would be so cool!” Denver said excitedly. “Maybe Twilight Sparkle will let us take these books with us! I wanna learn how to teleport and pick up things with my mind like she can!”
That would be interesting if they could. It wasn’t something about this situation Howard had considered yet; he was sure the rest of his family hadn’t either. What was going to happen when all of this was over? Would things stay the same when they got back home, or would the world change? There were other worlds out there, and magic, too! Were people already looking for them? It had been two days since he’d gone to work and his children went to school. How would this end?
He asked himself that question in more than one way, but brushed other implications away for now. It hadn’t even been three full days yet. No need to get into all of that, necessarily, as confusing as it was.
Instead, he watched his daughter read the book, mostly skimming over it while she explained it to him. He might have been able to cast the spell she showed him more quickly than she did, but she was definitely more technically literate after just a couple of nights. Wasn’t it hard for her at all, learning to draw unfamiliar looking letters in her mind? Then again, it wasn’t that difficult for him either. Not to mention, his daughter was a smart kid.
He watched her for a while before he yawned and moved to snuggle up under his wife’s wing on the ground again. It wasn’t long before he was blearily opening his eyes again, finding his son and the dog curled up beside him for the second time in a row. Part of him thought it was adorable, but part of him also hurt because of the reason for it. He carefully touched Thornton’s head and watched him sigh deeply.
Howard tilted his head as his son spoke some kind of gibberish he didn’t understand; it took a couple of minutes for he and Thornton to realize he needed to drink more of the potion they brought back with them the other day. They both had drinks of the weird tasting green liquid– this wasn’t going to turn out to mess with their brains later, when they were back home, would it?– before he spoke to his son. If there was one good thing about these strange circumstances, it was that Howard talked to his kids about how they were more in the last two days than he did in a typical week.
“Are you doing okay after yesterday?” he asked after a minute, as the rest of the family started to wake up. “How are you doing?”
His son muttered something unintelligible and nodded his head at the question before he opened his eyes. “You don't have to go into whatever forest Twilight Sparkle wants you to explore with her,” he said. “It's probably gonna be dangerous. Reece could defend himself from those wolf things better. Heck, since I can shapeshift, I would probably be safer.”
Those things were probably true, but that wasn't going to change Howard's mind about going out. His children had faced enough danger on this adventure already.
He stared back at Thornton with an unblinking expression, carefully petting the black fin on his head. He didn't need to speak if his son could read his mind. The blackish green bug shivered, then sighed contentedly before speaking again.
“Thank you, Dad,” he said. “It helps. I love you.” It made Howard smile brightly to hear.
“Love you, too, Thorny,” he said back sweetly. He wondered if his new voice conveyed his affection better than his old one did.
It was a morning spent laying next to Barney and Thornton while the rest of his family stirred and ate breakfast and had more drinks of the language liquid. Denver showed off another spell she could do– this time, it was levitating a fork with her mind for a few seconds– and Reece once again tried to argue for his being able to go out to the forest with Howard, which the mare gave a firm ‘no’ to. He sat next to his wife while five of the six, including Barney, ate breakfast, and scratched the part of his wife's wings she couldn't reach before he showed her what he learned yesterday from their daughter. It made Carey smile as she clapped her claw-like dragon hands happily.
“Maybe you two could use magic somehow to help us get back!” she smiled. “And Thorny can change bodies, too, so maybe that'll help, too!”
“And you have sharper hearing, honey,” he added with a slight smile. Yes, the circumstances might not have been great ones, but they weren't necessarily bad, Howard was realizing. More and more it seemed Denver's assertion of treating this like a mini vacation rang true. His new body felt comfortable. His daughter was having fun. The whole family might contribute something by the end of the whole adventure, who knew? Maybe they'd even all be a little bit closer.
“Obviously we know you're helping too, Reece,” Thornton suddenly spoke up in a nasally voice as his older son let out a huff of a breath. “I'd be dead if you didn't kill those wooden wolf things. Mom and Dad didn't say anything because it's obvious.”
“I didn't say anyone said I wasn't,” Reece got out, swiping a portion of his mane with a cloven hoof.
“I know you didn't say anything, but you were thinking it.”
“Well, stop trying to read my mind!” the kirin shot back, a small trail of stream coming out of his nostrils as he said it. Well, it wasn't exactly a vacation; how could it be when his sons were doing worse than normal? It was something, but Howard wasn't sure what. An experience.
“Let's not fight, guys,” Carey said before Howard could, touching both Reece’s and Thornton's backs with each of her wings. “What's something we can do together while we wait for Twili– oh my gosh!”
Twilight’s ears must have been burning, because the purple pony that slowly became more and more familiar teleported in, landing right beside Howard. Rather than appearing alone, she was accompanied by an equally purple dragon, one with neon green hair and a bright green underbelly. It was nowhere near the size of Carey though; in fact, it was smaller than even Barney was. Howard had a feeling this thing was younger than Denver was.
And it stared right up and blinked at his wife with big, wide eyes. Howard watched her shift her wings around uncomfortably and give a nervous smile before politely raising a hand up to wave. “Uh, hello…?” She said awkwardly. “How are you doing, uh, little guy?” Barney moved from Thornton’s side and stepped in front of her as she did, although he was more curious than he was protective.
“Spike, you're staring!” Twilight Sparkle quickly reprimanded him, sending a little scowl of a glare his way. “Don't be rude to them!”
“What?” the little dragon, Spike, got out defensively. “I just got back from the dragon lands! I didn't expect to see one in your castle! Especially not one as big as she is! She’s almost bigger than every other creature there, except for the dragon king!”
Howard had to avoid laughing at the look Carey threw his way at that statement. It was kind of a funny coincidence he hadn't realized until then. She was the biggest one out of them, when on Earth, as a human, she was barely taller than Denver was. She didn't seem to appreciate the comment very much in any case, but didn't mention it.
Twilight Sparkle glowered at Spike for a second, then smiled apologetically at Howard and his family. “Sorry about my assistant, Spike,” she said. “He apparently doesn't know how to act in front of guests. But I'm sure he'll be polite while he shows you the house I'll have you staying at in Ponyville.”
“I don't wanna do that!” The small dragon was already complaining as he continued, “Didn't you say Ocellus was gonna be in town today for the start of school next week? Make her do it! I need to pick gems with Rarity! I already spent all morning looking for vacant homes for them!” Another glare was sent his way in response, this one longer and more intense. Maybe he wasn't a little guy if he was picking out houses for them to stay in.
“You have a house for us ready already?” Howard spoke up, interrupting the argument. “Big enough for all of us?”
“Sure thing, ma'am!” Spike said, suddenly proud despite his annoyance only a second ago. He licked his hand to slick back the tuft of green hair on his head, trying to appear charming, and said, “I can show you to it if you want.” Yeah, this was definitely a kid. A young teenager at best. Howard and his wife both shared a look at that. He didn’t bother correcting the terms he used for him either.
“Quite a change up from about three seconds ago,” Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes. Then she shook her head clear, continuing, “Before that though, you should take them to the School of Friendship so that Thornton can meet Thorax. He should be there checking Ocellus into class today.” Then she turned to Howard and said, “If you don't mind coming with me, Howard, we could probably see the Everfree Forest and get back here within a few hours.”
“That sounds–” he started before being interrupted by his son.
“How am I supposed to get into the town?” Thornton asked. He didn't look particularly shy or embarrassed as he said, “I felt like I was gonna die yesterday, it was… overwhelming.”
“Thorax should be able to talk to you about that,” she assured him gently. “The School of Friendship isn't in the city, and it's only creatures from outside of Equestria coming in today, namely the changelings, since their hive is so far from Equestria. Probably the yaks, too. There shouldn't be too many creatures there, maybe twenty or thirty.”
Thornton nodded like he was slightly unsure and considering the idea. Before Howard could speak up though, his son said, “I'll be safe, Dad. Reece helped me last night and got me out of there. He'll be there for me.” It got a surprised look from his older son, and then an indignant one from Barney, followed by a bark. Thornton chuckled, and added, “Yeah, Barney, too.”
Then he sighed, and finished, “And we want you to be safe, too, Dad. Don't do anything dangerous?”
Now Howard was the one who chuckled and smiled. “I’ll be safe, son. Promise.” He looked to Reece, and said, “This is why you need to stay here. Watch over your siblings and your mother, please?”
He didn’t argue this time, and instead nodded, giving an assurance of, “Of course,” and, “You can count on me, Dad.” So then it was settled, finally. Howard would go out with Twilight Sparkle to the forest they were in when they first got here, and the rest of them would stay here. It was the ideal outcome.
Hopefully, more things would stack up ideally, and Howard and his family would be back home by tonight. His son, the mind reader, however, almost certainly felt his emotions, and looked up at him to give a slight shake of his head.
Maybe he would be wrong.