Capitulo Uno
A New Pack
It was morning in Ponyville, with Celestia's sun slowly rising over the horizon. Some of the ponies in town were waking up to begin their daily routines, including the house of the Hooves family. Inside, Derpy Hooves, one of Ponyville's resident mailponies, was busy brewing coffee while enjoying a nice muffin before going to work. She tiredly chewed her meal with a smile on her face as her eyes slowly moved in two different directions, enjoying the peace and quiet in her home. Soon, she would go and wake up her two lovely daughters so they, too, can start their day.
"Mom!"
Speak of the devil. Derpy turned to see the startled voice belonged to none other than the oldest of her family, Sparkler, who was surprisingly a unicorn while her mother was a pegasus. She stared at the mailmare with a look of bewilderment "Mom, I have to talk to you!" The amethyst unicorn spoke in a startled tone.
Derpy gulped her bite and smiled at Sparkler "Sure thing, sweety. What's on your mind? Are you having trouble babysitting?"
Sparkler craned her head back and frantically shook it "No! It's something else!!"
Derpy frowned "Are you and Dinky fighting again?"
Sparkler sighed "No, mom, me and Dinky are fine. But this is different!"
Derpy leaned her head on a hoof while it rested on the table and kept her smile on Sparkler "Is it about that cute stallion you see in the park?" She spoke in a teasing tone.
Sparkler narrowed her eyes with a light blush, mildly annoyed with the question "No, mom! This is very different!!"
Derpy brought her head up from her hoof "How different?"
Sparkler stared at Derpy in deadpan and disbelief for a moment, and motioned for her mother to follow her down the hall as she trotted away. Derpy, being the compassionate mother, complied to her daughter's request and followed Sparkler.
She lead Derpy back into her own room and pointed at the bed. Derpy only blinked as if confused at what she was trying to see. It appeared that something was covered up under the bedsheets. Derpy turned to Sparkler "I don't see the fuss, Sparkler. What's wrong?"
Sparkler grunted as her horn glowed purple. The bedsheets were then wrapped in an aura the same color as Sparkler's magic and were jerked away to the right to reveal a sleeping pegasus stallion. He had an amber coat and a wavy dark brown mane that went down to his neck, and a light stubble resting on his chin. His cutie mark was a thin black '1' that looked all too scary in feature. He slept soundly, despite Sparkler's volume while she pointed at him "That's what's wrong! How long has this stallion been in your room? Where did he even come from?"
Derpy smiled "Oh him? I found him!" She answered brightly and innocently. Sparkler was dumbfounded, and Derpy giggled "I forgot to tell you since you were asleep. You see, it all started last night when I was arriving home late from delivering that box of wine glasses to a rich family in Hoofington!"
_____
(Last night, Over Whitetail Woods)
Derpy yawned while she soared through the air, smacking her lips after stretching her mouth "Geez...They don't pay me enough for this at the post office...Couldn't they just give me a raise for all my hard work?" She said, oblivious to her past history of causing accidental damage around Ponyville. While she flew, she murmured tiredly and slowly started to descend into the forest, the faint image of Ponyville in her sights "Well, I'm close to town, and I'm tired from flying so much...I suppose it'll be nice to walk home for a change, since it's just Whitetail Woods..." She carefully descended into the forest, through the brush of the trees until she finally touched the ground.
The mailmare then began trotting tiredly through the woods while trying to keep her eyes open. She tried humming Winter Wrap-up to invoke more energy into her increasingly sluggish body, lucky to remember the notes. Suddenly, Derpy tripped over something and her face fell into the ground. She picked herself up and shook off her pain, her contact with the dirt waking her up more, then turned to see what she tripped over. The mailmare gasped quietly when she noticed a sleeping pegasus with a little red unicorn filly sleeping in his forelegs. The filly had lime green hair that covered her left eye and a cutie mark containing a pistol.
Derpy could not believe she found two unfortunate ponies in the middle of Whitetail Woods, who seemed completely unfamiliar to her in every way. She couldn't just leave them out here where it was cold. Derpy smiled "Well...Looks like I'm making one last delivery for the night..."
_____
Derpy smiled "And so I dragged them both here in their sleep. They looked so content..." She turned to the stallion with a warm and charmed smile "Especially that stallion, how he held her little girl while they slept. So heartwarming...."
Sparkler just stared at her mother as if she grew another head "You DRAGGED them both here? Wouldn't that have woken them up and made them uncomfortable!?"
Derpy shook her head "Nope. Actually, they stayed asleep the whole time, and the stallion just held his filly while I did so! Boy, was he heavy, too..." She giggled "But at least they're safe and cozy..." She then looked over to the door in front of Dinky's room "His filly's sleeping with Dinky right now." Derpy then looked back at Sparkler "I'm gonna go wake them up. Can you go wake up the stallion while I tend to the kids?"
Sparkler sighed, but nodded in reply "Sure, mom. Perhaps we'll get an explanation once they're up..." The amethyst unicorn trotted into Derpy's room while the mailmare went over to Dinky's. She went up and looked at his sleeping face and hummed 'He seems pretty scruffy...I'll bet the poor guy's homeless...' She then nudged him while he snored lightly, receiving no response. Sparkler tried again, only with more force, then noticed that he wasn't waking up. She tapped at his forehead "Hey, mister. Can you wake up, please? It's seven in the morning!" No response. Sparkler grunted and activated her horn as she lifted him up and shook him in the air. She was more than surprised to see that he did not show any reaction, and proceeded to shake him harder. When she stopped, her jaw nearly hit the floor to see that it did not work. She set him back on the bed and galloped out of the room, then came back with a levitated bucket of water "If this won't get him up, I don't know what will!" She hesitated slightly 'I hope Mom won't get angry that her sheets will get wet...' Sparkler then moved the bucket over the stallion's head and flipped it downward as the torrent of water splashed along his face.
Sparkler dropped the bucket at her feet as she speechlessly stared with an indescribable amount of shock and confusion at the sight of the soaking wet stallion that refused to wake up 'How hard can this guy sleep!?'
_____
Derpy quietly trotted into her younger daughter's room and noticed the two unicorn fillies sharing the bed with a smile. She nuzzled them both lightly and whispered "Wake up, children. Time to start a new day."
Dinky yawned and rubbed her eyes and looked up at Derpy with a smile "Good morning, Mommy." She murmured before she looked over and noticed the new addition to her bed "Huh? Mommy, who's she?"
Derpy smiled "A guest, muffin. Let her wake up..."
The filly mumbled as she came to and noticed she was covered up "Huh? Where am I?" She looked over and she jumped with a yelp to see two mares "Who are you!? Where am I!?" She examined herself and gasped "What happened to me!?"
Derpy held a hoof to the filly's head "Simmer down, little one. You're in Dinky's room." She smiled "You're safe now..."
The filly darted her head around "Where...Where is he!? Where is he!?" She repeated, sounding nervous.
Derpy lifted the filly and set her on the ground while Dinky got out of bed "If you're referring to that stallion we found with you, he's in the next room. You wanna go see him?"
The filly stared at Derpy for a moment before nodding and following the two ponies out of the room.
When they reached Derpy's room, the trio noticed Sparkler when she dumped water over the stallion and dropped the bucket next to her while standing baffled "Oh, Sparkler~!" Derpy spoke in a disappointed tone with a frown to match "You didn't have to mess him up like that! He's probably worn out!"
Dinky looked ahead with a blink "Did you just pour water on him? I'm surprised that didn't wake him up!"
The red filly, who remained silent, only trotted up nonchalanty towards the sleeping pegasus with a neutral look in her right pink eye, her left one covered by her mane. When she was next to him, she stared up at his body, and her expression became annoyed as she muttered while bending her legs as if ready to pounce "Wake..." She then proceeded to jump up onto the bed and land directly upon his stallionhood as she yelled "UP!"
The stallion instantly woke up with a coarse howl of pain as his blue-grey eyes widened and flooded with comical tears. The filly continued jumping up and down on him, eliciting more pained grunts from the stallion as she yelled "Up! Up! Up! Up! Up!"
Sparkler couldn't believe her eyes as she stared at the two ponies squabble 'I tried everything I could think of, and yet SHE woke him up!?'
Dinky tilted her head as she watched "Mommy, do you think that maybe those two appear to be a dysfunctional family?" She asked curiously.
Derpy blinked "I can't tell, muffin! We can't really judge them or contempt them if that's how they wake up in the morning!"
The filly finally relented in causing pain to the stallion as he caught his breath and coughed "Oh, geez..." He then noticed the red filly grinning at him with his tired expression and narrowed his eyes "Lilynette..." He muttered bitterly in a throated tone. He then widened his eyes as he noticed the pony "Wait a minute, Lilynette!?"
Lilynette giggled and bonked the stallions forehead with a hoof "Glad to see you're finally awake, Starrk!!" She drew it back and looked up with a confused expression "But why are you a pony?"
Starrk rubbed his head with his eyes closed "I could ask the same thing...But the better question is why am I so wet?"
Derpy and Dinky pointed at Sparkler and spoke simultaneously "She did it."
Sparkler reeled back at the sudden response "H-Hey! It wasn't my fault he didn't choose to wake up!!"
Lilynette hopped off of the bed and pointed at the Hooves family "Okay, now that we're awake, we want answers! Who are you and why aren't you dead?" She asked in a commanding tone.
Sparkler stared incredulously at Lilynette "What kind of messed-up question is that!?"
Derpy smiled "Because we're alive, silly filly! That's how it works around here!" She answered innocently.
Dinky frowned "Mommy, I think we're housing crooks..." She spoke cautiously.
Lilynette blinked at their response and turned to Starrk "Starrk...You think that our spiritual energy's been taken away when we became ponies?"
Sparkler was confused at Lilynette's question. Became ponies? Are those two suffering mental problems?
Starrk rubbed his head as he hopped out of bed and shook himself "Can't say...But all that matters is figuring out where we are and why we're like this..." He stared at his hoof 'But wait...Didn't I just die by that shinigami?? How did I even get here? And in this form?'
Derpy giggled "That's an easy one! You're in our house in Ponyville, the greatest town in Equestria!"
Starrk hummed "So that's what this place is called...Thanks for the tip." He trotted past the three mares "Come on, Lilynette..."
Lilynette blinked at Starrk "Where are we gonna go?"
Starrk continued out of the room without looking back "Anywhere..."
Sparkler stared, then galloped after Starrk in the hallway, cutting him off as she looked up at him "Wait a minute! You can't just up and leave us like this! Not after that grown mare back there took you in!"
Starrk stared apathetically at Sparkler "Tell her I said thanks..." He then trotted past the amethyst unicorn and continued near the front door.
Sparkler huffed and cut him off again as she galloped in front of him with a glare "Hold it! She gave you a bed for you and your child to sleep in! It's very rude just to turn your back on the one that gave you shelter!" She snapped authoritavely.
Starrk rolled his eyes 'The shit I have to put up with...I just woke up in this place...' He then looked at Sparkler "If I go back there, will you calm down and let me go?"
Derpy trotted into the living room with Dinky and Lilynette "Well, actually, we were sort of wondering about you two! Who are you exactly?"
Starrk turned at Derpy and sweatdropped when he looked into her eyes 'Is she...?' He shook his head and spoke "My name is Coyote Starrk...I used to be an arrancar."
Derpy tilted her head "What's an arrancar?"
Starrk paused and grunted in embarrassment "Nevermind..."
Lilynette huffed "I'm Lilynette Gingerback! I was an arrancar, too, but it doesn't matter now since we're ponies!" She then examined herself, her uncovered eye trailing off to her cutie mark "Huh? Starrk, what's this?"
Starrk hummed in question and followed Lilynette's gaze "Not sure..." He then looked at his own flank, observing his familiar '1' "They seem to bear meaning at least..." The former arrancar was at least happy to see he still shared his sign that he was the Primera Espada.
Sparkler arched an eyebrow "You mean you two don't know what cutie marks are? Are you not from around here?"
Starrk deadpanned at Sparkler "Is that supposed to be some kind of joke??" He replied sarcastically.
Lilynette turned to Derpy and observed her flank "Cutie mark..." She muttered as she stared at the bubbles that made up Derpy's cutie mark. The filly then looked to see that Sparkler's mark was that of a set of diamonds. When she finally laid eyes on Dinky, she blinked "Huh? Where's yours?"
Dinky looked at Lilynette "Me? I don't have my cutie mark yet!" She smiled "But I will someday, once I figure out my special talent!"
Derpy nodded "Mhm! A cutie mark shows a pony's special talent in their lives!" She looked at Starrk and Lilynette's and rubbed her chin with a hoof "Say, what are your special talents, anyways?"
Starrk looked at Derpy "It's as you see...I'm number one."
Derpy beamed "Are you a racing pegasus perhaps? How fast are you?" She asked eagerly.
Lilynette smirked "Starrk's super fast! He can blow your mind with his speed! I'm still surprised that any of you are still standing since he's also pretty strong!!"
Starrk shook his head "Don't get cocky, Lilynette..." He stated calmly. He then looked at Derpy "But thanks for letting us stay here. We probably shouldn't stick around here for so long..." Thinking back on his words, the former arrancar looked down 'Then again...What purpose do I have left since I've somehow died back then? What good am I, and how are me and Lilynette still alive? And would I still want to be lonely?' He pondered over these questions thoroughly, seeming more enthusiastic and motivated than his other half.
Derpy frowned "Awww, do you have to? Where do you live?"
Lilynette instantly replied "Hueco Mundo! Do you know where that is from here?"
Derpy's eyes spun as she frowned "While it sounds like some kind of spicy taco, I don't think I know where that is! And I've delivered mail for the longest time!"
Starrk tried to piece together the information pertaining to his and Lilynette's death and his current predicament and decided to take matters into his own hooves "We're homeless...We have nowhere to go." He stated flatly. What he didn't anticipate was the Hooves family gasping at this.
Derpy galloped up to Starrk and nuzzled under his neck and chin empathetically with a frown "Oh, you poor thing!" The former arrancar stared down at her with widened eyes "We can't have a homeless pony and his child wander aimlessly in Equestria! From now on, until we can get you a place to stay, you're staying with us!"
Starrk grunted "Wh-What?" He asked in confusion to both Derpy's action and statement.
Derpy broke the embrace and smiled up at the former arrancar "That's right, mister! You and Lily here are now considered members of the Hooves family until something else happens!"
Dinky stared up at Derpy, then at Lilynette "Does that mean we're sisters?"
Lilynette looked away and spoke distantly "How should I know!?" She then shifted her eye back at Dinky "But...I never had a sister before..." She muttered shyly.
Dinky giggled and wrapped her forelegs around Lilynette in a hug "Yay! Another sister!"
Sparkler scratched her head with a hoof 'So I guess I was right earlier...But would it be right to keep these two under our roof for the time being?'
Derpy hummed "Now you're staying with us...So we should-Oh, right! School!" She turned to Dinky and Lilynette "We gotta get you two to Ponyville Elementary and fast!"
Lilynette blinked "Elementary? You mean school?"
Dinky nodded at the red filly with a smile "Mhm! Today's a school day, and you're a new student! You'll love it at Ponyville Elementary! There are other ponies like me who'd wanna meet you!"
Lilynette stared "Other...ponies..." She parroted in a whisper 'So me and Starrk are not alone...'
Derpy smiled "That and I gotta get Starrky here a job if he's gonna stay here! If he's as fast as Lily says, he'll be a shoe-in for the post office!" She turned to Sparkler "Sparkler, could you walk the fillies to school while me and Starrk head over to the post office?"
Sparkler nodded Of course, mom." She looked down at the fillies "Come on, you two. We have to get you to school!" The trio then trotted outside after Sparkler opened the door with her magic.
Derpy then trotted out the door "Let's go, Starrky! Follow me!"
Starrk was hesitant, but nodded "Sure..." He followed the mailmare out the door 'So it's true...I'm not alone after all...'
To be continued...?