//------------------------------// // Entries 34-51 // Story: A Long Journey Home // by VashTheStampede //------------------------------// Entry #34 (heh heh, 34) Even if she doesn’t like me very much, Applejack finds me helpful. I’m alright with this. Big Macintosh is turning out to be a cool guy – he’s explained some of the more common workings of Ponyville, especially Twilight and her friends. Twilight was sent to learn about friendship; apparently she’d basically been a reclusive bookworm in “Canterlot,” the Equestrian capital city (she’d been studying under Celestia herself). The way he talks about Twilight… he’s animated, happy. If they aren’t together there’s certainly something between them. Pinkie Pie, he says, works at a local bakery, and lives on its second floor. Rainbow Dash lives in a floating home in the “cloud-burbs” of a floating city made of solidified clouds called “Cloudsdale,” while the other Pegasus, Fluttershy, lives just outside of Ponyville in a small cottage surrounded by the animals she cares for. Applejack lives on the farm (Sweet Apple Orchard) with her sister, brother, and grandmother (no mention of parents…), and Rarity lives in her fashion store in the town. I may have to check that out later, as the vast majority of ponies are walking around… uh, naked, I guess, or with just a simple accessory like a hat or a bow. Entry #35 I’ve been here weeks now, probably nearly two months. I don’t think my sleep patterns will ever normalize with the time difference here, but that’s ok – I work nearly two full days at a time, pony-time, which Applejack likes (even if my full day of sleeping miffs her a little), and apparently we’ve cleared the apple orchard in record time with my help. I’ve gotten time off (“Until ya fall asleep again”), so I think I’ll go visit the bakery and maybe the fashion store today. Entry #36 Maybe I’ll skip the bakery – I got caught by Twilight half way to the town, she told me I should probably avoid it today, and try to make friends with Fluttershy. This should be interesting. Entry #37 Fluttershy is like a freaking crazy cat lady, but instead of cats… it’s… everything. Falcons, tortoises, squirrels, chickens (I saw that gray Pegasus that flew into a wall back in Manehattan. She was in the chicken coop.), rabbits… I think there were a flamingo and a bear chilling in the back yard. I’m about as tall as the house, so I’m guessing I’m going to have to coax her out of it. Entry #38 She wouldn’t come out, but I did manage to get acknowledgement when I explained where I was staying if she ever wanted to come say hello. I think I’ll head over to Rarity’s shop. Entry #39 “Carousel Boutique.” Heh. Clever name. Entry #40 Why in the HELL do they need saddles? Entry #41 Rarity is incredibly kind, only her and Twilight have shown any so far in Ponyville. She’s primarily a dressmaker, and has made dresses for anyone from her friends to Equestrian superstars. She’s also incredibly proficient at finding… diamonds, which appear to be found in multiple colors, pre-cut, in the ground. Upon seeing my shoddy state (I’m still wearing a thread-bare, trashed polo and some near-dead shorts), she immediately took my measurements (white magic) and asked if I would be the subject of her most ambitious fashion project yet. Glancing around her shop… I asked her to keep in mind I’m male, and told her to have a go at it. As I crawled back out the door (She’d insisted I come in, however poorly I fit in the door), I noticed a small white unicorn peeking out of a back room. It was the one with Applebloom in the orchard those weeks ago. Entry #42 I have discovered the answer to life, the universe, and everything. No, I’m kidding. I just miss books. I can’t believe that neither Twilight nor myself had noticed this – though the ponies speak the same language as I do, our written languages are immensely different. While my language has a character set that we combine to form words, the ponies written language is more like an eastern language. One symbol represents a meaning or a word, and can be combined for entirely different meanings. And it’s all horse stuff, too – symbols are horseshoes and riding crops (there’s a lot of references to humanity for me supposedly being the first), carrots and branding irons. The language is very complex, but Twilight has agreed to try and teach me. Entry #43 Applejack woke me up a few minutes ago, in the middle of the night – the first time any of the ponies have purposefully woken me up. Apparently it’s “Winter Wrap-Up day.” So my earlier theory was correct… not only days pass faster, but also seasons, and presumably years. Why do we need to “wrap up” winter, though? Entry #44 Good God. They change seasons manually (as with the weather, apparently. I’ve woken up to a wet Ponyville before but never actually seen it raining). Entry #45 And they sing about it. Catchy tune. There’s three “teams” of ponies – weather team (entirely Pegasi – no magic is allowed so no one else can do it), animal team (in charge of waking animals from hibernation and repairing their nests), and plant team (clear crop fields of snow and plant new seeds for food). There’s been some serious organizational disasters in the past, it seems, so Twilight is actually a sort of leader; she’s orchestrating the entire thing. I’ve already found out I can’t move or touch clouds like Pegasi, and I’m too big and not dexterous enough to work on the animal team, so I’ll put up an application for the plant team. Entry #46 That was a tiring day, but for the first time, I feel like the ponies looked at me without fear. Sure it’s probably just because I was useful as hell, but it still felt nice to be looked at as a credit to the community than as an overgrown beast. Got accepted to the animal team. The snow-clearing rigs were all set up for ponies and are too small, but with a little help (and a little magic…) Twilight helped me convert a normal push-cart into a more human-appropriate shovel. Since I’m bigger, I kind of damaged the dirt, so a couple ponies followed me with plows to re-till the dirt, but I cleared more snow in less time than any other single pony. The seeds were too small for me to properly plant, so Applejack is sending me to work with the ice splitters, a small group cutting up the ice on the surface of the lakes to make it easier to remove. Entry #47 The lakes are just as cold here as they would be back home. Fell through earlier, helping the ice splitters. I discovered a couple things through this – though I’m slimmer I’m apparently not lighter, and Spike breathes fire. Fire that… sends things to Celestia. I hope she wasn’t doing anything important when that boot appeared in her face. It would seem that Spike, who lives with Twilight, sends her “letters about friendship” directly to Celestia, as opposed to using the “mailmare,” that gray Pegasus from earlier. Entry #48 Warmed up again back at the barn. Mayor Mare congratulated the town for another year of wrapping up winter “on time,” and even gave me a special shout out. That didn’t exactly go over well, but hey, it’s the thought that counts. Entry #49 Well, Rarity finished my suit. It’s surprisingly… not feminine based on what I’d seen from her other works, and is really similar to what I’d been wearing. A plain bright pink t-shirt, some tan shorts, and even a hoodie and some underwear. The shirt is made out of a bizarre lightweight material that seems to defy physics (Rarity said she’d sewn it out of hair from Pinkie Pie’s mane, which both reminded me that I still hadn’t visited the bakery and brought up concerns for the pink one’s sanity), being incredibly light and breathable, but only from one side. The hoodie was heavy and warm, and the underwear was… fitting. The shorts are made of a similar material to the shirt, but are a bit heavier and have large, flat areas on the sides – I guess towards the “flank” area. Rarity told me to come back to her if I ever found out my “special talent,” and to bring the shorts along too. Entry #50 Apples, carrots, celery stalks… haven’t had much to eat aside from fruits and vegetables while I’ve been here. While the apples and carrots are delicious, and the celery has been tastier than any I’ve had before, I need something less healthy. I’m going to the bakery to get something tasty. Entry #51 Everything here is so perfect. That was by far the most delicious cupcake I’ve ever had. And the biggest, too. Perfectly swirled frosting, not too sweet, and oh so delicious. Pinkie Pie said she made it specifically for me, and had been waiting for me to come and pick it up. Pinkie is really nice, too, and very hyper. I think she’s about 20% sugar by volume. She seems a little disconnected from reality, but also seems to control the laws of physics. She was behind the counter getting the cupcake for me, I thanked her, turned to go, and she was standing in front of the door. Twilight can teleport, but she’s a unicorn. I don’t know how she did this, but it explains my shirt being so light and fluffy. I look forward to returning.