//------------------------------// // Setting Things Right // Story: Lil Fabio - Hearts and Hooves day // by Aslfrasle //------------------------------// The last thing Lil Fabio remembered before everything went black was three voices, seemingly belonging to fillies as they carried him off away from the love-crazed horde of mares. The next thing he knew, he was waking up in some sort of building, though the branches that were visible from the windows seemed to indicate that it was actually a treehouse. He also noticed that there were various pictures all over the room of three fillies engaging in more activities than he even knew existed. A few moments later he had fully regained consciousness, and began getting up from his prone state on the ground. He had just steadied himself when the three fillies he had seen in all the pictures burst into the room. “Look girls, he’s awake!” cried one of them a white unicorn with a two-tone pink and purple mane. “Ah can see that Sweetie Belle.” Answered another, this one a pale yellow earth pony with a red mane and bow. “Now we can finally figure out why everyone is acting so weird.” The third one said, he noticed she was an orange pegasus with a deep purple mane. “Yea, now see here mister, me an Sweetie Belle here’ve been tryin to find out why our sisters are actin so strange, and then we happen to find y’all running around with all these mares including our sisters, and we want to know why!” exclaimed the yellow earth pony. “Yeah! I was going to spend the day with Rarity, but then she ran off saying something about some dreamy stallion!” said the unicorn that he guessed was Sweetie Belle. “Now you better start talking, or we’re gonna bring you right back to that mob, and finding out on our own!” the pegasus shouted shoving a fore-hoof in his face as she did so. “Well, if you get your hoof out of my face, then maybe I can tell you how it happened, though I’m neither proud nor happy about it in the slightest…”, said Lil Fabio beginning to recount his misadventure “I wanted all of the mares to love me so that they wouldn’t laugh and would take me seriously. To do that, I did some searching and found out about the Want It Need It spell that Twilight had used. I went to the library and through some sneaking found where she had hidden away the book, then I came back at when they were asleep and ‘borrowed’ the book to use the spell. Though when I did, it made everyone crazy, and they all started chasing after me...now I don’t know what to do, and I just want things to go back to normal.” After his long speech Lil Fabio was quite exasperated. “That’s quite a story ya got there, though I don’t really know what we can do to help…”, the earth pony said “by the way my name’s Applebloom, and this here’s Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, and we’re...the CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!” the three of them shouted the last part in unison, which was perhaps the loudest thing he had ever heard. “I don’t know much about magic, though if anyone could help us with reversing a spell, it would definitely be Twilight, she knows everything about magic.”, Sweetie Belle remarked. “Furthermore she also has experience, albeit slightly crazy experience with the spell, so she might have a way of fixing it.” “Yeah, but when she used it last time, wasn’t it Celestia who fixed everything, not Twilight?” asked Scootaloo. “I know that Scootaloo, but you saw how embarrassed she was after everything was fixed, knowing her she must have come up with some sort of countermeasure… right?” replied Sweetie Belle. “Even if Twilight can help us, we’ve still got 2 problems…”, interrupted Lil Fabio “One, Twilight probably won’t be too pleased to help when she finds out I ‘borrowed one of her books, and two, the moment I go out there, those crazy mares will notice and chase after me again!” “No problem, the first one is a simple apology with genuine feeling, though ah’m not sure how to solve that second problem…” remarked Applebloom. “Oh, I know, I know!”, shouted Sweetie “what if we dress him up like one of us? He could be an honorary Cutie Mark Crusader, all we would need is one of the capes, and we could hide that mass of hair he’s got by tying it up in a bun, so that everyone thinks he’s just another girl!” “Woah, woah, woah, I’m not too keen on this whole ‘dressin up like a girl’ thing you’re planning”, argued Lil Fabio, though after a few moments of deliberation and no secondary options for getting through two unnoticed, he realized he had no choice “You girls sure there isn’t another way we could do this?” “Any other way would take longer to find, and we want to fix everything and get their sisters back ASAP...plus you caused this mess so you need to accept the consequences of your actions, right girls!” declared Scootaloo. “YEAH!” they both shouted in the same excessive volume from before. “All right girls, let’s get to work!, Also I noticed ya’ll aint got yer cutie mark neither, so I was wonderin’ if ya wanted to join the club?” inquired Applebloom. “It could be fun, and after this I probably won’t have anything to do with my days, so sure!” remarked Lil Fabio. After several minutes, Lil Fabio, had a Cutie Mark Crusader cape around his neck and his hair tied up in a bun, with a small strand of it trailing behind him. Though he was initially skeptical at the very idea of them passing him off as a girl, when they showed him how he looked, he was instantly surprised. He could not even recognized the apparent filly in the mirror as himself. This just might work after all... Finished with their makeover the girls and Lil Fabio made their way out of the treehouse, and began making their way towards Ponyville. As they walked through the apple orchard, they glanced over at the barn and noticed that while there were some mares still searching the area, most had given up to search in areas they thought would be more fruitful. Careful not to test their luck, they avoided the groups at the barn and soon they had reached the road leading to Ponyville. It took several minutes of walking, but they had finally reached the town. The streets were filled with mares searching desperately, calling out for their ‘Schmoopy-doo’...and even though they didn’t seem to notice yet, the calls still sent shivers down his spine. They avoided any groups they could, and slowly but surely crossed the town, eventually ending up at their destination, the Golden Oaks Library. Scootaloo went over and knocked on the door, calling out for Twilight, though it took a few minutes before noise could be heard coming down the stairs. “I’m coming, I’m coming…” A masculine voice called from beyond the door, which the group assumed to be Spike. Spike opened up the door, and greeted the three fillies and Lil Fabio “Hey girls, what’s up...and who’s your friend?” “Hey Spike, ‘she’ is what we came here for, though could we perhaps discuss this inside, away from all these crazy mares?” asked Sweetie Belle. “Sure, come on in” responded the dragon, waving the girls inside. Once everyone was inside, he closed the door so that they could resume their conversation. “So what did you girls need, a book on cutie marks and how to get them, a book on different ideas on how to get cutie marks, we got everything here!” “Actually, we’re here for our new friend here…” began Applebloom undoing the bun in Lil Fabio’s hair, returning his look to normal. “Fabio here, went and used a spell he shouldn’t ‘ave and made all the mares in town fall in love with him, including both me and Sweetie Belle’s sisters. Now we need Twilight’s help to undo everything and fix everyone.” “Oookay...well, I’ll go get Twilight and I’m sure she’ll be able to help you with whatever you guys have done…” Responded Spike. “WAIT!”, shouted Lil Fabio eager to stop the baby dragon “has Twilight been acting strange at all today, like talking about romance, dreamy stallions and the like?” “No, she’s been acting relatively normal...though she has been nonstop reading for the past day, but that’s nothing new for Twilight.” Answered Spike. “Good, I guess the spell didn’t affect her for some reason” said Lil Fabio, breathing a sigh of relief. Spike continued his walk upstairs to fetch Twilight from her studying. They could hear him from downstairs, urging Twilight to pull herself away from her current book as the Cutie Mark Crusaders needed her help. She initially tried to have Spike handle it, though as soon as he mentioned a wayward spell, she immediately stated that she would personally handle it. They then heard her hoofsteps as she made her way down the stairs, until she was standing right in front of them ready to help. “Oh, hello again Fabio, are you finished with that book already?” she inquired. “No, I’m sorry to tell you this but that book was just a cover, I used the time you were finding it to find a different book, and then I came back at night and kind of ‘borrowed’ it for my own personal use, since I wanted to use a spell in it…” he began to explain. “Why would you steal one of the books!? I’m sure if you asked I would have lent it to you…”, she explained, a smile on her face “Now why don’t you just tell me which book it was so we can find out what you did.” “It was…Dangerous Love Spells, and why You Shouldn’t be Casting Them……and I used it for the Want it Need It spell…” he said, mumbling as he spoke. “I’m sorry, what did you say...I didn’t really catch that.” she asked. “Okay! It was the Want It Need It spell! I’m sorry please don’t be mad!” he shouted nearly on the brink of tears. “I just wanted everyone to love me, since they normally laugh at me and act like I’m some kind of adorable joke!” “Oh dear, this isn’t good, I might be able to reverse this...though I have to ask, why would a little colt like you want all the older mares to love you? If you’re looking for a special somepony, wouldn’t someone your own age be better?” Twilight asked. “That’s just it! Everyone always laughs when I say I love someone! I’m not trying to be romantic, I just want someone to be y family!”, he shouted tears dripping from his face “Ever since I was born I’ve been alone...my parents even abandoned me before even giving me a name! Since then I’ve always been looking for someone to be my family since I’ve never had one, but they always just laugh, it’s not fair!” “Oh...I’m so sorry...I didn’t know…” Twilight said, almost crying herself. “ I thought you had Bon-Bon, don’t you live together? Whenever I see her on the street, or when she comes to the library, she always talks about you like you were her own son? “She...she does?” He asked in between sobs “I never knew...I thought I was just some kid who she knew and was taking care of just to be nice…” “Oh, Fabio...She took you in and has be taking care of you because she loves you like her own, and I’m sure she would never let anything happen to you.” she said embracing the sobbing colt in a hug, attempting to calm him down and stop his tears. “You also have friends who will always be there for you, fellow crusaders...friends to the end...CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS BFF’S!” shouted all the crusaders as they joined in on the hug. Wow...I’ve never felt this loved in my life before…thought Lil Fabio, as he quieted his bawling and let himself be comforted by the warm and pleasant group hug. He realized that this was what he was looking for all along, not a special somepony; at least not yet; but someone to love him unconditionally, to hold him when he was scared, comfort him when he was sad, and cheer with him when he was happy…He also realized he would need to find some way to show Bon-Bon how much he appreciated her care and all she had done for him over the years. “There…all better now?” asked Twilight. “Yeah, I’m feeling better now.” Said Lil Fabio a small smile appearing on his face. “Good to hear! Now, we’ve only got one problem left to solve, and that’s reversing the spell you unfortunately used, though after this happened the first time I did some researching on it, and found some interesting facts. One, it can’t affect anyone that has more than a baseline understanding of magic, which is why I was not affected...and two, It can be easily reversed by a unicorn of stronger magical potential, similar to how Princess Celestia easily reversed it when I used it so carelessly. The only thing I need is the book with the spell, do you have it with you?” “No, I’m sorry, but it’s in my room at Bon-Bon’s…” answered Lil Fabio. “No problem, you stay here and I’ll go get it with Spike”, responded Twilight “Crusaders you stay here with Fabio and keep him company, okay?” “Okay!” they shouted in unison. Twilight made her way out the door to the library, while Fabio sat in the middle of the library with the Crusaders. “So, once we get this all finished, you wanna join the Crusaders, and work t’wards getting yer cutie mark?” asked Applebloom eager to find something to talk about. “Didn’t you already ask me that, I’m pretty sure I already said yes...besides I couldn’t well leave my good friends hanging, especially after how nice you guys just were!” exclaimed Lil Fabio. “Yay, now we’ve got 4 Crusaders, plus a new friends to party with!” shouted Scootaloo. “Yeah...CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, CRUSADERS FOREVER!” they all bellowed in unison. Lil Fabio realized this was probably a typical trait of this new group he had joined…though with friends like these, he wouldn’t have it any other way… Twilight returned an hour or so later with the book in her saddlebags. When she reached the candy shop, Bon-Bon nearly tackled her asking if she had seen Lil Fabio anywhere, or any idea where he might be...she responded by saying she had no clue where he was, grabbing the book and beating a hasty retreat while doing so… Twilight re-entered the library only to find 3 fillies and 1 colt playing tag in her library, and the whole place had become a gargantuan mess! Books were strewn everywhere with no care at all for their personal safety...it would take hours if not days to rearrange ad reorder everything, let alone re-shelving everything. She decided she would leave that for later, and focus on the current problem before moving on to the next one… Upon noticing that Twilight had returned, the CMC stopped their game and moved towards the center of the library, ready to finally end this whole ordeal. Twilight quickly removed the book from her bag, and readied herself for undoing the spell. “All right, this is going to take a bit of time, though it shouldn’t be all that difficult…”stated Twilight. The CMC watched as Twilight’s horn, as well as her entire body began to glow with magical energy, and after being concentrated around her for several seconds, the energy was released in a wave of lavender magic that rippled through the entire town, cleansing all the mares in town of the previous spell’s presence. After the purifying wave made it’s way through the entire town, Twilight released her magic, and the glowing ceased. “Is that it? Is it over?” asked Lil Fabio. “Yeah...that should have cleared all the effects of the spell from anypony and everypony in the whole town. Everything should be fine now.” Answered Twilight slightly winded from expending a great deal of magical energy. “Thank you so much Twilight! Now I’m sorry but I gotta go and see Bon-Bon, to thank her for everything she’s done!” shouted Lil Fabio as he ran out the door. “I’ll see you girls later!” Bon-Bon wondered what Lil Fabio had been up to all day, as she hadn’t seen him since last night...though everything that had happened today was a blur to her, she tried asking other ponies, but the said that their day was a blur too. She had been pondering this strange occurrence when Lil Fabio burst through the door, ran up to Bon-Bon and gave her one of the biggest hugs she had ever gotten. “Woah, what was that for Fabio?” she asked. “I just wanted to thank you for everything you’ve done for me, and I also wanted to say that though I didn’t realize it, you’ve been like a mother to me my whole life and, well I love you for it…” said Lil Fabio, about to break out in tears again, though they were happy tears this time “I…I don’t know what to say...except, I love you too buddy, you’ve been like a son to me since I took you in, and one of the happiest times of my life has been seeing you grow up.” Bon-Bon had almost been to choked up to speak. She had been raising Lil Fabio since he was a small colt, after learning of his inauspicious early life, and she had always felt that his troubles early in life had been the reason he never showed his emotions much. She figured that when his parents abandoned him, he lost all trust in others and felt that if he was vulnerable due to emotions he would end up getting hurt again. Though now he was openly showing emotion, and even saying that he loved her like a mother...she did not know exactly what had happened though this was by far the happiest moment of Bon-Bon’s life, and she wouldn’t trade it for anything in the entire world...