//------------------------------// // Ch6 Getting to know you [edited] // Story: Jake and the kid // by peter //------------------------------// Jake and the Kid Chapter 6 Getting to Know You Curry was in a familiar situation: Sitting quietly; still and out of the way, while a group of adults decided how to deal with her and what she’d done. Her personal best when it came to others attempting to determine her fate had been about six months before when she’d given Jess Carmichael a black eye. Jess had been two years older, a foot taller, and had a highly inflated idea of his own importance. Curry hadn’t cared about the first two points and had her own differing opinion on the last. She’d picked up a black eye and lost a tooth that had been on the verge of coming out anyway. When the teacher had pulled them apart, however, she’d been the one on top, and he’d been the one curled up in a ball calling for his momma. That time there had been the playground monitor/teacher who had pulled her kicking and screaming away from Jess, the principal, the vice-principal, her homeroom teacher, the nurse, who was checking out their injuries, Jess’s father, and of course, Old Ben. It had been a very satisfying day, even after she had ended up having to shovel stables at Old Man Sedgwick’s boarding stable for a month and apologize to Jess. Actually, the apology had been pretty sweet. Old Ben had stood by her while she stood at the front of Jess’s class and said how sorry she’d been to give him a black eye. The look on his face had been priceless as his friends and all the cute girls in his seventh-grade class had watched him squirm while the scrawny fifth grader brat apologized for rubbing his face in the dirt. Ah, good times. Curry had thought she’d never top that level of adult frustration. She’d been wrong. She watched with interest as a huddle of five multi-hued ponies debate the what, how, and why of her existence. Just like the adults in the principal’s office, they were at a near total loss in regards to how to handle her. And this time there was no old Ben around to steer the conversation and make suggestions. Various snippets of conversation floated her way ranging from, ‟What is she?” to the very amusing, ‟Do you think she eats ponies? ” Curry’s tummy chose that moment to growl loudly. The handful of popcorn she’d had from Pinkie Pie hadn’t really gone far when it came to filling the void that was her stomach. The yellow pegasus, Fluttershy, gave a little eep, and hid behind her friends. Her inner brat caused Curry to made a scary face, much as she might to some kid she’d caught staring at her in class. She felt guilty as soon as she did so because of the look of true fear that appeared in the shy pony’s eyes. The rainbow pegasus, Rainbow Jazz? shot her a dirty look in return that completed the job of making her feel lower than worm spit for teasing such an obviously coward of a pony. Poor thing was likely mistreated when she was younger. Pinkie Pie had declined to get involved in the discussion. She was sitting on the floor beside Curry, tossing a ball back and forth with Jake, who was sitting on his haunches in the middle of the room. He was learning how to use his new, much more dexterous hooves. Pinkie would toss Jake the ball. He would then bat at it. Sometimes it came back to Pinkie, sometimes it sailed off on a tangent. Pinkie would retrieve it and then repeat the whole thing. It took a few tries, but eventually Jake began to get the hang of gripping the ball with his hooves. Not that learning how to hold the ball made a great deal of difference as far as the rest of the game went. Jake still had a bit of trouble throwing it back. Half the time his hoof didn’t seem to want to let go of the ball and he’d be left with a funny look on his face as he shook his leg back and forth in an effort to make the ball come loose. Try as she could, Curry could not spot any difference in his grip from when it did, or did not, stick to the ball. All the while Pinkie Pie played with Jake, she kept up a steady stream of chatter. Some of it was incomprehensible, but parts of it were useful. Curry now knew the names of all the other ponies. Also, their birthdays, favorite kinds of cake, and professions, although the idea of a pony dress designer was a bit hard to wrap her mind around. So was trying to imagine a pony in a dress in the first place for that matter. She felt a certain amount of satisfaction on learning that Applejack was a farmer, an apple grower to be specific. Jake was likely to go nuts if he found that out, and she wasn’t entirely sure if she was going to let him. She well remembered the day after he figured out how to work the latch on the apple bin in the barn. She ‘did not’ want a repeat of that. She’d darn near needed a gas mask to muck out his soiled stall and had settled for a wet cloth. That aside, it made her look at Applejack with even more respect than she already had. She’d known that the Stetson-wearing pony had to be a real working pony and not some show pony like the others with their outlandish colors. ‟Twilight. Are you down there?” a faint, boyish voice called from outside the room. Unconsciously Curry felt herself bristling, till she remembered her situation. This would not be a stupid boy, but likely a young colt. They tended to be silly and cute, unlike human boys, who while silly were not in the least bit cute. The purple unicorn, who Pinkie said was a wizard(1), broke away from the debate and called out. ‟Just a moment, Spike.” A small ball of light formed on the tip of her horn and broke away, darting out the door. She called after it. ‟I’ve sent you a tracking charm. It will lead you here.” ‟Spike? What? Butch was taken?” Curry said sarcastically, in a joking tone of voice, just before the bipedal lizard walked through the door. Curry was taking talking ponies and such in stride, for a given value of 'in stride'. After all, she had been talking with horses for as long as she had been talking to people, only people's responses always sounded dumber than the ones she made up in her mind for the horses. But nothing in her life, outside of her movie collection, had prepared her for a walking, talking, reptile. She jumped to her feet and pressed her back tight against the wall while checking out escape routes before he could spot her. Right up to the point where the lizard spotted Jake and went all bug-eyed before racing across the floor toward her friend. Personal fear forgotten, or at least submerged under a greater fear for her friend’s safety, Curry lunged forward, intending to tackle the thing before it could hurt Jake. Instead, she got a mouthful of poofy pink mane, and a nose full of cotton candy scent when Pinkie stepped in front of her. ‟Sorry! My Pinkie Sense told me that if I didn’t step over here right now a chain of causality would start that would bring an end to Equestria and ponykind in general.” The pink pony’s stomach rumbled and Pinkie’s face scrunched up in concentration as she added, ‟That, or I have gas.” Normally a comment like that, given her experience with Jake would have had Curry heading for the hills. In this case, her, ‟Get out of my way,” was not intended to clear an escape avenue, but an order to Pinkie to let her through. It didn’t work. The mare stayed right where she was. Spitting out a few threads of candy floss flavored hair, Curry tried to step around the pony shaped obstacle. Pinkie moved with her, an apologetic look on her face. When she couldn’t get around Pinkie, Curry threw herself on top of the pink pony’s back, intending to slide over and off on the other side. ‟Wheee,” Pinkie cried out and started to bounce around the room. Curry had taken second place in calf riding at the last fall fair. Out of instinct she swung herself fully astride Pinkie Pie and clamped her legs around the pony’s barrel. Compared to the calf, Pinkie was easy, but riding her wasn’t giving Curry much time to think or act. By the time Pinkie came to a stop, huffing, and puffing and pawing at the ground ferociously it was too late. The giant lizard had reached Jake. Curry stared in amazement. No biting, clawing, chewing or any other sort of mayhem. All it was doing was asking Jake questions a mile a minute. ‟I can’t believe it! Big Hoof is an Alicorn! Does that mean all those sighting and footprints are yours? Have you been roaming the mountains for centuries? Living a solitary life of contemplation? Have you come forth now to share the accumulated wisdom of centuries of solitary meditation? Curry felt herself relax. While some of the terms he was using were strange, his manner of asking was not. How could you be scared of a nerd? No matter what he looked like. Jake blinked slowly, He bent down to peer closely at the reptile, who looked a whole lot smaller next to Jake then he had looked to her when Curry first saw him walk into the room. He couldn’t be more than three, maybe three and a half, feet tall, which made him about one foot shorter than she was. Jake sniffed the chatterbox lizard, looked around the room at all the ponies, and Curry, who was just staring at the tableau with assorted expressions on their face, back to the lizard, and then at the ball that was still stuck to his hoof. He held this out toward the reptile and said, ‟I haze a ball.” The lizard seemed nonplussed by that. Twilight stepped forward, giggling lightly. Rainbow Dash was having near hysterics up near the ceiling while Applejack snorted into a raised hoof. Rarity put a decorous hoof up over her mouth to hide a broad grin. Even Fluttershy was smiling a little bit. ‟Spike. I told you, there is no such thing as Big Hoof. Jake is simply very, large. Well within the normal parameters, however.” ‟For a five-year-old, Sugarcube?” ‟Well, no. But he is an Alicorn. That skews the data set. Princess Celestia is much larger than most ponies. And Nightmare Moon was just as large.” ‟Wait, wait. He’s only five?” The lizard sputtered out, trying to avoid the ball that Jake continued trying to give him. He finally took it and looked way up at Jake towering over him. ‟How much more proof do you need Twilight? If he’s this big at five, he’s going to be as big as a house once he’s fully grown.” ‟No, he might grow another half hand, but he’s pretty much as tall as he’s going to get. He’ll likely put on five hundred pounds of muscle over the next four to six years.” Curry said from her place on top of Pinkie. She was repeating nearly word for word what Old Ben had said to a bunch of first graders on a field trip a couple of months previously. ‟Yeah, right. Like anypony knows all that about the life cycle of Big Hoof,” the reptile said in a dismissive tone, turning around to look in Curry’s direction just as she slid off of Pinkie Pie’s back. ‟Now Spike. I’m sure Curry knows what she’s talking about,” Twilight said, feeling a bit of internal relief. She hadn’t really thought about the implications of Jake’s age compared to his size until Spike brought it up, but she was glad to hear continued growth was not going to be an issue. His current large dimensions were already going to cause problems, she just knew it. Spike wasn’t listening. His lower jaw was hanging nearly six inches below his upper as he stared in slack-faced wonder at Curry. The small girl didn’t notice, having become preoccupied with trying to brush party glitter off of her black tights. Not having much luck with her bare hands, she’d snatched off her over-sized Stetson to give that a try, much as she’d seen her uncle use it to knock snow off his jacket and pants. She received a shock when she took off her hat. A huge spill of russet-shaded blonde hair cascaded down her back. When she’d gone to sleep the night before, it had been its usual hacked-off mess with no single strand longer than six or seven inches. A lot of it much shorter. Now it fell all the way to her hips. Curry felt the pressure as her hair fell around her shoulders and down her back. Looking down she could see it spread around her hips. Startled, not believing it could be hers, she put a hand behind her head and felt the thick mass. It was hers. The long strands were firmly attached to her head. More, they seemed to be sprouting right down the nape of her neck. Just like a . . . horse’s mane? Curry wasn’t as shocked as she might have been. After the morning’s events, this was pretty insignificant. What she was, was a little annoyed. Jake got wings and a horn, all she got was long hair. What the hay was with that? Curry was shocked out of her annoyance by a loud cry from lizard boy. ‟Oh. MY. GOODNESS!” Spike cried out. ‟Now Spike,” Twilight tried to butt in. ‟CELESTIA!! A Human! A for real, right here in front of us, Human! Someone, anyone, quick! Get a picture for Celestia’s sake!" ‟Okey, Doki, Loki,” Pinkie said producing a camera with an over-sized flash from her backpack. ‟Say cloud cake with whipped cream and strawberries on top.” She then popped off the flash right in Spike’s face, leaving the little dragon with swirling eyes. ‟Pinkie Pie! Not me. Her!” Spike said gesturing in the general direction of Curry while trying to wipe the tears from his eyes. ‟Well, why didn’t you say so, silly? Do you mind?” Pinkie Pie asked Curry, gesturing with her camera. Curry stopped fiddling with her new hair and shrugged her shoulders. ‟Sure, Don’t see why not. Just let me get over here alongside Jake.” Curry stepped around the still flabbergasted Spike, giving him a wide berth, and walked over to Jake. The stallion leaned over a bit to nuzzle her cheek and nibble her longer hair experimentally. Deciding it wasn’t edible, or nearly as nice smelling as Pinkie Pie’s mane, he lifted his head and sat up straight. Curry stepped in-between Jake’s sprawled out hind legs and leaned back against his belly. His long forelegs bracketed her and she was able to rest her left hand against one muscular limb. As the last step, she took off her hat again and nestled it in the crook of her right arm like she’s seen Old Ben do when getting his picture taken. ‟You doing ok, buddy?” she said out of the side of her mouth while smiling a ‘getting my picture taken grimace,’ at Pinkie who was setting the camera up on a tripod. ‟Having fun, Curry,” Jake said. Just then Pinkie Pie pushed in beside Curry. The pony stood up on her hind legs, which made her significantly taller than the small girl next to her. She wrapped one foreleg around Curry’s shoulders while staring up with a happy smile at Jake, her muzzle just under his chin. ‟Of course you’re having fun. I mean why wouldn’t you be? This is like the most fun thing this week. Well, there was that explosion in the ice cream parlor on Maresday, but this is the best fun thing since then.” Just then the camera went off with a loud poof and a flash that nearly blinded Curry and Jake. ‟STOP!” Spike yelled out. ‟What the matter with you? Don’t any of you get it? This! Is! A. Human! This is even bigger than finding Big Hoof! This is the ultimate! Just think of all the things she must know! All the things she can teach us! Like why they’ve been drawing those mysterious crop circles all these years.” Applejack lifted a hoof to gather attention and said, ‟I’d sort of like to know that myself. Lost near on an acre of good prime oats last week when some varmint went and drew a whole lot of those fancy dan symbols in the north forty.” ‟What? You didn’t know?” Rainbow Dash said. ‟That was a coded message to any Pegasus cool enough to read it that there was a major rave happening in Cloudsdale.” ‟And you just went and used my field as a big old billboard.” Applejack growled at her rainbow-hued friend. ‟Hey. It wasn’t me. Besides, it wasn’t that big a sign. And it was one sweet party.” Spike got between Applejack and Rainbow Dash. ‟Ponies, ponies. Can we focus here? Hello, a Human,” Spike said, gesturing at Curry with both hands. He stopped and looked at her for a moment, standing in front of the sitting Jake and next to the standing Pinkie Pie. He blinked and said. ‟Funny, I would have thought you’d be bigger.” ‟Well, you ain’t exactically Godzilla your own self, short stuff,” Curry said, a bit miffed. She was taller than him. She didn’t get where he got off talking about people not being big enough. She’d grow, eventually. ‟I’m not short. I’ll have you know I’m the perfect size and weight for a dragon of my age and development.” Curry stood up straight, pushing off from Jake and Pinkie. ‟Say what, now? Y’all are a dragon?” That put a whole new complexion on things. When she’d been just a kid she’d thought dragons were giant monsters who burned stuff down and ate people unless a brave knight on his horse killed them. Now she knew better. Dragons were just misunderstood. They could be great friends if you just treated them right. ‟That’s right,” Spike replied, buffing his claws on his chest scales. ‟Pretty cool, right.” Then he remembered what he’d been upset about. ‟Oh, no. you don’t go fooling me with your clever Human Tricks. We’ve caught you so now you have to grant us a wish before we let you go.” ‟Really? A wish?” Rarity asked, her ears pricking up. ‟As it happens I’ve been trying to get my hooves on this simply splendid bit of fabric but they can only make a few yards of a year and it’s already bespoke. I don’t suppose you could . . . do something about that Spiky whiky?” ‟Your wish is my, wish,” Spike said in a dazed tone. His mouth hanging open slightly with a bit of drool trailing off his lower lip. He turned to face Curry. ‟You heard Rarity, So let's make with the wish.” ‟Spike!” Twilight yelled out. ‟Will you give it a rest!” she ordered. ‟There is no such thing as Big Hoof, and there certainly is no such thing as humans. You have got to stop reading the trash that Lyra prints up in her newsletter. Isn’t that right, Curry?” the purple Unicorn asked, turning to look at Curry. ‟Well, it’s like this. Sort of.” Curry hedged tapping her forefingers together in a nervous manner. The last thing she wanted to do was to contradict a teacher, and whatever else she might be, Twilight had all the mannerisms of a first-class hard-ass teacher. Twilight stared at Curry, her look of expectation slowly fading away till with a sigh she dropped her head and said in a quiet, put upon voice. ‟Anndd, you are a human, aren’t you?” ‟Fraid so,” Curry said in as meek a voice as she could manage. She’d learned the hard way that you did not want to tell a teacher she was as wrong as socks on a rooster. ‟See, I told you so. Now about my wish. And, what is with those crop circles?” Spike asked turning an interrogative look on Curry and making her squirm. Curry was starting to get a bit flustered. The little feller just would not stop talking at her. What did the movie say about getting a dragon to calm down? Oh yeah. Curry held her arm straight out, her hand flat with the palm facing down and just above Spike’s muzzle. ‟I swear I ain’t had nothing to do with messing up any crops,” she said in the same tone of voice she’d use if she were approaching a skittish pony. Spike’s eyes crossed slightly as he looked at Curry’s fingers just inches in front of his eyes. For a moment they actually seemed a bit glazed, but then he gave his head a good shake and glared at her. ‟Oh no, you’re not going to get out of it that easy. I know you're trying to work one of your human spells on me!” Spike said, leaning in past the palm of her hand intent on giving Curry a good grilling, of the interrogatory variety, not the incendiary. He was suddenly yanked backward by a nimbus of faint purple magic and set down in a corner of the room. ‟I think someone needs a time out,” Twilight said sternly to the fuming dragon. She turned back to Curry and plastered a smile on her face. ‟So. A human. That must be. . . interesting?” Curry shrugged, her eyes still a bit wide from seeing Twilight float Spike across the room. ‟Not as interesting as being a Pony with magical power I’m betting.” Twilight gave a little laugh without taking her focus off of Curry. ‟So, tell me. Curry. How did you come to be here?” Twilight’s simple question was the pebble that started an avalanche. The normal rule of thumb when talking to a school teacher was to say only the absolute minimum. Don’t lie, but don’t volunteer anything. Technically the pony in front of her had no authority over her. As such the only answer Curry owed her as an adult authority figure was Name, address, and phone number. Only, for a week now Curry had been bottling up words. Words of pain, words of anger, words of sorrow. If she’d been allowed to visit Jake she would have spilled them all out in a torrent to him each night. When she’d finally gotten to see him she hadn’t dared do so. She’d need to stay calm and in control so that he, in turn, would be calm and not spooked when she took them both up the mountain. Now, for some reason, with all those ponies looking at her with eyes that were merely curious or kind, with no sense of judgment, Twilight’s simple question caused a cascade of memories to flood through her mind. Memories that she’d been shoving deep down inside. She tried to push them away, tried to think only about this strange magical land with the strange funny colored ponies, but try as she would she could not do it. Tears started to run down Curry’s cheeks, she swallowed, let out a little hiccup, and started to weep silently. Twilight’s eyes widened and she looked a bit frightened as she lifted a tentative hoof to offer comfort only to stop with her hoof hanging in the air, unsure of what to do with it. Unsure how to fix this. Suddenly, Twilight was hip-checked away and the yellow pegasus with the pink mane was there, enveloping Curry in a soft hug that smelled of flowers and sunlight. Her wings wrapped around the small girl doubling the hug and supplying warmth and comfort. ‟There, there, little one. You’re safe. Nopony is going to hurt you.” Curry turned her damp face into the soft feathers of Fluttershy’s wings. Up above both of them Jake, who had been looking over at Spike with a wistful expression, noticed Curry’s distress. He let out a little whicker of worry and lowered his head while mantling his large dark wings around her and the small yellow pegasus, cutting them off from the others. He nuzzled Curry’s longer hair, lightly nipping and tugging on a few strands. ‟Don’t cry, Curry. Don’t be sad.” Jake gave a little hiccup himself and great fat salty tears ran out of his eyes and dripped down on top of the small girl’s head and shoulders. Feeling Jake’s tears, Curry pulled herself away from Fluttershy with a small gasp. She looked up at Jake who’s tear dripped down onto her face. Guilt filled her. There was no reason for her to inflict her pain on him. He was such a happy person and he so seldom got a chance to express it. She stifled a small sob and plastered a smile on her face. ‟Oh, don’t you start too, you big ox,” Curry sniffed. She looked up at him with her tear streaked face and gave him a pat on the cheek. ‟I’m not hurt. Just got something in my eyes. You know how I get all leaky when I’m forking hay. How about you go visit the lizard.” ‟That’s the dragon!” Spike yelled out from his time out corner. Jake seemed hesitant, but Curry pushed against his chest with the palm of her hand. With a bit of scrambling, he got his long legs under him without knocking into anyone, pony or human. He ambled over to Spike, looking back over his shoulder a few times and getting waved on by Curry. As soon as he reached the small dragon he began to ask questions, and then, without waiting for an answer, to talk about the trip up the mountain and the things they’d seen in the castle. Them a moment later he started to ask Spike questions about the things he’d just talked about. It was Spike’s turn to feel overwhelmed. ‟Spike, why don’t you take a walk outside with Jake,” Twilight suggested. She looked around at her friends. Applejack held up a hoof. ‟I got this, Twilight.” She trotted over to Spike and Jake. ‟Come on guys. Let's go for a walk and stretch out our legs.” The three of them exited through the break in the room. Jake stepping easily over the tumbled blocks. Applejack jumped up on top of the heap of rubble and then lightly from one pile to another till she disappeared outside. Spike wove between the taller piles and scrambled over the lower. Just before he disappeared, he looked over his shoulder at Twilight and mouthed, ‘You owe me,’ before vanishing from sight. For a while, Jake’s deep voice could be heard rambling on nonstop about everything and anything that popped into the colt’s mind. Curry watched Jake leave with the others, the tears streaming down her face increasing, she tried to dash them away with her arm, but they kept coming. She gulped, swallowing the salty fluid. A small coughing sound burbled up out of her throat as she started to gasp. Her breath started to come in pants as her face screwed up, and at last, the floodgates opened as Fluttershy wrapped her wings all the way around Curry and pulled the tiny girl up against her body while Curry wailed into her shoulder. Curry had a lot of pain stored up and it took a while, but eventually, her cries started to taper off. Fluttershy didn’t even wince as the small girl rubbed her tear and snot streaked face against her shoulder. She’d had worse smeared across her hide. ‟How are you feeling?” Fluttershy asked in a gentle voice, all fear of the strange creature in her arms vanished as if it had never been there in the first place. She stroked Curry’s mottled face with a soft wing and found it did not look nearly as scary as it had before. ‟I’m feeling a bit better now. Miss Fluttershy,” Curry replied in a voice that was a bit weak from the strain. A small container suddenly floated into view. ‟Have some water, dear. You must be absolutely parched. I know I am after a good cry.” Curry looked over at the kind face of the white Unicorn who was looking at her with sympathy. ‟Thank you kindly, ma’am,” she replied in her best go to Sunday dinner voice.” ‟Oh, heavens. Call me Rarity. I’m far too young to be called Madam.” ‟Just call me, Fluttershy,” Fluttershy said in a soft whisper. ‟If that’s ok?” ‟You can call me, Awesome,” The rainbow pegasus said. ‟Or just Rainbow Dash.” ‟Yeah, you are pretty awesome,” Curry said with a weak smile. ‟Yeah, I know. I’m the best.” ‟Yes, we all know, Rainbow. I’m Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia. You can call me Twilight. Spike, the small dragon, is my personal assistant, and baby brother.” ‟You must have, a right interesting family . . . Twilight,” Curry said hiccuping a bit. Suddenly Pinkie Pie was there, shaking Curry’s hand. ‟Oh, she has the best big brother ever. And her Sister-in-law is the best sister-in-law ever. And Spike is a real sweety. And I’m Pinkie Pie, but you already knew that. I have so much stuff to tell you. I hope you have lots to tell me. Because I have so much to tell you but people get all cranky wanky if you don’t let them say anything so I hope you have lots to say because I have. Lots to,” Pinkie took a deep breath and finished with, ‟say.” Curry blinked a bit, and then wiped her eyes with her forearm. ‟Thanks. I guess maybe I do have some stuff to say,” she said, looking around at the circle of pastel ponies who were surrounding her. All the words that she’d wanted to say to Jake for the last week were bunched up inside her mind. Crying into Fluttershy’s wings had eased her heart a bit, but she still had all those words piled up that she needed to say or burst. ‟It started about a week or so ago. I was in school and someone came to take me to the principal’s office . . .” The words flooded out of Curry. Learning her great uncle Ben, Old Ben, because her father, who she had never known, had been Young Ben, had passed away. Being put up in the house of one of the local ladies. The social worker interviewing her, again. The funeral. All the townspeople telling her how sorry they were and how nice a guy Old Ben had been. Being taken back to her house to gather up her belongings. Finding out that she was to be taken away to live in the big city. Running away from home. The ride up the mountain. Finding the castle at the top of the mountain. The decision she’d made when she woke up this morning. That she had to take Jake home so he’d be safe. Even if it meant she’d never see him again. All the while she talked, Fluttershy held her softly in her wings, every now and then wiping away the tears that were running down Curry’s cheeks. Rarity would offer her a drink whenever her voice started to get a bit strained. When it was done Curry felt wrung out. Her stomach hurt where it had been knotted up in stress, but at the same time, it felt looser and more comfortable. When Rarity floated over a handkerchief and pressed it against her nose with the instructions to blow, she didn’t even hesitate, but cleared her nose and allowed the white Unicorn to use some water and another cloth to clean her dirt and tear smudged face. It was just so comfortable to surrender control. She had spent all of last week not daring to trust a single adult. Now she was surrounded by five adults she had only just met and she trusted them unreservedly. Maybe it was because they were ponies and that made it easier. Whatever the reason, she trusted them, trusted them enough to be a kid who needed her nose blown and her face wiped. Who needed a hug and a shoulder, or flank, to cry on. Trusted them enough to slowly sink into a deep sleep as her body surrendered to the need for recovery. Twilight slowly tiptoed away from Fluttershy and the little mare who was sleeping in her wings. Even Pinkie and Dash kept quiet as they joined her in slipping out into the interior hallway. Rarity, of course, always moved in grace and silence. ‟Whatever are we going to do with her?” Rarity asked, in a tone that said very clearly that they were going to do something. ‟We certainly can not send her back to where she came from. What is there for her?” ‟Yeah. Lost her parents when she was just a foal. Lost her guardian, her only living relative, a week ago. An old witch separating her from her only friend in the world. The little filly has it tough,” Rainbow Dash said, her tone unusually serious for her. ‟I don’t think the word she used was witch, Rainbow,” Twilight said in a distracted tone. Twilight’s mind was racing over the implications of what she had learned and deduced. Curry was one of the mythical filly tale creatures that featured in so many old stories. Sometimes as benevolent, but more often as evil. Curry’s presence and her story indicated that there might be some truth behind some of those tales. The little mare had world walked, along with Jake, to Equestria. Given what had happened to Jake when he had arrived it was clear that he belonged in this world. He had likely been drawn here because of that. As an Alicorn, his magic had been powerful enough to open the path and drag Curry, literally, along with him when he made his way here. That created a problem. For all his size and apparent physical maturity, he was just a colt. It had not been a carefully contrived spell that had brought them here, but a flare of uncontrolled magic, much like the flare she had let out on the day she had earned her cutie mark. She was sure that at the time Jake had been desperate to get Curry somewhere safe and secure. His magic and inner nature had chosen the way and destination. Trying to duplicate what Jake had done in reverse was almost certainly impossible, just as duplicating the exact effects Twilight had performed on that day were still far beyond her. Jake wouldn’t be able to tell them how he had done it. He likely didn’t even know he had. That was maybe for the best. Time enough to address that when he matured and could deal with his responsibility as an adult. She had enough experience with the Cutie Mark Crusaders to know that if he found out now, he would do ‘anything’ to make it right. Twilight shuddered at the thought of the sort of havoc Jake might create trying to world walk on purpose. That was magic of the absolute highest order. In fact, the only reason she knew such a spell existed was based solely on what she had just learned. There was no such thing as ‘one’ in the universe. If it had been done once, it could be done again. And in all likelihood, given the old stories, it had been done in the past. That did nothing to solve the problem of Curry. ‟Jake has a place in this world. She doesn’t,” Twilight said quietly as she tried to think about what to do. ‟Don’t be silly, Twilight!” Rarity said with a touch of impatience at her dense friend. ‟Of course she has a place in this world. She has Jake and Fluttershy. Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie and you. And me of course. That’s far more than she had back in that simply awful place she came from.” ‟Yes, yes that might all be true,” Twilight said, not wanting to get into an argument that had no purpose. It wasn’t like she could send the little mare back where she belonged, after all. ‟But the facts remain that there is none of her kind here. Whatever is to become of her?” The very impossibility of the situation was actually a relief. Twilight felt a certain easing in her mind. This was so far above her pay grade, she couldn’t even see the top. That meant she was not going to be expected to solve the problem. Couldn’t solve it. She looked over at where Spike, Applejack, and Jake, had just walked around the corner. Jake chattering away a mile a minute. Applejack looking a bit pained, but Spike was now giving as good as he got. ‟Spike,” Twilight called out. ‟Take a letter.” [1]Actually, Pinkie said Twilight was amazing stupendous magicrific.