Chapter Fifteen
“…One Must Walk A Mile In Their Shoes”
After a quick stop at Carousel Boutique, in which Rarity was very surprised to learn from Terra just who I was, I came out with a new set of clothes that fit me perfectly.
At first, she’d wanted to make a dress for me, but I politely declined (very firmly) and instead asked for a similar outfit she’d made for Leon for his date, with certain cosmetic changes.
The gloves were full-finger and they went to a point about halfway up my forearm, the shoes were narrower with a slight heel to them and the shirt didn’t end in cuffs, but loose frills and they went down to my hands. I also opted to lose the tie and sunglasses and left a couple buttons undone at the top.
All in all, I was feeling quite peckish in my new outfit, though I made sure to have Rarity send Leon a bill despite her protests. Terra also got her hands on Leon’s bag and refused to give it back to me, saying that it didn’t belong to me even though he and I inhabited the same body.
Once that was done, I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t eaten in a while and I was starving, so Terra and I made a trip to Sugarcube Corner.
Boy, was I surprised. ‘Surprised me too, Nica. We’ve really gotta watch our backs around her.’
Anyway, we took one step in the door before my vision was full of pink.
“You came back, Ghost-Girl, and you brought Terra with you, does that mean you’re not a ghost anymore, *GASP* we need to throw you a ‘I’m not a ghost anymore’ party, oh I’ve never thrown one of those before I wonder what I should serve, something like ghost-themed cupcakes or maybe I should serve something ghosts eat, hey Ghost-Girl, what do ghosts eat?”
Holy crap, if someone decided to invent a machine gun that could fire a hundred thousand words per minute I doubt they would’ve even come close to matching the lethal velocity Pinkie Pie was shooting them.
“Pinkie Pie, I was never a ghost and I have no idea what ghosts eat and I’m not too eager to find out if you don’t mind.” I said, but then I remembered I have something called manners “I’m Veronica, by the way. I’m… a friend of Leon’s.”
“Veronica? That’s a mouthful, I think I’ll just call you ‘Nica’, doesn’t that sound cute?” Pinkie replied, a huge smile on her face. Wait, hold up, she’s decided to use the nickname I’ve been using pretty much the entire time? What the…?
‘Nica, there’s a time and place for that, but not now…’ Leon interrupted me with some stellar wisdom.
“Leon?” Pinkie Pie asked, suddenly looking everywhere “Hey, Leon, where are you? I heard your voice but I can’t see you! *GASP* Oh NO, did the ghosts pull you into the TV?! I knew we shouldn’t have built your home on that ancient earth pony burial site and now it’s haunted!” She suddenly paused and got a thoughtful look on her face “Actually, That might be a fun place to stop on Nightmare Night. Hey Leon, can we leave you in the TV until after Nightmare Night, I wanna use your place as a haunted house to scare the foals.”
I stared at her dumbstruck, before I erupted into laughter.
‘That’s not funny, Nica…’ Leon deadpanned at me, but I just laughed harder.
“Oh, please she… thinks… that one of us… is a GHOST! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” I said between laughs, before dropping to the ground holding my sides “AND she thinks you’re in the TV! That’s freakin’ hilarious!”
“Aren’t you?” She asked me with genuine curiosity. I managed to get a hold of my laughter and stood back up.
“Nah. I’m normally a voice inside Leon’s head, but today we’re experiencing some role reversal, which means he’s the voice right now.” I said, a huge smile on my face. Then I noticed everypony in the bakery giving me an extremely odd stare “See something interesting over here? I mean, I did just get a new outfit today. Pretty neat, huh?”
I know it sounded kind of brusque, but it had the desired effect of giving the ponies something to respond to that could get them out of the conversation. Once their attention was back to the meal at hand, I returned my attention to the pink party pony-girl.
“Alright, Pinkie; Terra and I are here for lunch. What do you recommend?” I asked her, to which she responded with a huge smile.
“EVERYTHING! I’ll go and get you my favorites, which I’m sure you’ll like because everypony likes my favorites!” She replied, dashing off to the back before returning a moment later with a whole tray full of various pastries. My stomach growled at the sight and my mouth watered, damn I was hungry.
We took it to a nearby table and I began devouring the delicious baked goods. Terra took some for herself and ate in relative calm and peace in comparison to me.
“Wow, Nica, you must be hungry.” Pinkie chirped excitedly.
“Starved. It’s been forever since I’ve had real food.” I replied between mouthfuls.
After a moment of demolishing the food, I sat back and patted my stomach with a contented sigh (though my clothes were feeling a bit tight, I’m gonna have to fix that in a bit).
“So I’m guessing we should forward the bill to Leon and he’ll pay us back?” Pinkie asked me, to which I nodded.
She smiled and dashed back to the register, tapped at the buttons for a moment before printing a receipt and sticking it in an envelope, which she handed to Derpy Hooves (who had apparently been there the whole time) when the mailmare passed her on the way out.
I stood from the table and stretched, before deciding to head down to the track to test some of my… abilities. As Terra and I were passing by Pinkie, she waved at me.
“Bye, Nica! Come back and see us sometime when you have a body again!” She called, which netted her a few concerned looks from the other ponies.
As Terra and I walked through town (again), I noticed what few stallions there were in town stopped what they were doing to stare at me as well as several mares. I grinned to myself and continued walking. Once we got there, I turned back to find Terra catching up to me, breathing hard.
“What’s up with you, Terra? You look like you ran a mile.” I asked, to which she gave me a strained smile.
“I’m sorry, it’s just… you walk very fast for… someone who hasn’t had a body… in a while.” She gasped, which caused me to put my hands on my hips and shake my head exasperated.
“Terra, why don’t you go sit in the stands while I practice my stuff.” I said, to which she readily agreed.
As I stepped out onto the field, I saw several ponies out stretching and exercising, with Rainbow Dash prepping herself before flight.
I removed my hat and threw it perfectly to Terra, who caught it deftly despite being surprised. I advanced on a standing fence in the center of the field, which was almost as tall as I was and leapt upon it without using my hands.
Okay, I did that by focusing kinetic energy at the bottom of my feet and pushing off the ground like a normal jump, but with an added kick provided by the energy. It was some pretty basic magic I’d mastered early, but the various ponies all stared at me in awe as I gracefully alighted upon the fence and remained perfectly balanced upon it.
‘Okay, even I’ll admit that was impressive. I wonder if I’ll be able to do it…’ Leon said, to which I shrugged.
“Pretty easy, really. Your body is nearly always generating kinetic energy, all you have to do is store some of it and then focus it where it’s needed; the concept works a lot like your normal magic.” I replied casually, taking a few steps back and forth on the fence.
“Who’re you talking to?” I heard a raspy voice ask from behind and when I turned, all I saw were a pair of magenta eyes staring back into mine.
“Wow, you really have personal space issues, babe.” I said, giving her a deadpan stare and ignoring her question.
“What? Hey, you didn’t answer my question!” She retorted angrily, but I shrugged and walked backwards away from her.
“And I don’t intend to because you are rude.” I stated, before ducking low and spinning around beneath her flying tackle, standing back up perfectly with my hands in my pockets.
She looked around quickly for a second before spinning around and giving me an extremely pissed off glare.
‘Well, crap. Somehow, I don’t think this’ll end well for Dash. Try not to rough her up too much.’ Leon said with a sigh.
Don’t worry; her pride will be hurt more than anything else.
I put my left hand behind my back, placed my right foot forward and extended my right hand out to her with a slight bow.
“Would thou honor me with a dance?” I asked her, a coy smile on my face. The expression on Dash’s face was priceless; I could almost see the steam coming out of her head, just before she shot at me again.
This time I leapt over her, landing hands first on the fence which I used to launch myself again to land gracefully back on my feet, still on the fence. I turned slowly around, my arms held out to either side of my, and faced a furious Rainbow Dash.
“What?! How are you doing that?” Rainbow Dash demanded of me, to which I waggled a finger at her in mock disapproval.
“Spoilers.” I replied and turned back around. I heard the sound of air being disturbed behind me and I leapt straight into the air, using my magic to accelerate my jump.
After spending a brief moment reveling in the feel of flying, I landed on the other end of the fence softly, bracing my fall by focusing the energy of my leap in a kinetic cushion at the bottom of my feet.
There was silence on the field and I stared around in confusion. Rainbow Dash’s jaw was on the ground despite the fact that she was hovering about six feet off of it, and everypony else was awestruck by my jump.
“How… that’s not…” Dash muttered, unable to form a coherent thought and I chuckled before leaping into the air again and did a few back flips before landing gracefully on solid Earth and turning to leave. Dash flew down in front of me with a determined expression on her face.
“Oh ho, still wanna play, huh, babe?” I said and held my arms out to either side of me with a cocky smile on my face “If you want me, come and claim me!”
‘Wow Nica, that could be taken wrong in so many ways.’ Leon said, but I ignored him as Rainbow Dash lunged forward and began to try and strike me.
For the fastest flier in Equestria, her attacks were moving painfully to me. I merely continued to dodge and block with next to no effort, while storing the kinetic energy from her attacks. Eventually she broke off, before flying straight at me. I grinned, fell onto my back, planted my feet against her chest as she flew over me and kicked off with my legs, releasing the stored kinetic energy.
She spun crazily in the air for a moment while I utilized the momentum generated from my kick to gracefully stand back up again. I turned to Rainbow Dash just in time to steady herself and glare at me, before shooting straight at me at a blinding speed. This time, I didn’t move; instead, I grinned and held a hand up. Her fist collided with my palm and her forward momentum halted immediately as I absorbed the massive amount of energy she’d generated.
She stared at me in confusion, while I lifted my other hand and pointed at a spot about ten feet away. I smiled at her and released the kinetic energy where I’d pointed. There was a thunderous boom! and a crater appeared in ground, about five feet across and three feet deep, with dirt from the resulting explosion falling all around.
There were several startled screams while I released the stunned pegasus, who kept looking from me, to the crater and back again, before she flew in front of me as I tried to walk away. I groaned and glared at her, but she held up her hands in surrender.
“Wait, hold on, I’m sorry for attacking you it’s just… how did you do that?” She asked me, her voice breathless.
“Magic.” I replied simply and her face fell for a moment before becoming curious.
“Who are you?” She asked to which I shrugged.
“Me? I’m nobody, but everyone calls me ‘Nica’.”
“I’m Rainbow Dash. Can you teach me how to jump and land like you did?” She asked, her voice hopeful.
“Nope, that was magic too.”
“I’m best friends with Twilight Sparkle and I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen her use magic like that.”
“That’s because I use my magic differently.” I replied casually.
“Do you wanna hang out later?” She asked me hopefully, but this time I gave her a sad smile.
“Much as I would love to, no. I’m… only gonna be around for today.”
“Oh…” She said, crestfallen “Well, it was awesome to meet you, Nica.”
“Yeah… you too, Dash. See ya on the far side.” I replied, bumping fists with her. Terra caught up to me as I was leaving.
“Are you okay, Nica?” She asked, offering me my hat, but I shook my head to it “You looked a little sad there for a moment while talking to Rainbow Dash.”
“Yeah, I’m fine, it’s just… I’m gonna miss having a body again.” I said wistfully as we walked, but we’d only gotten a few yards from the track when I stopped “Hey, Terra, why don’t you go on home. I kinda wanna wander around on my own for a little while, if that’s okay.”
Terra looked at me quietly, before nodding. She took my hat and Leon’s bag and departed for the house. I watched her leave for a moment before turning and walking into town in silence, remembering things I’d given up to be here.
‘You wanna talk about it?’ Leon asked calmly.
Not particularly. Besides, you can just sift through them yourself; you don’t need me to say anything.
‘True, but that’s a little invasive, particularly if it’s something you don’t want to talk about.’ He replied, which caused me to wince.
Jeez, there you go with the honorable stuff again. You have to know I’ve gone through most of your memories, right down to your dirtiest and darkest secrets.
‘Again, true. But just because you did, doesn’t mean I will. If you don’t wish to talk about it, I’m not gonna push you.’ He said, and I felt a gentleness from him
.
…Thanks.
Anyway, I pretty much just wandered around town for a while, not sure how long. It was when the sun began to set that I decided to do one last thing before heading home.
I found a frozen treat stand and ordered a blue raspberry popsicle (I seriously doubted they had the actual flavor I wanted) and took it to Town Hall, wherein I used my magic to leap up to the very top and then I sat down on the edge, facing the sunset.
And I sat there, watching the sunset and eating my popsicle. Once it was finished, I set the stick aside and drew my left leg up and rested my head upon it. After a moment, I heard the sound of someone teleporting in behind me.
“Good evening, Twilight, what brings you all the way up here?” I asked just as she took a seat next to me.
“Well, I got a message from Terra saying you were feeling a little down and Fluttershy told me she saw you sitting on your own up here, eating a popsicle.” Twilight replied calmly “And she also said you looked kind of sad and lonely.”
“And why would you care about what I’m doing? Last I checked, you hated my guts.”
Twilight bristled “That’s not true, I-”
“Oh really? You attempted to throw me against a wall and were ready to tear my head off.” I retorted coldly, and this time she looked away slightly ashamed.
“I’ll admit… I didn’t like you when we met this morning.” She replied calmly “But Princess Celestia sat me down and explained everything once I was calm. I’m still not sure what to actually make of you, but I wanted to speak to you personally in a way that wouldn’t lead to a confrontation.”
“Well, here you go.” I replied, motioning to me “I guess I haven’t proven you wrong, huh?”
“Actually, quite the opposite; your attitude is more defensive than it is actually rude.” She said, giving me a quizzical look “Why don’t you try talking to me?”
I looked at her quietly for a moment before returning my attention to the sunset.
“Hey, Twilight. You ever wonder why the sun sets red?” I asked her, to which she looked at me curiously.
“A little, but I get the feeling this isn’t a question I should answer.” She replied.
I gave a small smile “As you know, light is made up of several different colors but of all of them, red is the one that travels the farthest.” I said, and she looked at me curiously again.
“That’s pretty interesting. Where did you learn that?” She asked, which caused my smile to fade.
“A guy I’d met in a… past life.” I replied solemnly “Before I met up with the other Leon, I’m technically his Nobody for the record, I was a part of this group that didn’t exactly have the best intentions for their world. Most of them were infuriating to be around but there were three that I liked. One of them bought me ice cream and took me up to the top of a tall clock tower after one mission, where we just sat watching the sunset and talking.”
“Do you regret leaving?” She asked quietly, to which I shook my head.
“Nah. I knew the group was gonna go down in flames and I abandoned ship in the resulting chaos.” I replied calmly “I just have fond memories of a few people I happened to like, is all.”
We sat in silence as the sun continued to dip below the horizon.
“I’m sorry for being so hostile to you this morning, Nica. I should’ve been a little more understanding of the stress you were under.” Twilight said, to which I chuckled.
“You’ve got nothing to be sorry for, Twi. I was being a royal bitch and I said some things that put Leon in a very bad light; if anything I should be sorry.” I replied gently.
“Leon’s right about you; you are very nice when you aren’t under pressure.” Twilight said with a giggle.
“HA, I’m only nice when I want to be.” I giggled as well. The sun finally vanished from sight and I stood “Well, Twilight, this is goodbye. I mean, I’ll always be pretty close, being a voice in Leon’s head and all, but I doubt I’ll have a body again.”
With that, I made a light jump and fell to the ground, landing lightly on my feet and displacing the dirt on the ground when I touched down. Twilight teleported down next to me and gave me an amazed look.
“Normally when a pony falls from that height, they tend to get severely injured; how did you land so softly?” She asked, to which I shrugged.
“I merely used some of the kinetic energy I’d developed in the fall and concentrated it on to the bottom of my feet to act as a cushion.” I replied and began walking back to Leon’s home.
Twilight gave an exasperated sigh and grabbed my arm. Next thing I knew, there was a flash of light and we were standing in Leon’s living room.
“Oh good, you’re home, Nica. Dinner will be ready soon, so please wait in the living room.” Terra called from the kitchen, and I could smell fish frying. It made my mouth water and my stomach rumble.
When dinner was ready, I was at first concerned about Twilight, seeing as she was a vegetarian, but she told me that ponies in Equestria were capable of eating, and many were even preferential towards, fish.
So we ate in peace, and the meal was delicious. We then spent a couple of hours talking, not about anything in particular, just sharing insight into the others’ life (save for mine, being that I was gonna be a voice again, but hey. I made peace with my decision a long time ago). Terra and Twilight, who were originally put off by my brusqueness, now laughed at my blunt comments.
But then it came time to go to bed. Twilight opted to stay over and sleep in the guest bedroom, while I went to the master bedroom and changed into Leon’s giant-sized pajamas and boxers (as much fun as it would’ve been to have him wake up in women’s underwear, I knew he’d be pissed about it in the morning, and besides. I owed him for giving me my space). I set my outfit aside in a place separate from everything else, before finally climbing into bed and falling asleep.
Oh, there is one other thing…
I left the door unlocked.