//------------------------------// // Ch. 7 // Story: Pony Life // by JetWave Wavewind //------------------------------// "Good morning Ivory." "Good morning." I said back to Miss Pages as I walked into the kitchen where her, Lemmy, and Scootaloo were eating breakfast. "Wow, these look good!" I said, eyeing the big plate of muffins in the center of the table. "They are good, Sunny Days' daughter brought them by earlier this morning as a thank you gift for helping her in school." Miss Pages said as she bit into a bran muffin. "Are there any blueberry ones?" "Yes deary, here's one." She said as she levitated a muffin off the pile and in front of me. I thanked her and took a bite. It was amazing, I had only ever had good blueberry muffins when I would cook for the orphanage when Helga was sick. I knew I wasn't the next top chef but they were still decent. These muffins made the ones I cooked so long ago seem like manure in comparison. The blueberries were fresh, the texture was perfect, I couldn't find anything bad to say about them. "Wow.~" I muttered as I finished it in a few more bites. "These are incredible!" "Yes, the poor dear, her disability may make it hard for her to read and write but she sure knows her way around the kitchen." Miss Pages said as she took another bite of her muffin. "Disability?" "Yes, she has a bad case of wall eye that makes reading, writing and pretty much anything else visual a challenge for her. The poor thing is also clumsy as can be." She said with a sigh. After we ate we told Miss Pages about how we had come all the way from Manehatten to get away from our cruel caregiver and to keep Scoots from having to go with the crazy mare that was about to adopt her. We were about to tell her about the Apple family in Hollow Shades when somepony knocked on the door. "Excuse me dearies." Miss Pages said as she got up. We sat at the table quietly while she talked to whoever was at the door. "Hmmmm. I'm sorry sir, but I can't say that I've seen this filly before; Ok you take care now, good luck to you!" She said as she closed the door. "Who was at the door?" Lemmy asked when she came back into the kitchen. "That was a private investigator all the way from Manehatten." She said, causing a shock to go through my spine when she said the city he was from. "Scoots, how about you go see if you can find a good book to read right quick." "But I don't know how to wead.." "I-I'll read it to you Scootaloo, I'm sure we can find something that you would like in this big library." Lemmy said as she led Scoots to the main part of the library. "What did the filly he was looking for look like?" I asked, afraid that I already knew the answer. "The filly he was looking for is an orange pegasus mare with a light purple mane and tail." She said as my heart sunk to the bottom of my hooves. "I didn't tell him that his description of her matched Scootaloo to a T because I saw how happy and cheerful she was at breakfast before you got up." She said, raising my spirits a little. "That doesn't mean I'm ok with the idea of her being raised by two ponies who are still young enough to be going to school themselves." "I understand.." I said as I hung my head in preparation for what was about to come next. "She's going to take all of us to the local orphanage, I just know she is." "Which is why first thing tomorrow, I'm going to take you and Lemon Wedge to Mrs. Karen's schoolhouse." My head shot up when she said that, she was going to take us to school tomorrow? "Does that mean..?" I asked and she nodded in return. "I'm going to be looking after the three of you now." I gave her a hug immediately when she said those words. "Lemmy!!" I cried as I flew into the main room and scooped her up in a hug. She tottered for a second when I set her back down and looked back at me with a huge blush on her face. "W-what?" She squeaked. "We're adopted!" I said excitedly. "Miss Pages is going to be looking after us, all three of us!" "R-really?! T-that's..!" She said with growing charisma but then it started to fade quickly. "..great." I didn't have long to puzzle this when Miss Pages came up behind me. "And tomorrow you and Ivory are going to be going to school together while I watch Scootaloo." She said. "Isn't it great Lemmy?!" I said as I grabbed her in another hug. She hugged back tighter this time, almost not wanting to let go when I pulled away. "You wanna go do some flying Scoots?" I asked, way too excited for my own good. "Nope. I want Wemmy to keep weading dis stowy foe me!" She said, holding a book out for Lemmy. "And it may not be the best idea with, y'know.." Miss Pages said, twitching her head over to the door. "Right.." I said, remembering who had just paid us a visit and was likely still in town. "Is it ok if I go fly around town?" I asked, finally starting to calm down a bit. "Of course, it's a nice town with plenty of ponies to meet." "Ok then, I'll be back later!" I said as I flew out the door. "Alright deary, what's the matter?" Miss Pages asked Lemmy after I left. "N-nothing! I-" "Wemmy has a cwush on Ivowy." Scootaloo cut in. "Scootaloo!" She said with a gasp. "Is it true?" Miss Pages asked. Lemmy hung her head and nodded. "I don't know why I try to hide it anymore, apparently it's painfully obvious to everyone but him.." She said with a sigh. "And now it will be all the more awkward since we're brother and sister now..." "Ah, so that's what the problem is," Miss Pages said as she walked over and put an arm on her shoulder. "Try and think of it this way deary. Since I never filled out any sort of adoption papers for you and Ivory, I'm still viewed as having no children and you, Ivory, and Scootaloo here are just three fillies that showed up on my doorstep that I decided to take care of." Lemmy looked back up with a small smile. "Thanks Miss Pages.." "Oh just call me Margret deary." She said as they shared a warm hug. "Can we get back to weading now?" Scootaloo asked with a book at her hooves. They both laughed as they walked over to where Scootaloo had set up trying to read the story in the book. "Why don't you go look around town, I'll stay here and finish reading the story for little Scoots." "Thanks Miss Pag- I mean! Margret." Lemmy said as she walked out the door. ~<(^)>~ "Wow, this is a really small town compared to Manehatten." I thought to myself as I landed in the middle of the market. there weren't that many stalls set up. Just a carrot vender, a honey vender, what looked like an asparagus stand and, an apple stand! Maybe they're the Apple family from Sweet Apple Acres that Ciderwash was telling me about! I trotted over to the stand and there was a red colt with a big green apple on the side of his flank tending the stand with an orange filly with red hairbands in her mane and tail. "Hi there." I said as I walked up to the stand. "Howdy." The red colt said. "Care to buy some apples?" The filly asked. "Not today, My name is Ivory and I'm new in town so I was just walking around to get to know everypony." "Well I'm Big Macintosh and this is my lil sis AppleJack." He said as AppleJack waved at me with a smile. "So where y'all from?" She asked. "I'm from Manehatten." She seemed to glow when I said that and jumped up and down. "Manehatten?! I've always wanted to live there! What's it like?!" She asked, looking at me excitedly for a description. "How should I describe it? I never thought it was that great, but maybe there's another side to it if this filly wants to go there." "The food's good." I said, knowing that much to be true. That seemed to be enough for her as she started to bounce around again cheering that she was going to Manehatten. "And where's a country filly like you gonna even find a place to stay in the big city." Big Mac said, causing AJ to stick her tongue out at him. "Aw hush! I'll stay with Auntie and Uncle Orange!" "What did you think of Manehatten?" He asked me. "I thought it was nice enough, but I wanted to live in a smaller city for a change." "You moved here on yer own?" He asked, looking a little dumbfounded. "No, I came with two of my closest friends." I said. "But Manehatten's a nice city if you like a fast paced life." "I'm definitely gonna be movin' there someday!" AppleJack said enthusiastically. "Well it was nice meeting you ponies and I'll see you later." I said with a laugh as I saw a small line of ponies starting to form in front of their stand. "Y'all take care now, feel free to stop by the farm whenever ya want!" AppleJack said as I began to walk off. "I will!" I called back as I ran into a pale blue earth pony with a fancy looking hat. "Oh, sorry sir." I said as I caught his hat with my wing before it hit the ground. "No worries young colt," He said as he placed his hat back on his head. "Say, do you think you could help me out? I'm new in town and am trying to find a certain pony." "I'm sorry sir, but I don't think I'll be able to help you. I'm new in town also and the only ponies I know are Miss Pages at the Library and some of the Apple family." "That's ok sport, but if you see an orange pegasus filly with a purple mane and tail let me know." I swallowed hard when I heard the description of the filly he was looking for. "This is that P.I. Miss Pages told me about." "D-did you say purple mane?" I asked. "Yeah, have you seen her?" "Nope! Just wanted to make sure I heard you right!" I said with a nervous laugh. I heard the town clock strike something but I didn't care what because it was the perfect excuse to get away. "Oh would you look at the time! I'm gonna be late!" I said as I took off towards anywhere but there or the Library. "That was WAY to close, the last thing I want is for that guy to be following me back to where Scootal-hey, what that?" I thought to myself as I flew towards a city that was made out of clouds. ~<(^)>~ I landed on a cloud that was part of the strange city. It was a little bigger than Ponyville and seemed to be made up of nothing but pegasi. "Wow.." I said as I was hit in the face by a rocketing rainbow filly. "Oof, sorry!" She called back as she took off again. "Are you ok..?" I almost mistook the soft voice behind me for Lemon Wedge, but when I turned I saw a gangly butter-yellow pegasus with a long pink mane and tail standing behind me. She seemed to hide behind her mane when I turned around. "Yeah, I'm fine." I said as I rubbed my head where the filly from before had ran into me. "Oh, good." She said, not coming out from behind her mane any. "I'm Ivory Blossom." I said, holding my hoof out. "I'm Flutt....." She trailed off. "I'm sorry, what?" "I'm Fluttersh...." "Still couldn't quite catch that." I said, causing her to squeak. I couldn't help but laugh at how much this mare reminded me of Lemmy when I first met her. "Well.. I'm gonna go now, I'll see ya later." I said as I flew off to look around the city some more and she dashed off as soon as I flew a short distance away. "I'LL GET YOU FOR THAT YOU STUPID THUNDER-HEAD!!" Was all I heard before the same filly from before crashed into me again, causing both of us to hit the cloud ground hard. "Ugh.." I moaned as we both just laid there in a heap. "Ha ha! I guess you aren't a filly fooler after all if you ran into the same colt twice in a row Rainbow-Crash!" A brown colt with a his mane combed over his eyes called, causing the the mare next to me to spring up. "Are you kidding?! I don't even know this guy!" She called back. "Oh, so you ARE a filly fooler then?" he said as him and some other colt landed next to us. "I AM NOT A FILLY FOOLER!" She cried as she tried to punch the one who said that. He dodged out of the way and she ended up swinging around and punching me just as I got up instead. "Oops, sorry dude." She said as she helped me up. The two colts just laughed, causing her cyan face to turn crimson. "Will you two shut up? You're both annoying as Tartarus." I said as I got back up a second time. "What was that weak wings?" The tan one asked. They had both stopped laughing at this point. "I said you're both annoying and should shut up." "Oh yeah? Y'know what we think about that?" "I'm thinking it's not something very nice." I said, backing up a little. "This is so not cool!" "Shut it Rainbow Crash," He said as he took a step towards us. "Whatdaya say we show these two what we think of what this guy said to us, Lug Nut?" "I think that's a great idea, Crash." They each brought their hoof back and punched me. I managed to catch both their hooves in mine but they pushed me back into a wall. They were about to punch me again but Rainbow punched one of them and it distracted the other. Seeing an opportunity, I punched the other one and took on a fighting stance beside Rainbow. They charged us but we took to the air and when they charged at us again they were flying too fast and flew right past us when we dodged to the side. "I'm Rainbow Dash by the way!" She said, dodging one of their hooves as it came at her. "Ivory Blossom!" I said as I stopped flapping long enough to drop just below the tan ones head as he tried to head butt me. "Nice to meetcha!" She said as we bumped hooves. She grabbed my hoof in both of hers and swung me around to hit the brown colt that was coming at her. My back hooves collided with his wings and he plummeted towards the cloud ground. I saw the tan colt fly above Rainbow Dash and try to dive-bomb her so I pulled on her hoof just in time for him to zip past and join his friend in a heap. ~<(^)>~ "That, was. Awesome! I didn't expect you to have so much fight in ya!" She said as we flew off. "I mostly just dodged though, you were the one with hooves of steel! And I would have been out if you hadn't nailed that guy on the ground back there." I said as we landed in a park. "No biggie, I would've been out too if you hadn't pulled me out of the way when Crash tried to dive-bomb me." "What's up with those guys anyway?" "Ugh, what isn't up with them? They're annoying, stuck-up jerks who are always picking on anypony they can just to get a laugh out of it! I'm just glad Fluttershy wasn't around, they pick on her the worst and she's so timid she doesn't do anything to stop them!" She said. As we trotted around the park for a bit longer I heard the Ponyville clock strike eight and I realized just how long I had been out and about. "I should probably head home now, see ya later Dash!" I said as I took off. "See ya Ivory." I got home to the Library, just barely avoiding that P.I. from earlier; and fell in a heap as soon as I walked in the door. "You ok Ivowy?" Scootaloo asked as she walked up to me. "Yeah, just a big day." I said as I got up. "Did you have fun on your first real day in town?" Miss Pages asked. "Yeah. I met some of the Apple family from around here, Ran into that guy from this morning," I said as I rubbed the back of my neck. "Oh! And I taught some bullies a lesson in that cloud-city up there." Miss Pages let out a gasp when I got to the part about the bullies and Scootaloo looked at me in confusion. "What's a bully?" She asked. "They're ponies who do not nice things to other ponies." "Ok! I won't be a bully then!" She said with a smile. "Good." Miss Pages said rather sternly. "Where's Lemmy?" I asked as I looked around the room. "She's still out and about, I actually expected to see her back before you." "Ok then, are there any particularly good books here, Miss Pages?" I asked. "This one is one of my favorites. And just call me Margret." She said with a smile as she levitated a book off a shelf over to me. "Daring Doo and the Saphire Stone, sounds good." I said as I walked to the kitchen table and started reading. ~<(^)>~ "The ponies here are so nice, I still don't know how to thank you for that make over." Lemmy said as she walked home with a white unicorn filly with a curled mane mane and tail. "Oh think nothing of it dear, anything for a mare on a mission!" She said with a sparkle in her eye and a wink. Lemmy blushed since she knew what 'mission' she was on and was determined to complete it. "Now where was it you said you lived?" The white unicorn asked. "Golden Oaks Library." "Ooh, you live there with Miss Pages?" "Yes, she's really nice and-oof." Lemmy cut herself off when she bumped into a pale blue earth pony with a fancy looking hat. "O-oh my, I-I'm so sorry sir!" She said as she levitated his hat back to his head. "Not a problem, do either of you two fillies think you could help me? I'm looking for a certian somepony." He said as he adjusted his hat. "Who are you looking for sir?" The white pony asked. "A young orange pegasus filly with a purple mane and tail a little lighter than yours. Have either of you seen her?" He asked. Lemmy had already tensed up when he was describing her. "I-I'm sorry sir, b-but I haven't seen anypony with that description. What about you Rarity?" Lemmy asked, trying to keep calm. "No, I can't say that I have. We'll let you know if we see her though." "Thank you ladies, have a safe night." he said as he walked off. "You too." Rarity said as her and Lemmy continued walking back to the Library. "Are you alright dear? You're starting to sweat your makeup off." "O-oh yes, I'm fine. I guess I'm just nervous about the plan.." "Do you want me to come in with you?" "NO! I-I mean, no thank you, I'll be fine." Lemmy said as more makeup started to run down her face. "At least let me give you a touch up then." Rarity said with a sigh as she pulled Lemmy over to a bench and took her makeup kit out of her saddlebag. "Try and relax dear, it will keep the makeup from running again." "O-ok" Lemmy said as Rarity dabbed away the sweat with a rag and applied more blush to replace what the sweat had carried away. "Almost done, and... Vola!" Rarity exclaimed as she added the finishing touches to Lemmys make over. "Thank you again Rarity for doing this." "Of course my dear, I'll see you at school tomorow. You're going to love Miss Karen, She is so nice!" Rarity said as the town clock struck nine and she headed for her home. Lemmy didn't have far to walk before she was at Golden Oaks Library and that much closer to telling Ivory what she had been wanting to tell him for a long time. "Welcome back Lemon Wedge." Margret said when she walked in. "Hi Wemmy!" Scootaloo cheered as she ran up to her. "Hi Scoots." She said as she gave Scootaloo a hug. "Where's Ivory? I wanted to ask him something." "He's in the kitchen reading right now." "Thanks Margret." She said as she walked into the kitchen. ~<(^)>~ "Hi Ivory." I jumped when I heard her voice behind me. "Was I really that absorbed in this book?" I thought to myself as I turned around to face her. "Hi Lemmy, whats up?" "Not much..." She said with a small blush. "Ummmm..." We both started. "You go first." I said. "No no, you can go first." "Ok then. This is just something that has been on my mind recently but, what was your first impression of me when we met?" I asked, turning her cheeks turned a shade of crimson. "What did I, think...."