//------------------------------// // Getting settled // Story: Strangers in a familiar world // by iMan203 //------------------------------// We all woke up around the same time. Our brains had gotten the sleep that they wanted and made us arise from bed. I stopped at the main hallway towards the cafeteria so I could wait for the guys to come down the hallway. I could hear them talking faintly, they were probably getting ready for the day. I didn't usually do that, I was always ready as soon as I hopped out of bed. I didn't change out of PJs because I never wore them, and I didn't fix my bed because I never overturned anything except for my pillow. The only thing needed to start my day was a breakfast. There they were, coming down the hallway. They really looked like a group of teenage tourists walking down the hall and admiring everything around them. Nick took notice of me standing there in the hall and brought the other two over shortly. "Welcome to the lab guys, lets go get breakfast." I lead the way down the hall towards the cafeteria. "Aw yeah, ah'm stavin' from last night." Eli mumbled. "Hell yeah, that party was insane! Nobody in this world could ever throw a party like a Pinkie Pie party." Alex was thinking back to whatever he could remember from last night. "Yeah, but I think Ian had the most fun out of us all! It only lasted a couple minutes but I get it was amazing!" Nick chuckled as I jabbed him in the ribs with my elbow. "It was nothing much, I was there practically all night with you guys." I smiled at the thought of Nick's remark. "That's so strange though, how your eyes are all green and stuff, just from bein' in that pod for a bit." Eli looked at my changed features. "Yeah, that would suck for me." Alex said, "I'm gonna be a ginger if my coat color affects my hair." I laughed at the thought. "No, your mane color would affect your hair, I'm not sure what your coat color would do, it hasn't changed anything on me yet." "Maybe it will change your OTHER hair blue! That would be so strange." Alex laughed at the remark. "You sicken us all with the most amazing ideas, Alex." Nick said with a horrified look on his face. We reached the cafeteria, and the big Italian chef was there to greet us all with a buffet of delectable breakfast meals to choose from. He insisted on not choosing, just eat everything. Eli and Alex jumped at the idea and filled their trays. I grabbed my usual selection of breakfast and Nick picked out a similar selection. We went over to my table in the corner, it now had its own group to sustain. Julie was waiting for us there, like she had for the last few days. Everyone sat down and began eating. The food was very enjoyable, like always. Julie laughed at the lack of manners everyone had, but it was expectable, since nobody had eaten a real meal since they arrived here. As everyone continued to eat, I looked up a Julie, wondering when she was going to inform us about whatever she was here for. "So Julie, whats the news for today?" I asked. "News? I'm just here to eat breakfast and enjoy the company." She winked. "But if you insist. Today you all have a lot of work to do, incase your memory was blurred somewhat by last night, I have a list in the lab of what you all are going to do today." She smiled and stood up. "Ian, escort everyone there when you're all ready." She waved goodbye and was off towards the lab. We all sat there, finishing our glorious breakfast and discussing over what we would all be doing today. As we finished we went up to return our trays and started off towards the lab. We were all still talking, getting more and more excited for the day. Nick still made a few more remarks about Twilight and I, although I didn't mind the offer to stop by her library for a bit while we were out and about. We reached the lab and I flashed my card at the camera in the corner, we all entered the room and took position. "Alright, lets get some work done today, boys!" Julie said with determination. "I'm going to generate a checklist for each of you and what you have to do today. Just bring up a checklist in your head, it'll pop up at the thought of what you need done." She informed. "Alright, sounds like a good idea, lets get in there and start working! I have uniforms to design!" Alex jumped at the idea. We all entered the pods and were off to Ponyville. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Everypony woke up in their beds at the same time. It was like nothing had moved, nothing had changed since the party last night. We all went down stairs to eat something for our pony bodies to work off of. There was plenty of food left over from the party, lots of sweets. Everypony grabbed something good to eat, Silver Dust and I cleaned up a bit from last night's party. Pinkie Pie had cleaned up most of her decorations and things, but some of the furniture was out of place or just needed to be moved somewhere else. After a bit of fixing up, we were all ready and walked out the front door. Bronze Hammer took a dip in the river behind the mansion and Tiki went straight into the clouds, heading in the direction of Rarity's boutique. Silver Dust and I went into town to speak with some of the local ponies and hang around for a while. Tiki was the first to get to his destination, since he had wings at his advantage and Rarity's boutique was right in town. After enjoying himself in the clouds, he came down to a halt on the ground and approached the front door. As he reached to knock, Rarity was there and opened the door, she seemed to be going somewhere. "Hey! Lets get down to designing!" Tiki said eagerly. "Oh, darling, you aren't serious are you? It's so early to begin on such a project!" She laughed. "Oh, I see, where are you off to so early then?" Tiki observed the way she was dressed. "Oh me? I was going to the spa with Fluttershy! Would you care to join us? There's always room for more on days like these." She offered kindly. "Hell yeah! Spa day with my two favorite ponies! Lets get going!" Tiki darted off in some direction, and immediately came back. "It's ok darling, I'll lead the way." Rarity smiled. Tiki and Rarity began towards the Ponyville spa. Rarity walked through the town with a cheerful look, as always, with Tiki hovering close behind. Ponies glanced over and greeted rarity with a smile, but some continued to look and wonder who the pegasus she was with was. It didn't matter, despite the lasting attention that was drawn to them, there was only one pony who was worried about Rarity's accompaniment, it was a pegasus named Fluttershy. Rarity and Tiki arrived at the spa doors and were greeted by the attendants working there. "Hello Rarity! You're right on time for your usual treatment!" The mare at the desk looked over at the red pegasus, "but who is your friend that you have brought?" "Oh, please excuse me! This is Tiki, he is one of the new ponies that came to our world from another dimension! It's so exciting!" Rarity squeaked. "Ah, yes! I remember the letter that the princess had sent out, I would like to welcome you to Equestria, and the Ponyville spa!" The attendant gave a warm smile. "Alright, we just have to wait for Fluttershy to arrive, and we can all get started!" Rarity said. "Sweet! I can't wait to have my wings done! It's going to be so amazing!" Tiki extended both wings and gave a small flap back into place. "Oh, all of you were going to be treated today?" The attendant asked with a nervous smile. "Of course, is there a problem? Can you not get to us all at once?" Rarity was worried. "Oh no! We're not busy today, all of you will be treated with no trouble at all! We just don't see very many stallions walk through these doors." The attendant looked at Tiki again. "Well, not many stallions know how to maintain themselves like I do." Tiki flipped his tail to the side and raised his head. "I hope I'm not interrupting... But I'm ready to begin..." Fluttershy was standing in the doorway. "Rarity, you never told me that there was going to be somepony else with us today..." Fluttershy started to shy away at Tiki's glance. "Fluttershy, darling, I'm sorry. Tiki arrived at my door this morning before I left and I didn't want to leave him with nothing else to do!" Rarity started to become melodramatic. "Oh... Of course not, I guess it's ok then. Lets get to the works." Fluttershy seemed to be getting more and more nervous. "Oh, girl, you need to lighten up! Lets all have a wonderful day at the spa! I promise not to interfere between you and Rarity." He smirked at an idea he had gotten. Tiki invited Fluttershy to walk with them by wrapping his wing around her shoulder and brought her down the hall at his side. This act of open courtesy, made by a pony that had never met her before, was somewhat calming, almost as if he knew what to do. They approached the first room and began their day, finally. The first room was a large, open-roofed area with a large pool of steaming bubbly water in the center. It was a large hot tub, set to the perfect temperature in preparation for Rarity's usual arrival. Each pony slowly submersed themselves into the wondrous waters of the hot tub, submersed all the way up to their necks. They sat there for what could've been half an hour. Rarity immediately started her usual gossip and Fluttershy sat there listening with a smile on her face. Tiki eventually chimed in with gossip from the human world, which intrigued Rarity just as much as pony gossip. There was even time for small talk between Fluttershy and Tiki. The shyest pony in Ponyville eventually lightened up to Tiki's presence. The next area was the mud bath. There was a large room with pools of mud, slightly steaming from a heater below with a thick consistency. Each of the ponies were wrapped in seaweed wrapping, to treat the coat and skin. For ten minutes, there was no noise, just the sound of relaxed breathing of each pony and pure enjoyment. After the treatment, tiki of course bartered for another minute in the mud, Rarity and Fluttershy laughed, but insisted that they moved to the next room. The next room was a massage room. Everypony was assigned to a different table, and the masseuse ponies came out and began to work. Tiki insisted on focusing more on his wings, and the masseuse gladly agreed. There was a bit of talk about certain things, but that soon died down as they got further into the massage. Once that was over, each pony was given a towel and sent off to the sauna room. The sauna was a better place for chatting and not so much pure enjoyment and relaxation. Each pony began to talk, but as Rarity realized the spa treatment was going to be over soon, she started discussing ideas with tiki. They continued to discuss the plans for the outfit, and what should become of the uniforms. The rest of their spa day was very enjoyable, and they were ready to get down to work once they returned to the boutique. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ It was early morning, Bronze Hammer was swimming through the river for a refreshing bath. Tiki was just flying off to Rarity's boutique. Silver Dust and Ironclad were walking off to town for the day, they would be back later to see the progress made by everypony today. The sun was still low in the sky, just above the horizon. Bronze had a feeling that Applejack and Big Mac would be up and ready, preparing for the task today. They were going to put up a forge for Ponyville. Bronze Hammer knew it was needed, and he could do a lot of good for the guard and the citizens of Ponyville. He came out on the other side of the river, just a quick swim. He shook himself off and headed in the direction of sweet apple acres. It was a long gallop along the river, but after a few minutes he reached the orchard and followed it to the estate. The smell of the sweet outdoor air, with a scent of apple lofting through the air. The warm sun shining down in the early morning, giving your back a mellow warm feeling to it. It was the countryside of Equestria. "It's just like home." Bronze said as he smiled and walked to the estate. "Bronze Hammer! Get your flank over here!" Applejack was around the back of the barn with a big smile on her face. "I'll be up real quick!" Bronze dashed off towards the barn. "We've got all the supplies ready! The first thing we need to do is haul it off to the field. Big Mac is gonna help y'all with the haulin' while ah get to buildin', while y'all are haulin' more to the field." Applejack explained. "We'll be done and relaxin' by tonight." Applejack said eagerly. "Sounds like a good plan, lets get to work!" And at that note, they started hauling. Applejack helped Bronze Hammer get hitched up to the cart and get going to the field with Big Mac. It was a quick ten minute trot to the field on the outskirts of Ponyville. It was a perfect place to have a forge, to avoid fire hazards and things within the actual town. After the first load was dropped, Applejack started with the lighter work, and arranging the supplies into order. After an hour of hauling, and 4 round trips of supplies and things, everything was in order and Applejack had a good start on the base of the structure. Bronze insisted that grass and dirt was a good foundation, so after a bit of flattening, the area was ready to prop a roof up. Sweet apple acres had a large supply of old apple wood to use for the building, it may be old, but its still strong. A large roof was raised in no time, with the combined strength of Big Mac and Bronze Hammer. Bronze wasn't as large and bulky as Big Mac was, from all the work he's been doing on sweet apple acres. Although Bronze Hammer was a larger build than the rest of us, tiki, silver dust, and I. This was because he was a metal worker, a hammer swinging horse. He didn't actually work on a forge until now, but when he was generated into the world, his body was prepared for hard work such as forging. The roof was probably the fastest and easiest part of the job, was raising the walls, with all of the appropriate shelves and storage units. This took longer than the roof, but went considerably fast. The next step was to build the actual forge, and the system of how it worked. The river was still close by, which was nice incase any water was needed for the forge. That wasn't the benefit of now, though. The river had stones, good stones that you couldn't find in very many places. These stones were taken from the riverside and cemented together for a strong, hot pool of fire. The only thing that wouldn't melt in such hot circumstances: rocks. It took a lot of cementing and gathering, even Apple Bloom was called in to help with the gathering of the stones. The working group had finished the base and were going to start the chimney up, when Silver Dust and Ironclad had shown up. "Boy am ah glad to see you and that magic horn of yours!" Bronze Hammer wiped the sweat from his forehead. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Silver Dust and I had walked out the front door of our mansion. Tiki had taken off for Rarity's boutique and Bronze Hammer was in the river swimming. Silver and I had planned what we were going to do, roughly. Since we got the short end of the party food for good reason, we were going to get some brunch at sugar cube corner. It was a great idea, Silver gets to see Pinkie Pie and we all get freshly baked goodies. We were walking down the cobblestone road into Ponyville, talking about the days events. We were getting pretty pumped for today and just the fact that we were in Equestria as ponies. We kept walking down the road, into town now. Lots of the local ponies had recognized our faces and warmly greeted us with a smile and a hello. We were then informed that an article had made the front page of Ponyville's newspaper about the new guard posted and where we've come from. There were ponies who were skeptical on making us Ponyville's new guard, but none were skeptical of our strength. Word got out about our victory over a small goblin camp, nothing much to brag about, I mean, they're goblins for Luna's sake! That didn't matter though, we were prepared to stand up to dragons if thats what it took. Almost prepared at least, we still needed a forge and uniform. Of course, with a bit of modification, the mansion would be a good barrack for keeping some weapons and things if needed. As we were walking through town, we noticed an unusual sound coming from one of the estates near the town square. It sounded almost like... A bass sequence! I knew exactly who that pony was, so did Silver Dust. We decided to introduce ourselves. As we got up to the door we could tell the music was particularly loud, so I made sure to give a strong knock. I didn't think she even noticed the knocking at first, but the music became quieter, and a white unicorn with a crazy blue mane answered the door. "Woah! You're the new guard in Ponyville!" She looked surprised. "I'm sorry, were there any noise complaints? I'll lower the volume if I need to." She frowned. "Actually it's the opposite of a complaint." Silver smiled. "Ok, so whats up? What brings high class ponies like you to our doorstep?" She put her hoof at her hip and leaned on the door. "High class? Nah, we just wanted to see if you and Octavia would join us for brunch down at sugar cube corner." Silver Dust had a smile that just read "please say yes!" "Sure, let me go talk to Tavi and see what she thinks. I'll go even if she doesn't want to." Vinyl left for a moment and came back with Octavia. "Alright lets go, boys! I could really use a bit of a change from the usual wubs every morning." She said, walking out the door. We all went to sugar cube corner, which was only a block away from their estate. Pinkie Pie was there to greet all of us and serve everyone in an energetic form. She had given us a group dish of warm chocolate chip cookies, freshly made that morning. We each had different flavored milkshakes, all freshly made by Pinkie Pie herself. "So, boys, explain to me why you wanted us here?" Vinyl had a flirty grin on her face. "No real reason, I've just been making a point to introduce myself to all of the ponies in Ponyville as best I can." I said, drinking my shake. "Yeah, and we heard somepony playing a crazy track from down the street, we knew exactly who it was and wanted to introduce ourselves." Silver Dust got up and sat between the two mares. "I especially wanted to introduce myself to my favorite ponies!" He put his arm around vinyl and Octavia. "That's right, Silver Dust has taken a liking to your style of music from our original universe." I said with a smirk. I took a drink of my shake, "that's odd... I thought there were only bananas in this shake." "Nope! I added something special to your shake!" Pinkie Pie popped up, seemingly from no where. "I trust you didn't poison me by any chance?" I asked with a straight face. "Oh no! I would never do that! I just remembered that you were part dragon! So I put some topaz in your shake, because topaz is yellow, like bananas!" She gave a large, innocent smile. "Oh, that explains everything, I never thought of a taste for gems." I thought about Spike and how he eats gems like candy. "I usually put sapphire in Spike's shake, but you seemed like a topaz dragon-pony when you ordered banana!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Hmm. That's pretty thoughtful, and I'm really enjoying the taste with the texture. You'll have to do this for me again, Pinkie!" I thanked her. "Okie-dokie-loki!" She bounced off into the kitchen to serve more ponies. Everyone finished the platter of cookies and drank their shakes. After a bit more conversation and some flirting between Vinyl and Silver Dust, and a bit between Octavia and the two, I decided to give Silver the rest of the morning with the two mares. I looked at the sun and thought about what the other stallions were doing right now. Tiki was probably working hard on the uniforms (at the spa...) and Bronze was still raising the forge. I had some time on my hands, so I went down to the library. Of course I wasn't there for books, I didn't have reason for any at the time, but I would eventually, when everything calms down. Right now I just wanted to see one pony, and that was why I was going to visit Twilight Sparkle. I started walking towards the library, but it was so far away, so I started galloping. Within 30 seconds I reached the library without breaking a sweat. I went to approach the door when I thought to myself, what reason do I have for being here? I don't know if I should make a fool of myself by knocking without reason. I was knocking on the door, I wasn't even thinking about it, not paying attention to myself or my actions. Since I've already knocked my excuse was to ask her if she needed assistance for anything. It was good enough. The door opened and Spike was there. "Hello Spike, my draconian friend!" I said with a smile, "I stopped by to see if..." "Don't worry, I know exactly why you're here." He winked at me. "Oh, has she been gossiping about us?" I blushed. "Oh no, I just know the look in her eyes, I get that look when I'm around Rarity, although her expression isn't as obvious as mine." He smiled at the remarks Twilight has made about it. "Ok, I guess you aren't going to be overprotective about this whole thing then, are you?" I hoped for a good answer. "Of course not! Twilight deserves to have somepony special in her life, with all the hard work she's done, she deserves it. But I'll be keeping my eye on you, just until I know you have good intentions." He glared at me. "Alright, I'll let you watch me all you want, but I'm not sure if Twilight would appreciate the spying." I smiled. "Yeah yeah, I know. Just get in there and do your thing." He smiled and let me through the door. "Spike? Who was at the door? Whats taking so..." She stopped and saw me. "Oh, you're here, Ironclad. What brings you to the library on such a morning?" She asked. "I came here to assist you in anything you might need help with." I smiled and waited for a reply. "Of course, there's something I need you to do for me in the other room of the library. I'll show you where." She started walking to another room of the treehouse. "Spike, you can go back to bed, upstairs. You've worked hard last night and need your rest." She said and went into the other room. Spike started up the stairs, and turned around before I entered the room. "You two have fun, but I'm still watching you." I entered the room and Twilight was standing there, looking the other way. It was a small room, a section of the treehouse I've never seen before. It was considerably darker in this room, since there was only one small window and a wall slot for lighting a candle in. I sat there for a moment, observing my surroundings, looking for why I was here to help. I found that reason for why she brought me here, it was the dreamy look in her eyes that told me. "I want to make this official. I want to make US official, our relationship..." She looked into my eyes. "That night when I kissed you, the very night that I had first met you, I didn't know of any other way to thank you for such bravery and courtesy..." She continued. "But when you kissed me back... I didn't expect such a thing. You took my heart with that kiss, you ignited such a fire with your dragon-blooded spirit!" She looked down to her hooves... "I knew I did, I felt that fire ignite. The original flame stayed with me, and it grew unbelievably strong. You've given me reason to fight in this world. You've given me ultimate power in this world. You've given me something more than friendship could ever do..." I walked up to her, tilted her head back up, and shared that flaming passionate kiss with her once again. I went to pull away after a bit but she pulled me in, continuing the fiery love we shared and kissed me back. We both fell to the ground and lay there, gazing into each others eyes. I could feel that she wanted me, more than anyone. My eyes flashed green once again, and Twilight saw it. It was a different green, it was lighter and more vivid. It showed the bubbly feeling of love. I felt that feeling burning in my heart, as if a flame was lit by Celestia herself. I went back in once again and kissed her, this time, feeling the flame within our kiss. It wasn't really a fire, it was actually her tongue, and when I realized this I allowed my own to explore. After a few minutes of laying on the floor, caught in each others gaze, lips locked tighter than... Well, anything, I sat up and helped her to her hooves. "It just became official." I said with a dreamy smile on my face. "Indeed..." She said, sounding as if she was still caught in a dream. "Well, I guess all we have to do now is let the cat out of the bag." I said with a practical tone. "Don't worry about that, there's no need to let the world know right away!" She said nervously. "You're right, I'll just make sure to mention it whenever it seems like a good time to do so." I said. "That's perfect, I'll be sure to do the same." She said, her usual smile returning to her face. "Although, you should probably tell Spike as soon as you can, if you catch my drift." I winked. "How does he know about us? Has he given you any trouble?" She looked worried. "Well he totally saw the look in your eyes and knew what was going on. And he hasn't given me any trouble, but he should probably be the one to get an idea of what just happened." I smiled. "Alright, but we both know that Spike can have his jealous and protective days, so tell me if there are any problems." She said. "Alright. No secrets shall be kept from those eyes." I looked into her lustrous purple eyes and gave her another quick kiss, right as Spike walked down the stairs. "I'm guessing things went well then?" Spike asked with a cheesy grin on his face. "Spike!" She jumped. "Yes. Everything went great." She blushed. "Alright! I'm on a schedule, I have other ponies to see! I'll see you two later. Maybe we'll gather everyone at the mansion at the end of the day." I smiled. "It's definitely roomy enough to find some private time during a party." I winked at Twilight, which made her blush again. After that I went outside to see that the sun was high in the sky, probably an hour after noon, maybe two. I went back to the house of Vinyl Scratch and Octavia, there was no music playing so I had an idea of what was happening. I knocked on the door and Octavia answered the door. "Ah, Ironclad. Come to join us? We were almost finished, but there's room for one more!" She winked at me. "Oh my, I hope you're talking about a board game." I smiled awkwardly. "Come on now! You know what I'm talking about. Your friend is quite the magic man with that horn of his!" She blushed. "Alright, well I don't really have time for that, we're on a schedule and I'm going to need Silver's company on our next few stops." I gave the best smile I could. "Alright, I'll tell him to meet you in the centre of town when we're finished. It won't take much longer." She giggled and went back upstairs. I never would've guessed Octavia to be so... Naughty. I guess we all have sides of ourselves that don't show very often. I guess Silver will explain what happened later. I walked out to the square in to center. There were various shops open, giving choice to many goodies available to purchase. There were various food items, such as spices, ingredients, and apples! Apple Bloom was helping Granny Smith run the old apple stand for sweet apple acres. I went up to the little filly and greeted her. "Hello Apple Bloom! How are your sales going?" I asked. "They're alright, but its startin' to slow down around here, not very many ponies have stopped over in a while." She had a bored expression on her face. "Well, maybe you could go to the field where the forge is being raised. Applejack might need some help with something." I suggested. "Ah thought about it this mornin, helpin' out with the forge, but ah had mah own job to do. Granny Smith can't run the stand like she used to." She looked up at the old mare, who was sleeping in her chair in the shade of the cart. "Alright, well after you're finished selling apples, you should go there and check up on everypony. They might need help with smaller things by then." I said. "Alright, ah'll go up there when ah'm done runnin' this here apple stand!" She said eagerly. And at that, Silver Dust showed up and greeted everypony with a groggy smile on his face. Just as he greeted, we said our goodbyes and went off to Rarity's boutique to check up on the uniform design. As we walked down the street, Silver was explaining the whole story as to what happened, but not too much explaining. I also mentioned what I had done during that time. "Yeah, I knew where things were going with Vinyl, but when Octavia joined the fun, I couldn't believe it. I guess some of Vinyl's personality rubbed off at some point." He thought about it. "Yeah, that was crazy when she invited me to join the 'fun'." I smirked. "I was never expecting that to happen." "Well, enough of that, we know what I did. Where did you go during that time?" Silver asked. "Oh. I went down to the library for a bit, just to see if somepony needed any help." I went into a daydream about what had happened. "Oh I got what you mean!" He smiled. "Did you 'help' her with what she needed?" "Not exactly like you did, but I definitely helped her. She helped me, too." My eyes gave a glimmer of fiery green. We kept walking for a while to the boutique. Silver Dust asked me for more description, but I told him it wasn't needed. I changed the topic to the uniform that Tiki was making. I asked Silver Dust what he thought it would be like, but none of us had a clue as to what Tiki and Rarity could be planning for us. Although, with the combination of the two working together, it was going to be stylish, practical, useful, and fabulous. It was going to be extremely fabulous. We arrived at the boutique and Silver gave a knock on the door. Tiki answered and invited us in immediately. "You went to the spa?!" Silver Dust was laughing. "Sweet Celestia! Yes! It was amazing!" Tiki gave a glare to silver, which turned into a smirk shortly. "Well, at least you were ready to design the outfit we would be wearing for a very long time." I said, "it's how we're going to be seen as the Ponyville guard." "Oh yeah, it's perfect! I know that everypony will love it! We've been working hard through the morning and we won't be done until later tonight." He said with determination. "Oh, but the wait is definitely worth it! It looks wondrous already!" Rarity said from the work room in the back. "Alright, we'll leave you to your work. Lets go see how Bronze is handling with the forge." I suggested to Silver Dust. "Sounds good, I bet they'll need some help with something." Silver said, opening the front door with his magic. We started walking to the field where the forge would be raised. It started off as a casual walk, but as we both realized how long that would take, I broke into a gallop. Silver Dust was soon behind me at an equal pace. It was about a seven minute run to the other side of Ponyville, where the field that was assigned to the forge was. As we walked up, everypony was there, cementing stones as a base for a large fire pit. A chimney was starting to take form when Bronze Hammer approached us in the field. "Boy am ah glad to see you and that magic horn of yours!" He said. "Why, do you need any assistance with raising anything particularly heavy?" Silver Dust's horn started to glow. "Actually, its just the opposite, ah need you to levitate these stones into place for the chimney! It would save us a lot of time, cementin' and all." Bronze said. "Sure thing, this shouldn't be too hard." Silver said with a determined look. Silver dust walked up to the pile of stones to choose from for the roof. He levitated them all into a different spot in the air above him. He carefully examined each rock and how they could fit in different places. He then levitated each stone into perfect position for a chimney out the hole in the center of the roof. Applejack went for the cement to get working while the stones were in place, but Silver Dust levitated all the cement needed into the appropriate places needed. There was only one problem. The cement needed to dry while the structure was built progressively, not all at once. Silver dust would need to levitate everything in place for a good hour until it all dried in place. But it wasn't needed. With a small sneeze of blazing fire, I baked the cement into place so that silver could stop the magic. He was exhausted. Silver dust hadn't worked that hard, magically, since he had warped into the world. The apple wood charred from the blaze, but didn't catch fire. This was definitely a good sign of quality. After a cool jump into the flowing river, the apple crew, along with Bronze, went back to more work on the forge. Silver and I continued our roundabouts once more and were off to... Well, somewhere. After walking aimlessly through town, I decided to assign Silver to help out at the Ponyville clinic, if help was needed, and it was. His basic healing skills helped out throughout the rest of the day for the clinic. Bones were mended flawlessly, cuts and gashes could be sealed without scarring, and many other basic things that Silver Dust had mastered while practicing in the forest with Julie the other day. I was by myself the rest of the day, until later tonight, for our gathering. I decided to head back to the mansion and get ready for the dinner I would be having for everypony. It wasn't going to be a party, just a get-together for everypony's hard work today. I was walking down the cobblestone road when a rainbow maned pegasus caught my eye over head. "Greetings Rainbow Dash!" I yelled up to her, "I haven't seen you all day! What have you been up to?" "I had my usual weather duties for today, but knowing myself, I slept in this morning and cleared my section of the sky at the last moment." She gloated. "Of course you did, I was wondering why my morning was so gloomy." I smirked "Yeah, I heard you and your friends were up early this morning. What gives?" She asked. "Bronze Hammer and Tiki have been working all day," I said. "And I've been patrolling with Silver Dust through the morning." "I guess you don't have anything to do with why Twilight was daydreaming like that on her balcony at noon?" She smiled. "Is it really that obvious?" I was starting to worry. "But yes, I stopped by the library and set everything straight with Twilight." "Well that's really nice, she deserves it, with all the studying she does." Rainbow had an irritated look on her face. "Well I have to get home to fix something for dinner tonight, we're all gathering at the mansion to award ourselves for a day of hard work. You might as well come too." I said. "Sure, and you've got the uniform ready to present?" Rainbow asked eagerly. "Rarity and Tiki should be done with the design by tonight." I said. "And the new forge was raised today in the field, too?" She asked again. "Yeah, they're adding the final touches." I said, "you should go see what they've done with the place." "Alright, I'll go do that right now." And before I could reply, she was off. Into the direction of the field. The sun was now getting lower in the sky. Everypony was finishing with their jobs and getting ready for a night of fun. I was at the mansion, in the front yard. As I went to approach the front door, I noticed a silhouette of a pony through the window in the kitchen. He was a large, more rounded pony. He wasn't as toned as Bronze Hammer, so it couldn't have been him. The head of the pony faced a different angle, and I noticed he had a large, black mustache. I've seen that mustache before. I walked through the front door, the pony of question not seeming to be worried by my arrival. I walked into the kitchen, and I was greeted by a gruff voice with an Italian accent. It was the chef from the lab cafe! "Hey! Its'a me, Mario!" He exclaimed, kissing both of my cheeks and giving a large hug. "I remember you! I would never forget such a mustache such as that!" I laughed and hugged him back. "Please, you can call'a me Crisco! Its'a mah name, in this new pony world!" He laughed. "It's a very fitting name for somepony with such a personality!" I said. "Yes, yes! But I've got a lot of work to be doing! Imm'a serve you and your guests tonight, see?" He got right to work. I looked him down for a bit, taking a description down of his appearance. He had a caramel coat with a greasy black, curly mane. His eyes were a deep hazel color, which goes with his mustache, complimentarily. His tail was short, just as mine was, but it was a deep black like his mane and mustache. He was a tall pony, but had a round and plump complexion. His cutie mark was a large, curved french knife, which he was using right now to prepare a large salad, enough to feed an entire party. "Ya know, Julie had me give'a you a message. She wants me to tell you that you won't leave this world tonight. She's a'gonna put you into a hibernation state for long term usage." His deep, gruff voice was very charming and comforting. "Ok, thanks for the message, I'll be sure to relay it to the rest of the group." I said. After that, I helped Crisco prepare a fine meal of garlic bread, green leaf salad, spaghetti, and other delectable home made Italian dishes. We talked for a while, getting to know each other. The Mario of the human world had a very sad life. He was disowned by his family for unclear reasons, and was sent to America in search of a job. His wife was killed by a branch of the new Italian Mafia, and he didn't know where his son was. He had lost faith in his son, because he was either dead, or brainwashed into the Mafia, turned against his own father. He found a job at the lab, which promised to keep him and his location anonymous to anyone who asked. His days were brightened, serving meals to a hard working staff, and was even happier to see me every morning, because I reminded him so much of his nephew, who helped him get to America safely and find this job. He also told me about how he was gay, which didn't bother me one bit, since I was bisexual. I didn't tell this to him, because he didn't need to know. He explained that his sexual interests wouldn't become a problem in our household, since he was a jolly man alone, and past his prime. But I shared his joys and his sorrows through his story, and had gained another friend this night. It was now dark out, everypony had gone home and came back prepared to feast on an excellent meal in the company of all their hard working companions. Even anypony who didn't exactly work today still showed up to enjoy the company and the food. "Everypony, may we have your attention?" Rarity stood up. "After a long day of work, the official design for the new Ponyville guard has been finalized!" Tiki announced. Tiki removed his cloak and Silver Dust came out from one of the rooms on the second floor, looking over the indoor balcony to the living room. As he came down, the glorious emerald and navy blue camo uniforms were revealed. They were very lightweight, loose uniforms, and offered significant protection. Rarity explained that the stitching, suggested by Fluttershy, provided guard against incoming blows from sharp objects and were fire resistant and water proof, thanks to the fabrics used. Tiki showed all the numerous hidden pockets within the uniform that had enough storage to equal a full sized saddle bag. The color scheme was explained to give camouflage in changing environments, the navy blue areas for urban and aqua environment, and the dark emerald reflected light as if it were a leaf. It was perfect, the most advanced design ponies have seen yet. Everypony was truly amazing and gave an inspiring cheer for the hard work put into such a design. Now that the most important part was over, the better part started. Everypony sat around the glorious, rounded dining table, enough to fit the group that showed up. There was also plenty of food to go around, there was even left overs for tomorrow, for the new soldiers to wake up to and enjoy. Crisco also was introduced by myself to the group and how he arrived. He gave the sad speech about how he ended up here. All of the ponies in the room were touched by his journey and horrified at the true nature of some human beings from the original world. After the dinner everyone was able to mingle a bit more, and leave off from last nights party if they had to. After a long night of partying, since Pinkie Pie couldn't resist blowing the party cannon, and Twilight showing me how proud she was of our hard work, more intense kissing. everyone left for home and went straight to bed. I fell asleep as soon as I hit a pillow, but it wasn't mine, I was at the library that night.