//------------------------------// // Chapter 18 // Story: Home Again // by drnkntst //------------------------------// Chapter 42 The two alicorns plus one unicorn walked into town together. Much to the pleasure of Twilight and Luna, there was no screaming and terrified running, there were some gasps and looks of shock, but, it had only been a few years since Luna came back to her senses after the Elements destroyed Nightmare Moon, so… foal steps. Though, not everything was bad for her. “So you mean to tell me, that little act young Sweetie Belle put on was not rehearsed?” Luna asked Rick. “The only thing I did was encourage her to dress as you, the rest was all her. I guess that’s how she truly feels you would respond to a threat like Nightmare Moon.” Luna’s pride was palpable, “I… I don’t know what to say to that.” “Well, Princess, you might want to figure it out, because her she comes now, with her friends too.” Rick couldn’t help but laugh a little at her apparent terror of the approaching foals. “Princess Luna, Princess Luna! You were amazin’!” Apple Bloom, dressed as a ghost, exclaimed. “Yeah, bu-but I wasn’t scared or nothin’.” Scootaloo, who had gone as Rainbow Dash (surprise, surprise), tried to lie. Sweetie Belle called her out, “what! You were the first one back to town!” Scootaloo did her best to still appear cool for the Princess, “well I can’t help t if I’m just faster than everypony else.” “Did… did you girls truly enjoy my performance? You did not fear me?” Luna was positively surprised. “You bet!” Scootaloo cried out. “Yeah! It’s become my favorite part of Nightmare Night!” Sweetie Belle agreed as Apple Bloom nodded. Luna leaned her head down closer to the foals, “thank you girls so very much. I am happy you enjoyed our act.” The three little fillies nuzzled the night princess. Then they ran off to collect more candy and waved at Luna, Rick and Twilight. Luna was watching them trot away, she was totally speechless. Even before she had become Nightmare Moon, she never really felt her subjects truly appreciated her, but these three little foals proved her wrong. “Hey, Luna, are you feeling alright?” “What, oh, yes I am, Twilight Sparkle. Shall we adjourn to the games? I wish to have some fun.” “Well alright. Let’s go play some games!” Rick exclaimed happily as he escorted the two princesses back to Applejack’s games, “but after that, I really need to get something to eat.” Just for added emphasis, his stomach growled much to the humor of the royal pair. Applejack was overjoyed to see her friend, her princess and her newly affirmed coltfriend return to her section, though she only kissed one. “Hey there ya’ll, come to have some fun?” “We sure did, though if you could find your way to slip me an apple, I’d be most appreciative.” “Heheh, here ya go, Rick,” she tossed a large green apple to him. If he were still human, he would have been put off by the fact she had to use her mouth, but as a pony he didn’t care. He greedily devoured the fruit. “What kind uh games were ya interested in?” “Fair Applejack, I most enjoyed the spider tossing game last year. May we play this game again?” “Of course, Princess, it’s right over here.” Princess Luna was a natural at spider tossing. She would call out ‘huzah’ every time she would score a direct hit. The townsponies would watch her with glee. Twilight missed a couple time, but was spot on most often. There were a couple of cat calls as Rick, out of frustration at never getting close to the target, cheated… big time. He actually went as far as to make a chute with his force field and slide the spider down it to the intended target. His logic was that if cheated in a way that was blatantly cheating, then it didn’t really count. Twilight disagreed, stating that by definition, he was wrong. Luna just found it amusing and giggled at his antics. After the spiders, it was onto the pumpkin catapults. Again, Luna was a natural. Twilight, with her studies in physics, had been making perfect shots every time. Rick, however, was cheating again. He was using his own force field jack-o-lantern, granted he was using the catapults, but he was redirecting their trajectory mid-air. Again, he used his logic about it being obvious and therefore not cheating. Next came the apple bobbing. The huge tub was large enough for multiple ponies to go at the same time. Since it was a possibility, they decided it might be fun to do just that. At least, that’s what they told Rick. “Ready, Rick, Luna? On three.” Twilight called out with a wink that only Luna could see. “One… two… three!” Rick plunged into the tub up to his mane. He chased apples left and right, being careful not to bump into either princess. Water was splashing everywhere and soaking Rick’s costume. Just before he ran out of breath, he latched onto a medium granny smith apple. He pulled his head out of the tub feeling victorious, only to find he was mistaken. Both Twilight and Luna were waiting with a large apple on both their hooves. To Rick’s surprise, neither mare was wet. Then it dawned on him. “You both cheated and used your magic, didn’t you?” Luna giggled as Twilight explained with a smirk, “it’s not cheating if it’s obvious.” Rick surrendered and gave Twilight a peck on the cheek. “You win, Princess. Now, how about my two favorite princesses accompany me over to the concession? Applejack, would like us to bring you back anything?” “Nah, Sugar, I’m all full up on apples over here. Ya’ll go on and enjoy yerselves.” Before they left, Applejack and Rick shared a strong hug and a slight nuzzling. “Until we meet, fare Applejack, we wish you well.” Luna turned and with her two companions, left to sate their hunger. Rick and his royal entourage wandered over to the concessions in search of seasonal favorites. To his great pleasure, Rick found they had pumpkin pie, peach cobbler, apple pie ala mode, cupcakes with the icing shaped like ghosts and cookies cut like jack-o-lanterns. Even, to his great surprise, a Dutch apple pie, though they didn’t call it that for obvious reasons. “So, Luna,” it took almost all Rick’s will power to keep from drooling over the treats, “what did you want to try first?” The princess of the night looked at Rick with a mouth already full of apple cobbler while a few cookies and cupcakes levitated in next to her. “Heh, never mind. Twilight, how about you?” but Twilight too was already indulging with ice cream topped with apple pie filling. “Seriously. Are you ladies gonna leave anything for me?” After the three finished their meal, Rick turned to Twilight, “I’m having a blast tonight. It reminds of everything I used to love about this time of year back home. It is too bad Fluttershy isn’t out with us.” “Yes it is, but as I said, she is just too scared to come out on Nightmare Night.” “Yeah, especially that costume over there.” “You mean Lyra’s human costume? I would have thought you would’ve gotten a kick out of it.” “No, not that one, though the face still looks really creepy, I mean that demon bug one. The one with the dragonfly wings and fangs. Oh well. We’ll just have to enjoy ourselves tonight and I’ll just check on her tomorrow.” “I don’t see the one you’re talking about but that does sound like a good idea. I’m sure she’ll be real happy you did.” Twilight turned away from the table and, along with Luna, continued on through the crowd of ponies, both secretly grateful that there was not a repeat of the first time Luna came for Nightmare Night. There were still some timid ponies, but there was far more signs of respect than of fear. After Rick got over the shock of an apparent complete lack of jealousy, he trotted over to the two mares and continued their leisure stroll. They were even rejoined by an only slightly upset Rarity, who had said even though she was mad at Rick, after Sweetie Belle told her what happened in the woods, she couldn’t stay mad. Chapter 43 The next day, Rick was setting out to Fluttershy’s cottage with Paul by his side. There were still a few ponies cleaning up after the festival, he helped as he went by grabbing the higher and harder to reach decorations with his magic. Then he stopped in the market place to pick up some carrots and lettuce for Fluttershy, he didn’t know if she needed any, but he figured with all her pets and critter friends, fresh veggies would always be on the shopping list. Rick was just about reach the edge of town when he saw the pony in question. She was walking fairly slowly due to the large saddlebags laden down with her own supply of veggies. As rick was trotting to catch up, he found himself realizing just how cute her swaying… tail was. She was startled significantly when her saddlebag was lifted of her back. Her surprise was turned into pleasure when she saw it was Rick lifting it and placing it on his own back adding his groceries to it. She was greeted by an extremely happy Paul making her even happier. “Rick, good morning.” “Good morning, Fluttershy, it’s good to see you. We missed you last night; everyone was having a good time, even Luna, but it still would have been better if you were with us.” “Oh, I’m sorry I couldn’t be there with you but I’m… just so scared of Nightmare Night. I just get so scared so easily, I wish I could be brave like you and Twilight and everypony else.” “Fluttershy, there is nothing wrong with being scared as long as you come through when it matters. You think I wasn’t scared when I jumped in the river after the Crusaders, or when that timberwolf was going after Apple Bloom. You better believe I was scared. Just like I know you were scared when you stared down that cockatrice, or when you faced that dragon, and let’s not forget about the manticore on your way to go against Nightmare Moon. Shy, you can be brave and still be scared. If you were afraid of nothing, you’d just be an idiot.” She giggled at this and Rick fell for her supreme cuteness a little more. “Thank you for that, Rick, that makes me feel better. Oh, and also, thanks for carrying my groceries for me, they were getting pretty heavy.” “No problem, you know I’ll always be there for you just like that night we were stuck out in the woods in the rain… you know what, I just remembered something. I lost my wallet that day. I remember I found it the next day and I had it in my hands when I-” “Please don’t say it. I was so scared that day. When you didn’t come back after Shining Armor came running back with Twilight… then one day passed, then another… oh, Rick, I lost you and it hurt so bad. I never want to think about that again. I haven’t even talked to any bears since then because I couldn’t help wondering if one of them might have been the one that… that…” Fluttershy’s eyes started to water, Rick stopped walking and pulled her close to himself. She wrapped her forelegs around his neck and sobbed into his coat while he gently rubbed her back. He had seen Twilight lose it at the hospital and he knew the others were sad, even cried over him but he didn’t know she had been this distraught by his passing. He couldn’t help but briefly wonder if anyone on Earth had been this upset when he left that world for this one. He decided he didn’t much care, all the people he cared about had already been gone when he left, but here, he had a family. Here he was friends with the country’s rulers. Here he had love. “Fluttershy, it’s alright. I’m here now and I don’t plan on going anywhere.” Rick gently lifted her chin so they looked into each other’s eyes. He smiled slowly, “do you hear me? I’m here, with you, and I’m going to continue to be here.” He gave her a gentle kiss which caused her to moan softly. Fluttershy blinked her eyes open, they were a little bloodshot but the big turquoise pools were still captivating. “Do you promise?” “I’ll even Pinkie promise,” Rick did the motions to prove his sincerity. It seemed to work, that cute smile returned and she nodded. “Good, now let’s get these groceries back to your house.” “Yes, then I have to start helping the critters collect food for the upcoming winter.” “Alright, Paul and I can help.” They continued on their way and finally reached the cabin. The groceries were put away, the pet were fed and the critters feeders were filled. “So I’m looking for acorns and nuts right?” “That’s right, any you can find. I’ll sort them out later, just please be careful.” “I Pinkie promised didn’t I?” he chuckled as he went off into the woods with Paul to gather said nuts and acorns. He spent about one boring, uneventful hour collecting and placing the squirrel food into the saddlebag Fluttershy had loaned him. He returned to the cabin and heard a loud argument from within the building. He galloped over to find out what was wrong, when he found Applejack inside, he started be very concerned. “AJ, what’s wrong? What happened?” “YOU!” Applejack was in his face in an instant, and not in a pleasant way like the night before. “You got sum nerve!” “What are yo-” “Just stay away frum me and mah family!” Rick was about to ask again what was wrong, but didn’t get the chance before the farmpony slapped him… hard.