//-----------------------------
// Story: Off the Beaten Path
// Chapter: In the Wake
// Author: PingSquirrel
// Editor: flyingfox
//----------------------------
24.
“And there were plane tickets, phone calls, money spent to rent the hall.
It took most of his savings but he gladly used them all.”
I found myself humming a lot of Harry Chapin over the next few days. Maybe it was because the morose mood of Harry’s songs matched my mood, or maybe it was the work that I was doing to get ready for the wake was bringing up a lot of memories of my former life. When I was young, my family took a trip through the northern states in a RV and the soundtrack to the whole trip was the Best of Harry Chapin live. It was irksome that I knew the singer’s name, but not the family that was with me. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t think I’d remembered the words to any of his songs, yet here I was singing along to Mr. Tanner while I finished composing a letter to get a DJ with ‘ultra modern’ equipment out to Ponyville. Hopefully she’ll be able to accommodate what I had in mind for the night. If not, we could work something out, I’m sure. Magic seemed versatile enough.
It was a short walk for me between the The Glen and the post office. Since the falling out, Merlot let me stay up in the loft as a temporary measure. It was better than sleeping outside and lunch was never that far away. The first couple nights here wasn’t too bad, but I hoped to get to somewhere better soon. It was pretty cramped on that little cot for a big guy like me, but at least the food was as good as always here.
Anyways, I stuffed the letter into the envelope, put it in the borrowed saddlebags I had with the other envelope, and headed out with little more of a wave towards Merlot. It was a short list of errands at least with only a few items on the schedule before I had to get back to planning, but the second thing on it was what I was dreading and item one was simply sending off a letter. It wasn’t going to delay anything. Not that I should put this off anymore than I already have. At least the leisurely walk was giving me plenty of time to work through what I was going to say. Just like the first time, I was getting my scripts together in my brain, and stuffing the letter into the postbox was no distraction from that.
So, why did every path in my head lead to the worst case scenario? Things were already bad enough for me without my brain preemptively adding another layer of suck on top of it. I just had to be calm, logical and not complicate anything. Keep it simple, clean and quick. Most of all, just don’t expect anything out of this. Anything else, and I’d just make things worse. What will happen, will happen, and that is that.
I looked down the road towards the manor and dread made me stop in place. My planning wasn’t helping me get past my fear at all. I hadn’t been back since I got kicked out a couple days ago, and I wasn’t looking forward to going there again, but all of my things were there. If I was lucky…
That thought actually died in my head right there, and I started laughing bitterly right in the middle of the street. It wasn’t the first time I collected sidelong glances from passing ponies, and likely not the last either if everything went as I hoped. I’m sure I have quite the reputation as the crazy earth tradespony around town, but I think I came by that honestly with all the things that have happened to me. You could say that chance had it out for me in a bad way. Yeah. Like I should rely on luck now, or ever again, after all it’s done for me over the last few months. All, I could say about everything is that it could be worse.
Know what. Screw luck. I was getting tired of letting the chips land where they may, because it was never anything good. Look where it’s gotten me so far; stranded and alone in another world. Maybe this is what they called rock bottom, so why did I keep asking for new shovels?
I wanted this to go well. No. I needed this to go well. No other result was acceptable. Once I was there, I wouldn’t leave until I got something good out of this. That was simple and clean, so it still fell into my requirements. Now, it was just a matter of doing it.
Now that I had my mission, I stopped dreading what was to happen. Of course, I was still nervous as hell about this, but I know Berry. She was a wonderful mare and, even with the mistake we both made, she’d at least give me a chance to speak. With that thought in head, I started on my way towards Berry’s once again but with a bit more perk in my step. I knew what I wanted, and what I needed to do, and that made the plan so much more simple.
It was just the individual steps that were hard, and the imposing doors in front of me were a solid reminder of that. If my schedule wasn’t so tight over the next few days, I could put this off. It was as good a reason as any to deny myself any reason to procrastinate anymore. I knocked, and immediately regretted it with thoughts of being unready for this flying through my head. I didn’t know why things went so badly, so quickly. I had hurt her without even meaning to.
From within the home, I heard some shuffling, slow steps. “Just a minute,” Berry said from within, leaving me with precious seconds to prepare myself for what was coming. We hadn’t spoke since that day.
The door opened partially, and the grape mare was there looking at me. She didn’t look happy nor sad, but the blank stare was piercing. I did feel a pang of shame when I did a quick sniff to check the air, but at least it confirmed that there was no alcohol. “Hello Berry,” I said politely, though internally, I was ready to panic. Maybe if I had thought of a better greeting, I wouldn’t be thinking I already blew it. “We should talk.”
“I think we’ve said enough,” she said, closing the door, but I got my hoof just inside to keep it closing entirely. Ow. Even when you got a solid hoof, a door closing on you can make you wince.
I powered through the pain. “Clearly, we haven’t if we’re like this,” I said, as I kept looking at her unchanging expression. That dispassionate stare was more hurtful than anything she could say right now. I just wanted my friend back and she was looking at me like I was an interruption. If she was mad, that’d mean she felt something, but this meant nothing.
She kept the pressure on the door. I could easily force myself by, but that wasn’t the point. “I don’t have anything I want to say right now,” she said, finally breaking that stare to look away. It was a start.
“Then just listen Berry, because I’ve got things I want to tell you. Please just hear me out,” I said as I pulled my hoof back from the door. She didn’t close the door right away, so I took that as permission to continue. “I’m sorry that I hurt you. It was the last thing I ever wanted to do. There hasn’t been a day that I hadn’t thought about how good it was to meet you. You’ve been there for me in ways I can’t put into words, but I bet you’re a big reason I’m staying sane over the last few months.”
She looked back up at me, with her eyes shining with welling tears. “What did I do wrong, then? How did it end up being a mistake?” she demanded with her muzzle wrinkling up in an effort to hold her back from crying outright.
Not even a minute into the conversation and we were already off the scripts in my head and into territory that I didn’t want to be in. I didn’t want her like this. Seeing her like this again was no better than the first time. “There wasn’t a mistake,” I said softly with my head bowed enough to look away from the mare. “Just, I wasn’t ready.”
The silence between us was nearly complete, with only the sniffles and heavy breathing being the only sounds being made. There was no telling how long we just stayed like that, each on one side of the door, but I didn’t know how to follow that up. It was best to just let her have her time to process that.
She was the first to break the silence. “W-will you?” she said as she wiped a fetlock over her eyes.
“Will I what?” I asked.
“Be ready,” she said as our eyes met again. I hated how she looked with her face streaked with tears and wished that I could make everything better.
“I honestly don’t know, Berry. I wish I knew,” I replied in that same soft voice, “It’s not your fault but I can’t leave everything I was behind. It’s too much.”
She didn’t answer right away, but just nodded as she stood there as she processed what she was thinking. “You were the first time a stallion wanted to be around me. I was so sure that you were different,” she said as she fought down sobs. I couldn’t blame her for what happened, but I didn’t realise how much of her hopes she had pinned on me until now. “If I was a little better, maybe we could do something to fix everything.”
“Please stop blaming yourself, Berry. It’s not you, it’s me,” I said before I even realised what I was saying. Did that cliche actually come out of my mouth? Whatever, move on to the real issues. “I never meant to hurt you. It’s just that...”
“It’s just what?” she returned as soon as I left off on that hanging note. She even got a hold of her tears.
“I was drunk, hurt, and needed somepony, but not like that,” I answered honestly.
That got a spark out of her, but not in the way I wanted. She stepped forward so she was was nearly nose to nose with me when she snapped, “You didn’t complain at the time!”
“Of course I didn’t! I was drunk and you were there for me. You took me in, helped me cope! You were the only good that I had in a terrible day, and I looo-” I cut myself off midway through that last word, though judging by her wide eyes, she knew where it was going. God, is that how I felt? I backed down and lowered my tone. “I really, truly care about you, but I just lost a lot of others that I care for, too. I need to find where I stand on it all before I can do anything else. Anything else wouldn’t be fair to them or me.”
She backed away slowly and sat on her flanks with her head turned down. “I just wanted us to happen so badly. I’m tired of being used, Scriber. It happened so many times that I just gave up, then you showed up. I just thought this time, a stallion would need me the next day,” she stated, before she shook her head. “I… I didn’t think.”
The time seemed right for me to take the chance and I pushed the door open to approach her. “Please stop, Berry. I forgive you, but I still need time to figure things out and when I do, I hope you’re still in my life, one way or another.”
She even cracked a briefly lived smile there. There’s no words for how nice that was to see, even if it only lasted a few seconds. I guess she realised that wasn’t a promise of anything deeper than a friendship and that killed the mood again. “I’d appreciate you to do one thing for me, though. I’ll understand if you’d rather not.”
“What is it?”
I dipped my nose into my saddlebag and pulled the envelope out to place it on a nearby table. “It’s an invitation to something really important to me. The details on when and where it is. It’d mean everything to me if you showed up for it, but I’d get it if you didn’t want to,” I explained as I kept my distance from her. I didn’t want to force anything. “It’s in a couple days, and hopefully I can get everything set up in time. I really think it’ll help me through all this.”
“I can do that,” she answered flatly. There was a lack of life to her right now as she looked over the envelope, as if she had been drained. I could sympathize with that. We both hoped for more out of all this, but this result was better than it could have been at least. There was a plan now and neither of us was crying.
“Thank you, Berry,” I said, then we just both stood there in silence again. It wasn’t anything that either of meant to happen, but both of us had a lack of things to say. Eventually, I broke the silence. “I’m going to get what I need from my room, Berry. I’ll be back when it’s all done and we can figure out what comes next then, alright?”
She nodded, and I took those first few steps towards the stairs before she spoke up. “I hope whatever comes next is better than this,” she said after me. “Your stuff is where you left it.”
For the second time today I laughed bitterly. “Me too, Berry. Me too,” I replied before I kept going to my room. She didn’t follow me as headed into my room. It was exactly as I left it which was a relief. Even with Berry being anything but the vindictive sort, I had visions of fires on the front lawn. If she was that sort of pony, I doubt I’d want anything to do with her.
Since everything was where I left it, finding things came quickly. It felt good to have my hat and vest back. When you’re a plain yellow and brown pony like me, you needed all the help you could get to get a little colour into your pallette. After a moment in the room’s mirror to make sure they were set properly on me, I turned to sling my bag of tools over my back. I hadn’t done any actual work since I got kicked out, and the thought of getting to some tin actually excited me. It was a siren’s call, even, and a very new sensation. Maybe there was more to special talents than the mark on the flank. It’d have to wait because I had more pressing things. As if to drive that point home, I opened up a duffle bag. In with my old clothes and wallet from back when I had only two legs, was my laptop and iPod. The plan was still on.
I slung it over my back too, and with everything I needed, I headed back out, only to run into Berry as soon as I opened my room’s door. The poor mare looked as distraught as she did a few minutes ago. What wouldn’t lay that fear to rest was seeing me with all my bags like this. “I didn’t mean to sneak up on you, Scriber, but I need you to promise me that you’re not going forever. Please?” she pleaded.
Just putting my hoof against hers as a show of comfort, but I’m instantly taken by how much that simple touch sweeps me up as well. It’s enough to make my head turn down. “I’m not. I just need to work out a few things, and well, you’ll see what I mean. Just... just don’t think I’m leaving because of what happened. I wouldn’t do that to you.”
She let out the breath she was holding. “I guess, I’ll see you in a couple days then?”
“Well, I’ll be there,” I joked rather lamely. The joke failed entirely to lighten the mood, but it did set the tone for the work to come.
~~~
“You know, Scriber, the alterations on these ‘clothes’ as you called them were nearly impossible without destroying them entirely,” Rarity complained as she dropped off the package for me on the bartop. “The design was totally ill-suited for anypony, and to adjust them so they wouldn’t bind the front hooves was exceptionally difficult. Not to mention that they were made of a cloth that I couldn’t identify, and all the tags were written in a language that I couldn’t fathom. You’re lucky that I’m so exceptionally talented.”
Like the last two days, it was non-stop work for me with the final preparations to get The Glade ready for my party. With Rarity here, I turned a bit of my attention her way. “Nylon or polyester, I’d imagine,” I answered as I prodded my hooves against the stacks of wires for the stage’s sound system, and yet again, failed to get the plug set in. I might be used to the lack of fingers, but there was only so much I could do. It probably was best to leave this to the unicorn that Pinkamena hired.
“Wherever did you get them? They might not be the finest of fabrics, but I’m sure they could have some utilitarian uses,” she said as she inspected the job I was doing, then simply completed it in an instant with her magic, leaving me to stare at the finished job.
“Uh, Wal-mart or Mark’s most likely,” I replied as I scanned over the colours of the plugs. Of course she did it instantly in a fraction of the time it would’ve taken me. “You could’ve done that earlier, you know?”
“I didn’t know what exact it was you were doing,” she said as she looked around. The place was a far cry from what she would recognize as a “Pinkie party”. For starters, there was no cake, steamers, banners or balloons (all at my repeated insistence). Instead trays of simpler fare like little mini-sandwichs on the tables. I did allow for proper tablecloths though. I’m not a total savage. “I must ask, what’s the occasion. I know you’ve said it’s a secret, but I’m absolutely dying to know.”
“You’ll see,” I said right back, much to her dismay. “Hey Vinyl! Try it now!”
The speakers clicked on and her tomboyish voice came through. “Check one, check two. Sounds pretty good so far to me.”
That was one thing down. “Can you come over to Twilight’s table then? I’ve got something to show you and it’s pretty important,” I called to her, and the white mare with the shades (inside, no less), came trotting over to join me, Twilight and Spike. She’d been waiting patiently in a booth ever since I promised her some time to try out some technology that she’d never seen before.
“Just a sec,” Vinyl called back as she worked her control panel.
“May I join you, too?” Rarity asked.
“Yeah, sure. Another unicorn might be a good idea for what I’m planning,” I said as I trotted over and pulled the laptop from my saddlebag with my mouth. Yet another reminder that it wasn’t made for hooved users. I’d made sure it was fully charged for this little experiment, but that didn’t make it any easier to open.
“Is this it?” Twilight asked excitedly. “It looks like a book!”
“It looks like a book,” echoed Spike with a lot less enthusiasm than Twilight.
“Well, yeah. It kind of is, but not really. I just need to know something,” I said while I powered it up, and the ponies leaned in to inspect the glowing screen. They were fascinated but didn’t really know what they were looking at. “You know how you can get a translation spell on a book, but not on anything spoken?”
“Well, yes. It’s because a spoken word’s medium is air and that is very mutable. It’s possible to sculpt the pressure waves to alter sounds travelling, but it’d take a level of precision and exactness that I doubt even Princess Celestia could maintain for long. Alternately, you could alter the speaker’s thoughts, but that goes into the taboo field of mentalism, and the same goes for the receiver. Written words are just simply ink on paper; all you have to do is let the intentions of the words come through and alter the visual to match,” Twilight explained. By the end of that lesson, Spike was face down on the table.
“Thank you for that exposition dump,” I teased Twilight before turning to the small dragon. “How do you deal with her?”
“I cope,” he replied dryly.
Using my tongue, (much to the disgust of the watchers), opened up a notepad, and typed a quick message.
“Oh ick. There has to be a better way to do that, dear,” Rarity said with her nose wrinkling up.
All I could do is shrug for the act that was already done. “Sorry. This thing isn’t made for ponies, and especially not for an earth pony. Not hoof-friendly at all. That said, can one of you hit this message with a translation spell?”
Twilight’s horn started to glow through the bandages wrapping it. “I can do it,” she said quickly. I guess she really wanted to see what this machine was about.
“You sure you’re up to it? It hasn’t been three months yet, and your horn is still splinted,” I pointed out. By this time, Vinyl was walking over to us to see what we had.
“I’m fine. The doctors said it’d be good for me to ease back into magic with some minor spells,” she said as she looked like she was straining to maintain the magic, but the aura enveloped the screen as well. The writing shifted. I could still read it.
“Hello world?” the onlookers all said at once, and I laughed.
“Success! Now, let’s try something a little more difficult,” I said right before I closed that window and moved into the movie player. They watched that little arrow slide around the screen with dumbstruck expressions.
“What in Tartarus are we looking at?” Vinyl asked brashly with a toss of her spikey mane.
I opened the movie player, and made my choice for what to use for an example for the next part. “Now, can you translate a moving word? If it’s too much, maybe Vinyl or Rarity can try it,” I said as I pulled back. The aura faintly took the machine again.
“A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… Star Wars” Spike read as the text crawl slid up the screen. “Episode four. A New Hope. It was a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships striking from a hidden base, had won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. Hey! Why did you turn it off? That looked really cool!”
“Relax. You’ll see more tonight. This was more of a proof of concept,” I explained. I then looked at Twilight who had a hoof to her horn. Rarity was already at her side with a glass of water in her own magical grip.
“You mustn’t strain yourself like that dear. You’re still recovering from the accident,” Rarity scolded.
“It’s a simple spell though. I should be able to do it, but it’s like I have to cast it so many times,” she said.
“There’s a screen refresh rate to consider. Basically, it’s a whole bunch of still pictures you just saw. Is it possible to have a unicorn just sit there and run translation on this, or is it too intense?” I asked, hoping that this little snag wouldn’t ruin anything.
“Well, any healthy unicorn can do it, and the spell is pretty simple to teach. I’d explain it, but you’re an earth pony. It’s a bunch of concepts that you don’t even have the sense to experience,” Twilight replied. She looked like she was hurting, with Rarity already drizzling some water over her horn.
“What’s this got to do with me?” the DJ asked. “You want me to run this thing?”
“No. You’ll need the translation spell, but I’ve got something else entirely in mind,” as I went back into my bag and got my iPod out. “For your end, I want you to be playing music out of this thing. From the looks of it, the jacks should work with this,” I said. It wasn’t that much of a stretch considering that the wall plugs worked with my tools.
“What’s this?” she asked as she looked at the little square. “It’s tiny. How much music can this thing hold anyways?
“Um. It’s good for about four days of music if you queued it all up and just played it,” I replied. She actually slid her glasses off of her nose when I dropped that little fact, and looked at the device again with arched eyebrows. “Just get the translation spell from Twilight and I’ll show you how to use it, and after this is all done, if you like anything you hear, feel free to record it. It’s not like the record companies can sue us for piracy here.”
That got a blank stare. “What?”
“Nevermind. Point is, if you like it, you can have it,” I replied. Eventually, my laptop and iPod would die, and that sort of offer might mean the difference between the loss of some excellent tunes and movies and their preservation. “And, I can guarantee that you’ve never heard anything on this thing before.”
She looked ready to contest that, with her mouth opened with a half-formed challenge, then she glanced at the device again. “Normally, I’d say that’s nuts, but your stuff is already kind of nuts so maybe you have a few things I don’t.”
“You’ve got no idea,” I replied as I gave the clock a quick glance. It wasn’t long now, and I was still waiting from a check-in from Pinkamena and a couple of her friends, and Dash was getting a package for me all the way from Canterlot. When you can fly, a day trip to neighboring cities becomes much more feasible. “Excuse me a moment.”
At the bar was the one that gave me this idea in the first place, who was apparently just making some last minute preparations of his own. As always, he was as prim and proper as possible, even if it was just for sorting out bottles. When I approached the bar, Merlot spoke up first. “You know, when I said a respectful farewell, I didn’t mean that you had to go to this sort of length,” he said.
“Yeah, but I was getting pretty tired of half-measures. They really weren’t getting me anywhere,” I chuckled before I looked at the ponies that were already here, doing the work to get things ready.
“But, you’re sure about this, Scriber? There’s no taking something like this back afterwards,” he continued and he actually sounded worried for me. What was the worst that could happen?
I gave a dispassionate shrug. “I’ve haven’t been sure of much lately. Why would this be any different?”
He had no argument for that, so he just let out a little hum, while the bottles clinked about. “Well, you know where you’ve got a place to stay if things don’t turn out as planned,” he said as he continued his work.
“Thanks, Merlot. That means a lot to me.”
“All part of the plan of getting another customer-for-life,” he stated plainly. While his marketing was rather narrow in scope, I couldn’t argue its effectiveness. This was a place I’d recommend to anypony I met from here on in.
“You got it, and if you ever need any fix-it work done around here, just let me know; I’d be glad to do it. It’s the least I owe you,” I replied, “ And that doesn’t even count anything for letting me use this place for this thing in the first place.”
“Ah, that’s just bits, Scriber. Those will sort themselves out,” he replied. He looked like he was about to say more, when the door burst open.
“Canterlot and back in four hours and twenty minutes! I’m awesome!” Rainbow Dash gasped as she walked in looking like she was about two steps from collapsing on the ground. Even so, that feat was pretty impressive considering the distance covered, but I was still much more interested in the package strapped to her back. Maybe Scootaloo or whatever her name was could stroke her ego later.
“Put whatever she has on my tab, Merlot,” I said, before turning to the mare and walking to her to take the package from her. God, I hope she had a chance to get to a shower before the party, because she smelled like sweat. “Thank you. Anything you want, it’s yours Rainbow. My treat.”
“Thanks, Scriber,” she panted as she made her way to the bar, and practically flopped over it. “Water first, then we’ll see about the other stuff.”
Merlot would take care of her, and I turned my attention back to the special delivery she made just for me and took it back to the table where Rarity and Twilight were. Twilight looked much less strained from her earlier magical effort. “You’re alright there?” I asked as I set down the package and put my muzzle to it to work on the strings holding the whole thing together.
The pair looked over to me. “I’ll be alright. I just didn’t expect to be doing that much magic all at once, but it’s good knowing I can still do it.”
“So, uh, I’m going to ask the question that every nerd waits for,” I said as soon as I got the the knots loose, and let the brown wrapping fall away from a strange device within it. It was tricky to track down on short order, and pricey too, but I’m sure Twilight would love to keep a projecting magnifying glass for her library. “Do you want to run the projector?”
“I’m not a nerd, I’m well read,” Twilight objected, even while Spike sniggered. It was pretty obvious what his opinion of the assessment was.
“Search your feelings. You know it to be true,” I teased as I possessively held the projector in my hooves, as if to guard it from unworthy eyes.
“Running the projector doesn’t make you a nerd,” she retorted as if it were some sort of defense to the charge laid against her. My chuckling continued unabated. “But, yeah, I want to do it.”
I chuckled at that point. “Let this Faustian pact be sealed. Blood won’t be needed, because I’m feeling rather generous today.”
Once again I left the group surrounding me confused. Been doing that a lot today, and this wouldn’t be the last time either. It was Rarity that spoke up first, after a little cough, “What’s gotten into you, Scriber? I’ve never seen you so, what’s the word, lively.”
“Oh, don’t mind me. I’m all nerves about what’s coming up, and am totally deflecting with humour,” I candidly answered as I finally pushed the projector over, after dropping a small envelope atop of it. “Besides, I haven’t had a plan for a while now. Feels good to have one. Now, when it comes time, just put on the first picture.”
Spike was already reaching for the envelope, but he gave up on the pursuit with a huff when I put my hoof down on it. “And no peeking. You’ll see it in a couple hours and I really don’t want to explain it twice.”
“Got it, and I’ll keep a certain little dragon from ruining the surprise,” Twilight said with a quick nod to the drake.
Things were coming together nicely, and it was in no small part to those that were helping me out. There was simply no way I could do all of this by myself without their help, but now the stage was pretty much set. All that was needed now was the audience. I wasn’t kidding when I said I was deflecting; already I felt a tightness in my stomach thanks to my nerves. Even just thinking about it made it worse. “Thanks again. You know, do you think you guys can take care of things here? I think I need to give myself a bit before this all goes down.”
“Of course, Scriber. We can send for you when the guests start to arrive,” Rarity offered.
“Thanks. I owe you all,” I said, before I pulled out of my chair, and walked away to my room upstairs after picking up the package of clothing that Rarity got ready for me. Even before I made it to the stairs, I could hear the ponies there return to their work, shuffling things around. They were such a good bunch. Each and everyone of them.
The loft wasn’t really my room as much as a storage area with some things cleared aside to make room for a cot, but it was the best that Merlot could do on short notice and I was thankful for whatever he could offer. Now that I had some time alone, I flopped onto that cot and stared straight up at the dusty ceiling. Thoughts and worries were floating through my head. Would this turn out how I hoped? Would I be causing a panic by doing this? I don’t think so. Not if I was honest and straightforward with what I was doing here. Could I do this to everyone I knew back on Earth? Was this the right thing to do? Maybe, that question was irrelevant. I mean, the actual question was could I live with what I was doing today.
“Well guys, I know you can’t hear me, but here I am. I’m doing alright, and I’m so sorry for worrying all of you with how I just vanished,” I muttered to those I left behind. Just saying this aloud was hard. Well, that didn’t take long for my eyes to start watering up. “Yeah. I’m okay. There’s a lot of good ponies where I ended up, and it’s going to turn out alright for me, one way or another, but, I’m really sorry I can’t come back. If there was anything I could do to change that, I’d do it in an instant, but I just can’t. This is not anything I ever wanted to happen, but I guess these sorts of things happen, as weird as that all sounds. Hell, I bet you guys wouldn’t believe what happened to me even if I could tell you. It’s just on this side of impossible, but it happened.”
I laid my front hoof overtop of my face, and took a deep breath. “Sorry. I guess, I’m delaying what I’m trying to get to here. I can’t go back. It’s not possible. So, today has to be goodbye. I’ll never forget you guys, but I need a life here and it’s not going to happen if I keep looking back. I just have to move on and, well… I hope you all can do the same. Maybe you guys can even forgive me one day.”
My sight was a blur at that point and it was only getting worse as tears streamed down my cheeks. “Damn it. I hoped I wouldn’t cry again,” I chuckled softly. I wish I was tougher and able to control my emotions better. “But, yeah. I miss you all. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be alright and I hope all of you are alright, too.”
There was time to relax and calm myself before I went to practicing the script I penned out, and I was going to take advantage of it.
~~~
The clothes fit well, although they did look strange on a pony, but at least they fit well thanks to the modifications Rarity put them through. In addition to my normal ballcap, the green Carhartt’s now had a place for my brown tail to sneak out of and the simple grey hoodie was comfortable again. It was a touch warm, but that was because I also had a coat too. There was simply nothing I could do to fix that.
Downstairs, I could hear the shuffle of hooves and the murmur of voices. The turn-out was pretty good and it was nearly go time for me. The stage was set and and the crowd was here; all that was left was for me to actually go down there. With one last deep breath, and I forced myself to start walking down the stairs. Every step towards that stage took a little more of my nerves making the next one harder to take, and it only got worse when I saw the bustling crowd that that was packed wall to wall. Pinkamena truly outdid my expectation in the sheer number of ponies that were here, but looking over the crowd, I realised that there wasn’t a pony here that I didn’t know the name of.
That helped. I took another deep breath in a pathetic effort to calm my jitters, and resumed my walk to the stage where the microphone was waiting. The conversations around the room didn’t dull a bit as I took my place and looked over the sea of ponies again, which is a good thing because my mouth felt like it was filled with cotton and my words were failing me. I had a little speech I had in mind for this, but my mind was blank. What if I mess this up? Would they hate me? Maybe they wouldn’t believe me. Would I get kicked out of town if they did?
This was a mistake and I actually snorted nervously, and the mic picked that up. That sound echoed through the room and all the large eyes turned my way. Ah, crud.
“G-g-good e-evening,” I croaked once I realised that they were waiting for me to speak, but it came came out as nothing more than a squeak that the mic barely registered. I was blowing this. This was a mistake. I couldn’t do this. I had to get off the stage, but my hooves were lead and I was staring at the crowd in my paralyzed state of panic. Each one of their faces looked at me questioningly, as if to ask what the hell it was I was doing on stage in the first place. I was getting their pity.
Damn it. I was looking like an idiot. Why can’t I say anything? All I could do is stare at those staring at me.
…
…
…
...
There. By the bar.
Berry was there, looking up at me with a smile.
She came. She came for me.
I can do this.
Breathe. Deep breaths. I can do this.
“Good evening, Ladies and Gentlecolts,” I said clearly into the mic. “Sorry about the stage fright there, but it couldn’t be helped. First off, I want to thank you all for coming here today. It’s very much appreciated, and hopefully, I’ll be able to explain why it is you’re here today by the end, eh?”
The crowd didn’t matter as much anymore. I can do this.
“Now, the lack of balloons and streamers should let you know that this isn’t the way that Pinkamena usually decorates for a party. Let me tell you, it was no small feat to talk her down from all that, but this isn’t supposed to be that sort of party. Don’t worry though, I do hope you all have a great evening here. Before I get into the crux of all this, I’d like to thank all the ponies that pitched in for this.
“Merlot for letting us use his bar.” The stallion was behind the bar and gave a little salute back my way while the crowd stamped politely.
“Pinkamena for pulling out all the stops to arrange the decorations, music, invitations and catering in short order. She got it all together so fast, I’d swear she had this all planned already.”
“I didn’t have all of it ready, but I do keep several party caches ready to go for emergencies!” the pink mare called back and the crowd stamped and laughed.
“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me at all, Pinkamena,” I said before continuing on. “Next up is Twilight Sparkle for technical expertise which will come up later tonight. It’s good to see her up and about and hope her recovery continues!” She waved politely to the crowd from her post at the projector.
“Finally, last but in no way least, a very special mare that inspired me to come up here in the first place. If it wasn’t for her, I’m sure I’d still be sitting in my truck feeling sorry for myself. Thank you, Berry. Thank you so very, very much.”
She practically shrank away from the looks she got, but without anywhere to go, she gave just a little meek wave back.
“I guess its time to get on with this,” I said. This was it. Let’s do this. “Now, I came to Ponyville a little more than two months ago, and I’ve never been that forthcoming with details of where I came from. Some of you have noticed some interesting turns of phrase come out of my mouth and I do have a few odd tools and things that I’m sure you’ve never seen before. I’ve never explained any of them because of the Royal Decree that I keep it secret, but now, it just seems that it is a moot point entirely. I can’t return home, nor can anyone else come here, and just forgetting the past isn’t doing me any favours, so tonight, I plan to just share it with all of you. That way you can understand where I come from and who I am. Twilight, please put up the first picture.”
The wall behind me lit up with a blown up picture of my driver’s license, complete with my old face in one side of it, staring straight ahead. It still looked odd with how flat my face was with those tiny, predatory eyes. It was alien and much of the crowd must of felt that way, with the murmurs that ran through the crowd. Even so, we had the same mane colour, the same colour of eyes, the builds weren’t dissimilar despite the difference in species. Somepony would notice.
“Ew! That thing is like a bald monkey!” Lyra called from the back corner and several laughed. Thanks Lyra. However, it didn’t stop several looking between me and the picture and seeing what I wanted to be noticed.
“Scriber! You look like that thing!” a shrill filly called out.
“Heh. That’s not too far off the truth, Sweetie Belle. It’s a picture of me before I wound up here. My name back on my homeworld was Kerry von Kassel and was something called a human, which is, in its most broadest definitions a bald simian,” I said with a shrug, and I could tell instantly that the ponies through the bar were having troubles understanding what I was saying. “The way I came here was a magical mishap that left me as a pony. Now that I’ve been here for a while, I can say I’m glad for the change. It made fitting in a lot easier, and I got to meet a lot of wonderful ponies because of it.”
I don’t think anyone in the audience that didn’t already know the truth really knew what to make of the revelation. That’s alright with me if they needed time because it gave me time to talk.
“Now, when I was pulled across here, I lost my old life. I had friends, family and an entire world of the familiar that vanished in the blink of an eye. I can’t bring them here, nor can I go back, so I’ll never see any of them again, and they’ll never know what happened to me,” I said, closing my eyes and taking a moment to just deal with that again. It was hard everytime I said it, but I couldn’t cry this time. “In effect, the day I came here, Kerry von Kassel died. So, with that said, this is his wake.”
Off to one side of the stage was a bottle and a glass on a small table, and I walked over in silence to pour a single shot. My audience let me do this in silence, and when the glass was filled, I picked it up to balance on a hoof and lifted it towards the projected picture on the screen “To his family, friends, and all that knew him back home; may they have the strength and support to move on. May he be remembered fondly there. And, to the the pony that replaced him here, may he find new friends and family to give him strength and support in the future,” I toasted before lifting the glass up to the crowd. Next came the tricky part simply because a pony’s mouth wasn’t made for the noises I was going to make next. “Sa-Slan-cheee. Pardon me. My english is a little rusty. Actually, it’s not really english, but, know what never mind. Let’s try and do that one more time.” With one more effort I forced the sounds through my mouth. God, it sounded weird, but it was close enough. “Sláinte!”
Now, none of them knew what I just said, but they could follow my lead when I downed my drink. Still, I don’t think all of them believed me, but at least I was getting it out there.
“Now, while I can’t bring you everything that I had, what I can do is show you the little bits I brought with me. Tonight’s music will be entirely by human bands and artists, and while there are similarities, there are pretty huge differences. With a little luck, maybe you guys can get me singing the translations, too.
“And, on the other side of the room, there’s going to be a couple movies going that you can watch. All I need is a unicorn to run the translation spell, and if you want a chance to help out, feel free to ask Twilight and she can teach it to you,” I said, pointing to a table with my laptop on it. “We’re going to start with something that anypony can enjoy called “The Princess Bride”, then later, after all the foals are gone home, we can switch it up to the greatest action star ever.”
“You guys have Daring Do?!” asked an excited Rainbow Dash.
“Uh, no. I’m talking about John McClane in “Die Hard”,” I corrected her, with a rub on the back of my neck. “But, I’m pretty sure that Daring Do is pretty good in her own right.”
“Pretty good!? She’s awesome!” retorted Rainbow as she flew up to stage.
“Hey! I’m not here to argue it. Just watch later and you’ll see what I mean,” I said as I tried to shoo her off from the stages airspace. “Anyways, start up the music, Miss Scratch!” Dutifully, she nosed the iPod’s screen and the sound of strings came from the speakers. “Please enjoy Blind Guardian playing Sacred Worlds.”
The soft introduction of orchestral wasn’t foreign to Equestria at all, and that was the exact effect I hoped to cultivate. From the stage, I could watch some expectations be dashed though I don’t know what they were expecting. Maybe they wanted something that sounded entirely alien and they got that when the first hit of electric guitar joined in, but it wasn’t until the vocals kicked in that eyes went wide. As I had been reminded many times since getting here, the human voice was very different from a pony’s.
While the others listened, I snuck down from the stage and made my way through the crowd towards the bar where there was the pony I needed to see. Apparently she needed to see me too, because as soon as I got close, I was wrapped up in a hug but the grape coloured mare. “Good to see you too, Berry.”
“Scriber, you didn’t need to do that. What will the princesses say when they find out?” she said as she clung to me.
“Don’t know, don’t care,” I flippantly replied, even as I returned the hug. “What does matter is that, well, things can get better from here. I’m not going to deny who I was, or who I am now.”
She pulled back from me and tilted her head a little to the side as if I just said something crazy, and I just shrugged with a what I hope was a roguish smile. “You’re nuts,” she said flat out.
“Maybe for a pony,” I returned before looking around the place. “Not exactly what I had in mind for my funeral, but this isn’t so bad. Pretty much a party, if you ask me. Good music, good drink and food and best of all, good company.”
“But, this is just for tonight,” she asked, as she joined me in the surveying of the crowd. “What about tomorrow?””
“Forgive me for being cliche, but tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life, and I plan to enjoy it, Berry. Come on, I bet all these nice ponies have a lot of questions for me, eh?” I replied, and she came along with me at my side.
This was going much better than I ever hoped.
~Later in the evening~
The night was a blur to me. I’ll never know how many times I was asked if humans ate ponies, but it wasn’t long before I was answering that question like a champ. The first time around, however wasn’t so smooth. Apparently, “Not usually,” wasn’t the right answer and I really hope Lyra will forgive me at some point for that.
That aside, it was a good time to be had by all, and the dance floor even filled out after I got Vinyl to swap out of the metal and industrial on my iPod to happier, bouncier fare. Yes, I do keep a bit of electro-swing, dance and country on my iPod, what of it? Everypony is entitled to a few character flaws. Besides, it seemed like the right move when I realised I was halfway through singing Closer by NIN when I noticed the aghast stares in my direction. All you can do in that situation is smile, blush and go about your business like you meant to do that. That wasn’t the most embarrassing part of the evening. That came when Berry pulled me onto the dancefloor and wouldn’t take no for an answer. She even somehow convinced me to get onto two hooves for a slow dance. It was nice, but it was hard not to think of how odd it must have looked to others to see us up like that.
The musical switch-up didn’t quite solve all the problems, like when Rarity went to peek at the music I had to offer, and ended up pulling up The Beautiful People by one “Mary Lynn Maison” or so she thought. I guess she didn’t expect what she got, but hey, I like that song just fine.
As for the movie corner, it was packed the entire time, and I couldn’t even get close. It was a good thing I knew the movie that was playing line by line, or I would’ve been disappointed to miss a showing of the Princess Bride. The ponies seemed fascinated by how ‘graceful’ humans were and how intricate the language was, but Spike was entirely taken in. It was utterly adorable how he was front row center and sitting in completely awed silence. What wasn’t fair was he could actually repeat some of the english he was hearing, and by the end he had Montoya’s little catchphrase down perfectly. I guess it came with having a different shaped muzzle, but I did feel a bit cheated.
As a side note, watching him declare he was Inigo Montoya was adorable.
When the movie wrapped up, I made sure all the younger ponies were away, but Spike was able to convince Twilight to let him watch the next movie. From my understanding, he was like sixteen but just seemed younger because he was a dragon and I first saw Die Hard when I was ten, so why not? One last warning and reminder that this was an intense action movie, and I sat down to watch. The reactions were split down the middle. Utter and complete rejection of the violence or total immersement into the spirit of 80s action movie glory. The latter group was lead by Rainbow Dash, while Spike ended up in the first despite his efforts not to ‘wuss out’. Poor guy couldn’t handle it, and eventually slunk away, but I did promise to share other shows he might like with him before he got too far.
“That was awesome!” cried Dash with her hooves to her cheeks.
“So, John McClane; Great action hero, or greatest action hero?” I asked smugly. I knew the answer I’d pick.
“Well, he’s no Daring Doo, but he’s pretty good. For a monkey thing. I mean, jumping off a building like that without wings was pretty cool! And, then the big explosion! And, he just kept going no matter how bad it got. He’s tough as a minotaur!” she gushed, and utterly failed to reign in her enthusiasm. Then, she realised how she sounded and toned herself down as if she was insulting her favourite hero. “But, he’s no Daring do.”
I didn’t need to say anything and just smiled knowingly at her, before turning about to look for Berry. She wasn’t much for that sort of movie, so she left to try and mingle when it started. By that, she meant hang by the bar with Merlot because she was still there, chatting away with the bartender. That was alright too.
“Are you busy, Scriber?” a mare asked beside me, and I turned to see it was Twilight there.
“Not right now. Might queue up another movie for those that want to stay later tonight, but I have time right now,” I replied.
She turned her eye down and scuffed the floor with a hoof. “I didn’t realise you were abandoning all hope of returning home. I’m sorry I couldn’t figure out a way,” she said softly. “There should be a way to do it.”
“And, if and when you find it, we can talk then, but this is alright, too Twilight. I’m happy here,” I answered. “I thought I made that pretty clear, Twilight.”
“But, I should’ve been able to figure out how to recreate the spell and get you home! I failed you,” she continued, and I put a hoof out to her side to get her to stop before she got too riled up.
“Twilight. Take a deep breath,” I commanded and when she did so, I repeated myself. “I would’ve loved to go home, but I’m okay.”
She looked like she was slipping entirely into her in panic mode. “Yeah, but didn’t the princesses tell you not to tell anypony! I knew you wanted to make some announcements, but I didn’t know you were going to tell everything.”
“Well, if they’ve got any issues, they can bring it all directly to me. What’s the worst they can do to me?” I asked with a confident smile.
The response was instant. “Banish you to a celestial body.”
Well, that was certainly bad. Let’s try this again. “What’s the second worst thing they could do to me?”
“Petrification.”
“Let’s say we skip down a few levels of punishment to where it’s a disappointed sigh and maybe an eyeroll?” I suggested. The forced chuckle didn’t force the idea of those being actual and legitimate punishments. “If I kept all my past bottled up, how could I have a life here? I’ll live with and deal with the consequences from here.”
She didn’t look entirely convinced, but she let it drop. “If you really feel that way, then welcome to Equestria, Scriber.”
“Thank you. That means a lot to me.”
I would’ve gladly let that be the sentiment to end the evening. It was perfect with all the ponies gathered, enjoying themselves while I felt comfortable and confident enough to just be, but life has a way of throwing curveballs and tonight wouldn’t be any exception. My ear perked up at the sound of Berry raising her voice. “That’s not fair! We did everything we needed to do.”
When I turned to look, I could see one of the major sources of my frustration standing by the bar, with a very displeased Merlot and a distraught Berry. I didn’t even excuse myself as I got up and walked towards the rust red pegasus with a smug smirk on his face. He always seemed to have it when he had the upper hoof. “Now, I’m sure you think that, but it is passed one in the morning and the laws on noise violations in this town are very clear,” Cuffs said while waving his wing dismissively. “I’m just sorry that I had to tell you. I take no pleasure in this.”
My stomping made all three of them notice me. “Now that’s a lie, and we all know it Cuffs. Why are you here? I was pretty sure that you were the one pony in town that was definitely to be excluded from all of this,” I said as I took my place at Berry’s side.
“He was saying we’ve got to shut this all down or he’ll fine everypony here for a noise violation! It’s not like Pinkie hasn’t played louder music later at night!” she explained though her eyes never left the officer. Really? He was going to pull this sort of thing on tonight of all nights?
Merlot was quiet, but I could tell he was about as happy as I was about this. “Now, please be reasonable about this,” he said, “We both know that there has always been exceptions made for peaceful gatherings like this one, and this one has given nopony a reason to complain.”
He looked between us all and shrugged off the arguement like it carried no weight. “Just because a law wasn’t enforced before doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be. Isn’t that right, Scriber?” he said plainly. “Now, it’s already late. Just shut this all down, and send everypony home.”
“But, we weren’t doing anything wrong! Come on, Cuffs. Just let this slide,” pleaded the mare beside me. As frustrating as this all was, I did already accomplish my goal tonight, so maybe just closing things up would be the easiest thing to do right now.
Already, several ponies were gathering around to see what was happening, including several of the Elements. Cuffs just gave them a quick look before continuing on in that infuriating smugness. “Berry, Berry, Berry. I’ve let you get away with plenty of things over the years. I think the entire town knows that.”
Instantly, her ears pinned back and whimpered. Even the quickest glance would let a pony know she felt nothing but shame, and I just was aghast that he’d have the nerve to say something like that to her. Was it because she was close to me? It had to be. How dare he hurt her to get to me! The self-absorbed dick was clearly getting worse over time, and I wasn’t about to let a jerk like this make things hard for me and my friends in a new life. This was my turning point, and he had no right to be such a complete obstinate prick about this! I knew what had to be done.
“Cuffs,” I said coldly, and he turned in my direction. “Care to take this outside?”
He chuckled at that. “I’m sorry Scriber, but I’m not leaving,” he answered.
I stepped right up, and it was clear, that I towered over the pegasus. When you’re big, you just get used to others being smaller than you, but sizing yourself up against somepony you plan to beat the stupid out of was a good reminder. “Oh. I guess that didn’t translate over very well. What I meant was that I want to knock your teeth out without staining Merlot’s floor. Now, would you kindly step outside?”
The shocked murmur through the crowd was echoed by his surprise. “It’s a felony to threaten an officer,” he said plainly as he tried to contain his .
“I’m not threatening an officer. I’m telling you that you’ve had it in for me since day one, and I don’t have a clue why! Frankly, I’m sick of it, and I want to end it here. So, stop hiding your personal problems behind your badge, step outside and fight me!” I growled as I continued to press close to him. “You offered it to me once. Now, I’m taking you up on it.”
There was silence in the room. “Alright, Scriber. You want to take it up, you got it,” he stated to break that uncomfortable quiet. “And, when I’m done with you, I’m taking you in.”
“Whatever,” I snapped back, but I didn’t want to do so much as glance back at the other ponies. They might not understand and definitely wouldn’t approve about what was about to happen, but, by god, I wanted to smack the stupid right out of this guy.
I only got two steps to the door when Berry called out behind me. “Scriber! You don’t have to do this for me!” Berry whimpered with a hoof on my side.
There wasn’t a way I could look at her and not feel shame for what I was about to do, but after a brief glance back, I kept going for the door and only answered loudly enough for me to hear the words. “I don’t have to do this for you, Berry. This one is going to be for me.”
Cuffs was right behind me and I could hear him walking along behind me, and he was followed by the spectators who just wanted to see what was about to happen. To be entirely honest, I didn’t really know what was about to happen or how to proceed because I wasn’t exactly a fighter. I had only got into a couple in high school but that was years and years ago now. There wasn’t ever anything important enough to me at risk for me to fight for, and now, I was turning to square up against the red pegasus. There were about four meters between us, with the circle of ponies forming around us. It was strange that the change of worlds didn’t change how a scene like this would look beyond the species involved.
He wasn’t a young or large stallion, but even with his eyes lit up with whatever frustrations that were in his head, there was a world weariness to him. I did have a hefty size and weight advantage over him though, so I wonder what sort of hope did he have to beat me. He lowered his front down, snorting while his hooves dug into the dirt, and I mirrored it. It felt right for a fight.
“You made a mistake, colt,” he spat, then he charged straight at me. There was no time to do anything but get my forehooves out to intercept. A snap of wings, and he turned ninety degrees to avoid my clumsy attempt. Before I could even follow where he went, my vision blurred and the side of my face ached. The fact I was on my side was an after thought, as I took stock of the injuries. There was the burning arch on my right cheek where he caught me and the taste iron as my mouth filled with blood.
Not now. Don’t think about the pain now. I had to find him. I got back to my hooves and looked above at the empty sky. The only warning I got was the whistle of wind over wings as he crashed into my side, sending me tumbling again. I stopped when I hit the ring of ponies and they quickly moved back from me. All I could do there was force the air back into my lungs and as soon as I opened my eyes, he was there standing over me.
“Just give it up, Scriber,” he said as if it were a kindness.
I answered with a lunge.
It was a failure I think, because I got kicked in the face again. Now my nose was dripping. More importantly, I didn’t so much as lay a hoof on him, and he left me in the dirt with my world spinning again.
I think somepony was calling my name. That’s a distraction. Or, was it? It was him, calling for me to get up. Fight now.
He was making a lazy circle above the treetops like a vulture over a carcass. Damned wings. I might be bigger, but I wasn’t ever going to kick him! I forced myself to my hooves again, and my side ached in protest to every motion. I don’t think anything was broken, but this wasn’t working. He was too fast and I wasn’t going to hit him.
Our eyes met and he dove again, but at least this time I saw him coming. He was going to dodge again when I kicked for him. So, why kick? So, I jumped at him hooves wide to make it impossible for him to get around me.
That really wasn’t a plan, but a panicked reaction brought about by a lack of options. It worked though, and we crashed mid-air but this time, he was tumbling with me. “Got ya, you son of a bitch!” I taunted even before we stopped skidding and I used every bit of my size and strength to get ontop. He was on his back under me, and my forehooves immediately pinned his down.
I need to breath. Blood was already dripping from my nose and lips, so I got dirty and snorted, spraying his face. His eyes closed, and his head turned, and rather than free his hooves, I went with my first instinct and tried to drive my forehead through his. The fact it hurt me too didn’t matter. I couldn’t care about the pain and I did it again. And, again. Each time, his head was slammed to the dirt by mine, and his struggles got wilder. “Buckin’ monster,” he cursed at me. I didn’t care, and drove my head into his again.
Then, he had turned under me enough to get his hooves to the ground. It was the only way he was going to get loose, but all I saw was opportunity. Maybe a species with natural brass knuckles didn’t think about grappling, but my forehooves wrapped around that exposed neck and as soon as I could lock them together, I pulled back with all of strength. One of the joints in my legs popped in protest, but the hold was tight and he wasn’t getting away that easy.
He panicked as soon as I trapped him in the chokehold his wings started flapping. If you had ever gone hunting and managed to hit a bird, that was the sound of his flapping right now. It was nothing but irregular beats of desperation while I just kept that death grip and my deep breathing. Time slowed and so did his wings. I could feel the blood running down my cheek and nose and how he tried to get some purchase to get out, but I had him.
A bloody grin came to my lips. “Goodnight, Cuffs.”
I barely noticed that the wings had stopped beating by then, but I let go of him as soon as I did. He just flopped to one side and I rolled to the other. “Damn it, that hurts,” I muttered as I poked my nose. Was it broken? I’ll have to get it checked. It was definitely bleeding because it left my yellow hoof covered in red. I then stretched the leg that popped. It was sore but intact which was a plus. A quick glance over revealed that Cuffs was still breathing. He’ll be back up shortly.
“Scriber, you idiot! Why did you do that?” I looked up to see Berry looking rather cross with me. “What did that solve?”
“A whole lot of nothing, but I feel better for it,” I said from my back. I smiled a little wider, then my face ached, turning it into a grimace. “Maybe mostly better for it.”
The gathered ponies didn’t look happy or angry at what they just saw. Mostly, they looked confused and unsure of what to do now. I guess fights like this one don’t happen very often around here.
“You’re still an idiot,” she repeated, before she offered a hoof to me to help me up. I gladly took it and got to all fours, where she hugged me. “You’re not allowed to do that ever again.”
“It’s not fair,” croaked the downed pony. We both turned to see Cuffs working himself to his hooves, but he was clearly still dizzy with how he kept tipping back over. “Why do you get to start all over again, and I don’t? We both lost everything, and now, you got everything? Why? How is that fair? Tell me!”
He was at the verge of tears as he waited for me to answer him. Was that what all this was about? He was jealous of me? I had no clue or what to say. Today was a fresh start and a new life for me, but I was still me in the end and I couldn’t say that everything got left behind. “I don’t know what to tell you, Cuffs. Nopony… Nobody gets to really start over. You just pick up where you’re left off,” I finally answered. “It just took me until today to do it. Maybe you should do it, too.”
A moment passed as after I spoke where he just stood there, then he simply turned and walked away from us through the crowd, and out of sight. I don’t if what I said helped, but I hope it did. Either way, I had what I wanted out of this though and I leaned on Berry for support. God, now that I was thinking about it, I was sore all over.
“That was awesome!” declared Rainbow as she swooped in to hover close to me. “Not that I’m really into fighting and all that, but how did you learn to do that?”
“Uh, Ultimate Fighting Championship. It’s a human fighting league thing. Used to watch the odd one,” I replied as I tried to clean up my face with a hoof. The acronym didn’t translate over.
“Well, I certainly hope you’re not going to do it at my bar again,” Merlot said, with a first aid kit in his aura, and Rarity was following with paper towels. I didn’t even say anything before a wad of them were pushed to my nose by a blue aura. I dutifully blew my nose to clear it, and Merlot was quick to start putting a bandage over my cheek. Of course, that came only after a pass with iodine that made me whinny. How could that hurt worse than the kick that cut me in the first place?
“I certainly hope you didn’t get any blood on your clothes. It’s dreadful to get out,” the fashion mare stated, looking unimpressed with what I did.
“It’s not like I’m looking to make a habit out of this. One time thing, I promise,” I said to the small cluster around me. Fluttershy already was lifting my shirt to check the ribs where I got kicked, but I was pretty sure I was just bruised there.
“It better be, Scriber, or I’ll kick your flanks myself,” Berry warned from beside me before nudging me.
“Deal,” I replied. Most of the crowd was shuffling home for the night, from the looks of it, but Pinkamena and Applejack were trying to get those still interested back inside. There was a few takers. I don’t think I was going to be one of them though. I had one more stop to make tonight. “I think I’m to say my goodbyes and head out. What happened there seemed like it was a closer for me.”
“It’s quite understandable and we’ll make sure that everypony gets your farewell,” Rarity said as she pulled those towels away from my face. It wasn’t dripping nearly as much as it was before.
“Well, alright. Where’s Twilight though? I want to thank in person. Did she go home already?” I asked after a quick scan didn’t reveal the purple unicorn.
“She was here a minute ago. She left with Spike as soon as you guys starting getting up,” Rainbow said as she joined me in my search. “Probably off to write a report to the princess or something.”
“If you catch her before I do, let her know I appreciate everything she’s done for me here, alright?” I said with a wave. “Just like all of you. Thank you all for what you did, and I’ll eventually figure out what I can do for all of you for what you’ve done for me tonight.”
“Ah’m thinking Ah speak fer all the ponies here when Ah say ya don’t have to worry none about any of that,” Applejack said. She must of just joined us, but she already had the gist of the conversation down because all the ponies were nodding in agreement. “Though, if ya ever want to do some work ‘round Sweet Apple Acres, there’s plenty t’ be done.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. But, again, thanks and you’ll be seeing me around,” I said, and I waved to the group and they all said their goodbyes, and I started walking. There was one pony that joined me though and that was Berry.
“So, that’s what you needed to do?” she asked while moving at my slow pace.
I nodded. “Yeah. That’s what I needed to do. The fight was just a bonus.”
She rolled her eyes and huffed. “I really wish you didn’t do that. He could’ve really hurt you!”
“He did hurt me. Did you see him kick me in the ribs?” I answered, but I made no effort hide my pride in the fact that I had won.
She rolled her eyes the other way, and huffed yet again. “You’re insufferable.”
“Apparently not because you’re still here,” I joked and that was enough to get her to laugh. That made the walk easier to make. The pace was picking up as the pains got stretched and worked out of my body.
“You’re going the wrong way. The house is the other way,” Berry pointed out after a few blocks towards the edge of town.
“Not going there. I’ve got to go to one other spot first before I really can call this night complete,” I answered.
She knew exactly which way we were heading. “You’re going back to the truck, aren’t you?”
I nodded and kept walking to that old path that my truck cut through the grass and dirt when it first cut through. She understood why I was doing it, because she didn’t question me at all on it.
“Scriber? So, this is it, isn’t it?” she asked and that got me to stop.
“Well, I don’t know. But, what I do know that it’ll be a good place to start,” I answered as honestly as I could right now. “I don’t want to rush anything with us, and have another mistake happen, but I want to see where we can go.”
She smiled brightly and pulled in close. I must of looked the mess with all the grime and blood from the fight, but she didn’t care at all because we were in each others hooves. “I want to know too,” she said softly back.
Then, we were then interrupted by a purple glow from a magical aura just down the path and both of our eyes turned that way. After we fell back onto her hooves, I spoke up first. “Uh, hello?”
“Scriber! Just the pony I wanted to see!” called a familiar voice from a rather famous librarian. Twilight sounded positively thrilled, whatever it was
Berry and I looked at each other and hurried our way to find Twilight and Spike there, and we didn’t even get to say a word before she started right in. “I’ve found out something just wonderful for you, Scriber! As we all know we couldn’t recreate the initial spell that brought you here because the targeting of the magic is just far too specific for our capabilities right now. One little missed detail throws everything out beyond all error tolerances. But, back at the party, you said something that inspired a new idea!”
I didn’t understand entirely what she was talking about yet. “Alright,” I said with my brow furrowed.
“Now, I couldn’t wait to actual test the theory that you gave me, so that’s why I’m here. You said, “nopony gets to start again. You just pick up where you left off,” and the initial spell that I cast was interrupted by that accident. It was never properly completed, and all of our research was directed at recreating the spell perfectly. Nopony actually thought to look for remnants of the first spell because usually they vanish after their completion, but this spell was never finished! It’s just been sitting dormant!”
I blinked several times. She couldn’t be saying what I think she was getting at.
She walked to where the tire-tracks first started in the grass and dirt, and her horn faintly lit up. After a few moments, several lines in the dirt lit up with her horn. Berry finally stepped up and asked what I needed to know, “That’s all great, but what does that all mean?”
Twilight stood up and gave her still damaged horn a rub. “It’s all still here and just needs me to finish the spell! I can finish the highway and get you home!” she declared with a triumphant smile.
I didn’t smile back, but rather looked at Berry. Now, that just wasn’t fair.