CHAPTER FIVE: Settling In
Where was Ranma?
Admittedly, this question was at the top of many lists among members of a certain population in Nerima. The boy had been missing for the better part of four days now, which might have been taken for a training trip, as he had taken several of similar duration since he first move in with the Tendo family with his father.
The only problem with that assumption was that he usually left a note and at least tried to take his camping gear if he could. Granted, sometimes if there was a big fight or an adventure, he wouldn’t have time, but such events seldom effected Ranma in isolation to anyone else, and nobody else had heard of anything else going on.
The Amazon contingent didn’t have Ranma, or they would have been long gone, as he was the only one tying the three to Nerima in the first place. Not that suspicion didn’t fall on them anyway, but there was plenty of suspicion to go around, what with the other rivals for Ranma’s affections and general animosity among those objecting to those goals.
There was one person did have a rough idea what had happened to the boy. Largely because he was the cause of Ranma’s disappearance, but he had honestly thought that the boy would have made it back by now if it were possible to return. Then again, Happosai never had told Ranma where he was sending him.
Or that he was sending Ranma anywhere at all…
But really, catching the boy napping peacefully on a random rooftop had been such a stroke of luck that Happosai simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity! And it wasn’t as if he hadn’t tucked the instructions on how to get back in one of the lad’s pockets. The boy should have found and read the note by now, especially since it was folded in such a way as to make it noticeably bulky, just like that piece of litter over there…
…
Happosai took note of where he was, and grew agitated when he realized that he was in the alley next to the building he had found Ranma on. Picking up the folded notepaper, he opened it up and realized that, yes, it was the same note he had tried to send with Ranma.
Oh, Hells. The poor boy probably had no idea what had happened to him during his nap. Given the description Happosai had found on the strange set of scrolls he had… liberated… during one of his excursions, the boy most likely believed he had died and ascended to a happy afterlife!
Dammit! How was Happosai supposed to find out if the spell he had found that would send someone to the Everfree, a mystical land where clothing was entirely optional, was a trap or not if Ranma didn’t know how to come back? He knew that Ranma would at least try to come back to Nerima (which was the primary reason Happosai had chosen him to test the spell in the first place). The boy was too stupidly tied to his commitments in Nerima to stay away.
If only Happosai could remember exactly where he had liberated the scrolls from in the first place. Then it would be a simple matter of going back and either finding additional records for a more complete picture, or terrorizing the original owner until he had enough information to work with. The main problem with this solution was that he was pretty sure that he had picked it up sometime during the time he had spent overseas after the oni incident.
The American authorities were far less tolerant of his leisure activities, far more willing to share information about him among different jurisdictions, and far too ready to express their displeasure with him at gunpoint. And, as it turned out, all too happy to dump their problem with him on the F.B.I. once he had jumped state borders.
So, no, Happosai wasn’t quite desperate enough to try sneaking back into a foreign country that willing to put a stop to an old man’s harmless fun. Which was why he had used Ranma to test the portal spell in the first place. That, and he thought that the boy could use a brief vacation from the poisonous relationships he had with his so-called friends and family in Nerima.
Perhaps Happosai should leave the boy in the land of the Everfree? He’s likely live longer that way, or at least pick up a proper appreciation for the pretty ladies…
Dammit, no! Happosai was not about to let Genma’s stubborn whelp get what should rightfully be his reward! At least, not without confirming that the pretty ladies were actually there in the first place, and that they actually considered clothing to be optional.
Besides, while Ranma might be too much of a stick in the mud for his tastes, he was actually the best option for an heir that Happosai currently had for the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. He was getting too old to want to wait for his idiot students to train up another one to worthwhile levels.
Especially since Genma’s success with Ranma had to be a fluke! Really, a ten year training trip away from a doting wife, or any chance for his son to actually get to know Soun’s daughters? Sure, training trips were important, but ten years? Away from civilization, pretty ladies, and public bathhouses?
At least Soun had the sense to stay home, even if he had done a half-assed job training his youngest daughter. Genma had moved Ranma around so much that the poor boy hadn’t even known that the only friend he had managed to make during the trip had been a girl! And even worse, had failed to pick up on the fact that Ukyo was a girl when she found him as a teenager? How had Ranma become the martial arts prodigy he was without being able to pick up on important things like that? Chest binding only hid so much after all, no matter how familiar Ukyo was with the role. Mid to late teens was pushing the limits of her ability to successfully pull off her ‘boy’ act without specialized training. Ranma should have been able to pick up on any number of little clues, such as how Ukyo had to suppress the sway of her hips when she moved, or the lower center of balance revealed in her combat stance.
How could Ranma read combat intent well enough to avoid attacks as well as the lad could without picking up more about the rest of how body language worked?
Okay, maybe the boy did deserve a bit of a vacation in order to get away from his idiot father. Hopefully, four days in the land of barely clad Pretty Ladies would be enough to loosen him up some. And even if it wasn’t, Happosai had no intention of leaving his only viable heir behind when he left this world.
Genma?
Perhaps, but Happosai have to make sure that the man knew not to turn this into another sorry excuse for a training trip. Happosai had no desire to wait around ten more years for that to happen.
Ultimately, Happosai just needed someone who would stay focused on actually bringing his heir back to Nerima. Actual skill in the art was secondary, or perhaps even unnecessary as the Everfree sounded pretty much like an iconic example of a peaceful paradise without any significant dangers. After all, why else would the whole realm consider clothing to be entirely optional unless their were no dangers, and thus no violence?
Great, now Happosai had to think of someone who would choose to send his heir back, even if they ultimately decided to stay themselves. That shortened the list considerably, but he still had some candidates in mind.
Maybe?
Yes… Yes, Happosai had just the person in mind for the mission…
O O O
After breakfast, which had been a nice, steaming bowl of oatmeal mixed with apples and cinnamon, buttered toast, and orange juice, Doctor Stable came in, along with Nurse Redheart and an orderly with a wheelchair.
“Since you showed signs of rapid healing yesterday, we are going to go ahead and examine her injuries again this morning to give us an idea of how to schedule her appointments. We may even be able to remove some of the stitches already. Afterwards, Nurse Redheart here will be giving you a sponge bath with warm, soapy water.”
“I can bathe myself, you know.”
“Yes, I’m sure. I’m also positive that being the tough filly that you are, you will run the water as hot as you can stand, scrub harder than you should, and otherwise do yourself more harm than good. Trust me, we’ve plenty of experience with your type, what with Rainbow Dash over there being one of them.”
“Just go with it, Wild,” the afore mentioned pony confirmed from her own bed. “They aren’t going to change their minds on this one, trust me. Besides, it’ll only be until the stitches are out.”
“And the staples as well,” Doctor Stable agreed before turning to Fluttershy. “Now, since you are going to be Wild Pony’s primary caretaker during her recovery, we would like you to at least be present for the sponge bath so that Nurse Redheart can show you what to do. Things like recommended water temperature, what to check for while her bandages are off, how much pressure to use when sponging her down. Things like that. If she behaves, Wild can even help, but if you spot her scrubbing too hard or picking at her injuries, stop her immediately.”
“Of course,” Fluttershy nodded, having had to do this sort of thing before in her role as an animal care specialist.
“Fine, fine,” Wild groused. “Let’s just get this over with already.” Getting up, she started heading for the door, only to be intercepted by the orderly with the wheelchair. “Oh, come on! I can walk myself, you know!”
“Sorry, ma’am, hospital policy.”
“Okay, fine.” And with that, Wild situated herself on the chair, crossed her forelegs in front of her chest, and slouched, grumbling under her breath as she was wheeled out.
Back in the room, Rainbow Dash watched the door close, looked around at the empty room for a moment, and sighed. “I’m bored.”
Whereupon she started playing with the switch on her bedside lamp…
O O O
To Wild Pony’s relief, while quite warm, the soapy water wasn’t hot enough to trigger the change. Which was good, as Wild had no idea how the issue of having stitches and staples in her hide would resolve itself. Some injuries went away, or at least were healed a lot faster, whenever the curse was triggered, while most stayed more or less the same. She knew that there was at least the potential for them to actually get worse instead, but that particular problem had yet to happen due to the curse alone.
She hadn’t been pretty to look at, what with having entire sections of her chestnut coat shaved bare so that the doctors could work on her. Although this did allow her to discover that the emblem on each of her flanks was more than just a colored pattern in her fur, as it was still present on her left flank, crossed by two of a set of four long gouges that had been stapled shut.
Sure enough, the doctor had decided to go ahead and remove some of the stitches already, but only those for which the injuries appeared to be sufficiently healed or proved to be otherwise impossible to find, which still left her with several sets.
After being sponged down by Nurse Redheart and Fluttershy (an awkward experience to be sure, she was gently rubbed down with an antiseptic ointment intended to help sooth the itching caused by both the stitches and staples, as well as her fur stubble as her coat grew back in. Being a topical ointment rather than an internal one, the effect was much longer lasting for her as her metabolism couldn’t burn through it like it did with most medications.
Once all that was done, Wild Pony found herself bandaged up again, bundled in several nice, thick, comfy blankets, then arbitrarily rolled right out the front door in a wheelchair!
“Well, that was rather abrupt,” Wild commented dryly. “Middle of winter too. I hope you live close by.”
“Um… On the far side of Ponyville, actually,” Fluttershy admitted quietly before noticing a familiar pair of farm ponies coming up the lane, the larger of the two hauling a large cart. “Oh, hello, Applejack, Big Macintosh! Are you helping somepony move today?”
“Y’ maht say that, Sugarcube,” Applejack nodded. “We figured y’d need a ride sometime today, since th’ doctor said Wild maht be let out today, so we came to pick y’all up.”
“Thank you…”
O O O
A pale green unicorn with a purple mane and tail that had green highlights, sighed as she poked at her remaining glazed Baltimare crème donut sitting next to a cooling cup of coffee as she stared out the window of Donut Joe’s. Her Cutey Mark depicted a red and gold quill writing on a sheet of paper with a stylized vine wrapped lightly around them that had small clusters of three purple grapes at either end. She was Grapevine, and she was a freelance columnist of moderate note. At the moment, she was seriously debating moving back to Manehattan.
Her public interest journal, You Heard it on the Grapevine, had been ever so slowly devolving into a socialite gossip column ever since she moved to Canterlot. Mainly due to the fact that most of the well to do high society types that she had once so admired turned out to be shallow minded elitists more interested in either showing each other up or putting each other down than being the high-minded socially conscious leaders she had once thought they were.
The less said about Prince Blueblood the better. While hardly the most reprehensible of the lot, the dichotomy between his public persona and how he actually behaved once you met him was so severe that she didn’t dare try to publish any articles about him until her own reputation rose high enough to be unassailable, otherwise she’d have a hard time finding a periodical willing to print her work.
No, what Grapevine needed was a public interest story with a big draw, facts that could be verified, and reputable sources she could site for confirmation. Not that she’d drop the You Heard it on the Grapevine tag, as it did sell well, but she wanted it to be known as being more than just a gossip and editorial column!
Sure, there was the Rainboom that had happened yesterday, but other reporters had already gotten to all the credible witnesses she could think to interview, so unless someone more directly involved happened to drop into her lap, her story wouldn’t be much different from any of the other accounts already being published.
“Hey, Cloud!” one of a pair of Guard ponies called out as they came in the door. “How are you doing? Still stiff from trying to chase down that courier yesterday?” The two walked over to the table next to the one where Grapevine was sitting, and taking seats next to the stallion already there.
“Why don’t you try chasing after somepony capable of breaking the sound barrier, and see how good your wings feel the next day?”
“So, can you tell us the official time on that flight?”
“Officially, they’re still comparing log transcripts, but what I can tell you is that her total round trip between the Ponyville General and Canterlot Central Hospitals was just under three quarters of an hour, and she had to wait at Canterlot Central for the order to be filled.”
“Whoa!”
“Impressive! So, who was she? All we heard so far was that she was a blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane.”
“Not too surprising, that’s part of her name right there. Our little speedster is none other than Ponyville’s latest Weather Captain, and the youngest yet to ever fill that post, Rainbow Dash! She not only broke all known records by a wide margin, she actually delivered the antivenin quickly enough for it to be effective in saving the patient’s life!”
Grapevine could not believe her good fortune. Here she was, sitting at Donut Joe’s, and what could be the story of the century dropped right in her lap! This was her big break! Her chance to launch her career to the stars themselves! Opportunity had come knocking, and she was going to answer it‘s call! Taking a deep breath, she tried to steady her nerves and settle into a professional demeanor. She most likely only had one shot at this, so she was going to have to aim high and give it all she was worth.
“Excuse me, Gentlecolts,” the unicorn mare interjected as she turned to address the Guards. “I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation. My name is Grapevine, and I’m a freelance journalist. Would you mind if I conducted an interview?”
O O O
Oddly enough, Wild Pony and Fluttershy ended up spending the rest of winter as guests of the Apple family. Nopony knew if the manticore would return or not, or if the harsh winter would drive another large beast out of the Everfree Forest in search of food, so the few ponies who lived in the sparsely populated neighborhood where the southeastern corner of Ponyville met the untamable woodland had been vacated for the duration for safety reasons.
Fluttershy didn’t mind, since most of the animals normally under her care were already temporarily staying at Sweet Apple Acres anyway.
Wild Pony didn’t really care where she was staying as long as someone was willing to put a roof over her head. Well, right up until the Apples started moving all of Apple Bloom’s things into Applejack’s room so that Wild and Shy could share the little filly’s bed.
“No, really, I’m perfectly fine sleeping on the floor…”
“Now see here, Missy!” Applejack all but hollered in the bandaged pony’s face as Wild retreated until she bumped into a wall. “Ain’t no guest of the Apple Family goin’ ta sleep on the floor when we got room in a proper bed! Especially not if’n she’s injured lahk you are! Ah don’t care how tough y’ think y’ are, yer goin’ ta get proper rest in a proper bed, and y’ better darn well get used ta it, ‘cause that’s where yer sleepin’ while yer our guest!”
“Okay! Okay! I get it! I’ll sleep in a bed until my bandages come off…” Seeing a lot of disapproving faces, Wild tried again. “Until I’m all better?”
“Eenope,” Big Mac shook his head briefly as Applejack gave Wild a pointed stare.
“Try again, Young’n,” Granny Smith suggested, not unkindly.
“For as long as I’m a guest of your family?”
“There y’ go,” Granny nodded with a smile. “Ah know y’ got pride and all, but yer too stubborn fer yer own good. When th’ time comes for you and Fluttershy t’ move back inta her cottage, Ah’ll send Big Mac and A.J. to help set up a room fer ya.”
“Oh yes, that would be ever so nice,” Fluttershy thanked Granny Smith in a soft tone. “Thank you.”
“Eh? What was that, Deary? You want rice fer supper?”
“Um… no. Well, I wouldn’t mind, really. If you want to make rice that is. I was just trying to say that we really appreciate your offer.” The quiet pony’s voice was imperceptibly louder than before. Or, quite possibly, even more quiet…
“Yer mice? Well, if’n y’ insist. But they’ll have ta stay in a cage for as long as they’re here. This is a farm, and loose mice are a pest risk Ah’m not willin’ ta put up with, no matter how well mannered y‘ got ‘em trained them up.”
“Um…” Fluttershy almost squeeked as her voice became even harder to hear, causing everypony but her and Granny Smith to hoof their faces… "... ... ... ..."
"This is going to take a while..." Wild Pony observed drily, eliciting an affirmative nod from Big Mac, Applejack, and Apple Bloom.
O O O
“Hi, Rarity!” Rainbow Dash waved at her new friend she entered her room.
“Hello to you to, Dear,” the white unicorn replied with a smile. “And how are you doing today?”
“Bored, mostly. There’s nothing to do here! The stupid doctors won’t let me do anything fun…”
“Well, you could always try reading a book or magazine. While the hospital’s selection is neither as wide nor varied as that of the library, I’m sure you could find something to interest you.”
“Feh… None of it covers the Wonderbolts. Or the weather. Or even just the sky.”
“You should broaden your interests more, Rainbow,” Rarity chided the bedridden Pegasus teasingly, “then, perhaps, I could visit you without the doctors reminding me to ask you not to play with the lights.”
“Oh, sure, take away the one toy they have that is even vaguely interesting,” Rainbow quipped. “So… What’d you bring today?”
It had been almost a week now, and Rainbow Dash had grown to appreciate Rarity’s daily visits. Not that Fluttershy hadn’t tried to visit whenever she could herself, but Rainbow understood that her foalhood friend was bound to be busy taking care of Wild Pony and helping the Apples take care of all the extra animals temporarily housed on their farm for the winter. Fortunately, being a Pegasus, even one who preferred not to fly very high kept the trip from actually being terribly inconvenient, but it had become an every other day thing once everyone noticed that Fluttershy was becoming a little frazzled by everything she tried to fit into one day. However, the same could not be said for Rarity, who (like nearly else in Equestria) reduced her work hours during the winter months.
Rarity, knowing that Rainbow had potentially sacrificed her hopes and dreams to save the life of another, had stepped up and made sure to visit her every single day. And every day, she tried to find out more about the Pegasus she had only known as the friend of a friend before, to try to get a better understanding of how to comfort her new friend and help her through her difficult times. Mostly, they talked about little of actual consequence, chatting idly about this or that bit of gossip Rarity had heard, or discussing some random subject as the two sounded each other out for common interests. On a more serious note, Rarity had offered an option for Rainbow Dash to consider in the event that the weather pony did indeed end up losing her job.
“I think you’ll like these designs,” the fashion pony stated as she levitated some scrolls from her saddlebags and unfurled them on the Pegasus’s lap. “I think you’ll find them more suited to your brash personality than the ones I showed you yesterday.”
Rainbow Dash was still a bit dubious about becoming a model, but Rarity was proving to be so enthusiastically supportive that she had decided to at least consider the option seriously instead of blowing it off. At the very least, she’d have a job…
O O O
It started slowly at first, but even then it eclipsed the event that had caused it, if only because of the initial primary interests of those spreading the tale.
It had been the talk of all the Pegasi in Ponyville and Canterlot within the first couple of days just from word of mouth, but interest peaked for the public at large once the periodicals started reporting about it
From there, the story spread by Pegasus Express to Manehatten and Baltemare, and even places as far off as Los Pegasus and Van Hoover.
O O O
Ranma, mostly out of boredom and a need to do something, had taken to helping out with some of the lighter household chores at Sweet Apple Acres. What few chores they would let her do anyway, since she was supposed to be resting. So Wild kept herself busy learning how to do small tasks in ways that she never really had to do them before.
Such as learning to sew. With her lips. Mainly because the muscle control involved intrigued her after she had watched Applejack and Granny Smith sew that way.
Apparently, many Ponies did any sort of delicate task, or work that required a firm grip, with their mouths instead of their hooves. Not that it was impossible to do them with their hooves so much as it was easier for most ponies as they had learned how to do these tasks with their mouths first at a very young age before their internal magic settled enough for hoof work to become reliable for those efforts. Most ponies simply never bothered putting that much effort into getting the dexterity and strength of their hoof magic up to the same level, and even those that did tended to specialize in what they were good at.
Wild Pony was already astonishingly skilled with using her hoof-grip with speed, strength, and precision, easily mentally associating the attendant magic field with the fingers she used to have, but had never learned to use her lips and tongue to quite this extent. Not that she was ready to admit to once having had hands to her new friends just yet, fearing that they’d reject her as a pony riding demon of some sort.
Of course with Wild Pony being who she was, couldn’t leave it at just learning to do what everypony else could do, and went the extra mile simply because she was Ranma, training her lips and tongue until she could thread a needle and tie a knot at a specific location on a piece of string with her mouth closed.
“Well now yer just showin’ off,” Applejack commented in mild irritation as Wild spat said needle across the room, hitting the dead center of the dartboard hanging on the wall.
“What?” Wild Pony asked, wondering what everypony was staring at her. Again. It wasn’t like she’d done anything really difficult after all.
“Maybe we should go back to teaching you how to play poker and go fish,” Granny Smith suggested.
“But I’m no good at card games…”
“Well, it’s either that or board games. Last time we left y’ alone ta read, y’ ended up three chapters in before anypony noticed that y’ were balancin’ on yer fool head.”
“And your point is?”
“Yer supposed to be relaxin’!” Applejack pointed out, not for the first time.
“Eyup!”
“But that is relaxing!" Wild Pony insisted. "For me, anyway…”
“Did yer dang fool pa drop y’ on yer head when y’ were little?” Granny Smith retorted. Wild Pony didn’t talk much about her so-called family and friends from before she had been petrified, but so far, what little they had learned had left the Apples less than impressed. Not to mention distressing Fluttershy to the point where Wild had become even less willing to talk about her past than before if she happened to be nearby.
“Lots of times, actually,” Wild Pony responded dryly, deliberately yanking their chains. “Never really stopped doing that in one form or another. Why do you ask?”
O O O
Rainbow Dash had moved in with Rarity for a few weeks, before being cleared to fly again, even if just for short distances for the next week or so. Her next appointment would determine if the doctors would let her return to her job as a weather pony, but for now she at least had a temporary job helping Rarity out.
So far, since she wasn’t able to return to work anyway due to injuries and recovery time, she had yet to be officially suspended. Naturally, the jerk back in Canterlot had decided to go ahead and press charges, but fortunately the court date was set before her next medical appointment, so she and Rarity were going to make a weekend trip of it and rent rooms at a hotel, taking a flying cab both ways. Sure, doing it that way ate a little into their savings, but Rarity had assured her that not having the stress of having to make a rush trip on the day of her hearing would be well worth the added expense.
For now though, she was getting ready to attend a party being held at the Town Hall in the honor of Wild Pony and herself! Pinkie Pie had been planning it ever since that eventful day, and since Wild Pony had finally had the last of her staples removed, she was now permitted to wander about Ponyville, so the go ahead had been given to finally schedule the event.
O O O
“Are you sure you don‘t want any help?” Fluttershy asked quietly.
“Yeah, I’m sure,” Wild Pony confirmed. “The Doc said there was no further risk of infection, so as much as I appreciated the help, I’d really like to start bathing myself now.”
“Okay, but don’t hesitate to call if you need anything.”
“I’ll do that,” Wild assured Fluttershy as she shut the bathroom door. The two had developed a sisterly relationship, with the pale yellow Pegasus acting as the shy but caring older sibling while the chestnut mare took the role of the rambunctious and physically active younger sister. Which they both viewed as being a healthier relationship than Wild viewing Fluttershy as a surrogate mother figure, no matter how flattering Fluttershy found the situation.
Not that the occasional “Little Mommy” didn’t slip out during one of Wild’s more and more infrequent nightmares, but they both took it as a good sign when “Big Sister” had started replacing it recently while calling out for help in her sleep.
Wild sighed as she reflected on how Fluttershy and the Apples felt more like family to her than her own parents ever had. This was what she had unknowingly longed for in her previous life. True bonds of family and friendship that she had never been given the chance to develop in the world she had come from.
And now it was time to test those newfound bonds.
So Wild Pony walked over to the porcelain tub and ran the water as hot as she could before sticking a hoof under the tap…
O O O
“Okay, we’re all here,” Applejack stated as she set the steaming tea kettle and pitcher of cold water Wild had asked for on the coffee table. Besides herself, her immediate family, Fluttershy, and Wild, a few other ponies were also present in the Apple family living room at Wild’s request.
Granny Smith was in her rocking chair, of course, with Big Mac sitting on the floor next to her. Ditzy Doo sat on the sofa, next to Rarity and Rainbow Dash, while Dinky Doo sat at their hooves with Apple Bloom, and Fluttershy stood near an obviously nervous Wild Pony.
Even Pinkie Pie was there at Wild’s request, despite not having had a chance to interact much with Ponyville’s latest resident after the Manticore attack. She was obviously excited and had a hard time sitting still, but sit she did since this was a chance to make a new friend! “So, what are we all here for? Is Wild going to tell us a story? Ooh! Ooh! Maybe Wild is going to tell us about once of her adventures! Is that it? That’s it, isn’t it? Huh? Huh? Huh?”
Wild Pony just tilted her head, cocked an eyebrow, and stared at the pink pony as she rambled, shaking her head with a chuckle as Pinky finally wound down. “You could say that,” she admitted. “I called you all here because you are all the ponies I know best since Fluttershy found me in the Everfree Forest three years ago. Fluttershy, obviously, since I was her lawn ornament,” Wild quipped lightly as she gestured towards the embarrassed yellow Pegasus.
“Ditzy Doo, who like Fluttershy would sit by me and tell me about her day, her hopes and dreams, and whatever troubles she had. And most of all, about her precious Muffin, Dinky Doo.” Mother and daughter both beamed as they were mentioned, not in the least bothered by the revelation that Wild had been able to listen to Ditzy while she had still been petrified.
“Pinkie Pie, who would tell me stories whenever she came by to visit Fluttershy, even if I wasn’t able to understand most of them.” the pink party pony grinned broadly, happy that Wild remembered her stories.
“Rarity, who would take a moment to ‘spruce me up’ whenever she came over to visit Fluttershy.”
“Think nothing of it, Wild, I live for helping everypony look their best!”
“Heh. Maybe, but even so, I don’t know how to even begin thanking you for using your magic on me, because every time you did, my thoughts became clearer for a while, allowing me to remember what Fluttershy, Ditzy, and Pinkie were telling me!”
“Oh! Well… You are welcome, of course, and I am happy if I helped comfort you in any way while you were petrified.”
“Believe me, Rarity, I really do appreciate the help. I still have no idea how long I spent as a statue before Fluttershy found me, and even the past three years pretty much zipped by from my point of view, but whatever it was that the touch of your magic did to me allowed me to realize that I was helping those around me by being there to listen to them. I needed that sense of purpose while I couldn’t move, otherwise the frustration and boredome would have driven me crazy!” Wild paused and put a hoof under her chin as she mused. “Or would that be crazier? I don’t think anypony who learns the Cat-Hoof would qualify as being exactly sane afterwards…”
“Yeah yeah, you’re the crazy-awesome pony with a cat in her head,” Rainbow Dash snarked impatiently. “Get on with it already!”
“And of course there’s Rainbow Dash, who saved my life and ended up sharing a hospital room with me for about a day because of it.”
“Thank you, thank you,” Rainbow stated smugly as she stood up and bowed, basking in the attention. “I am awesome, I know!”
“Right, sure, whatever,” Wild waved Rainbow back into her seat, but the multi-colored pony still had a wide smile plastered on her face.
“And then there are the Apples, who took Fluttershy and me in and treated us as family, as one of their own.”
“‘Tweren’t nothin’,” Applejack stated as she and the rest of her family smiled and nodded at their honorary family members.
“No, it is not ‘nothing,’” Wild stated in disagreement. “I know I haven’t said much about my life from before I saw the lizard-chicken thingy…”
“Cockatrice,” Fluttershy corrected gently, before flinching from the attention this brought to her.
“Lizard-chicken thingy,” Wild repeated, her tone indicating that she was teasing her ‘older sister’ by happily ignoring the correction. This seemed to do Fluttershy some good as she stood straight again and accepted the gentile teasing with a giggle instead of withdrawing further as she might have otherwise done. Really, everyone who had met the pair so far thought that the two were good for each other, as Wild helped bring Fluttershy out of her shell and, well… Wild had barely qualified as civilized before Fluttershy started helping her out.
“Anyhow, Granny Smith, Big Mac, Applejack, and Apple Bloom showed me what being part of a family was really like. Really, all of you are like the family I never had. Like my own family never was…”
“Well,” Granny Smith stated in a welcoming tone, “You’ll always have a place at our table as an honorary member of th’ Apple family, Young’n.”
“That’s for sure!” Applejack agreed.
“Eyup!”
“Yay! I get another big sister!”
Wild Pony smiled sadly at the scene, the sudden shift in her expression and mood settling everypony down again as she continued. “Really, everyone here has shown me what friends and family are all about. And I’m still learning from you all. Now I can see that I only ever had one real friend in my old life, and I find myself ashamed to have to admit that I wasn’t a real friend in return. I took her for granted more often than not, and left her and others hanging, waiting for me to get my act together, which never happened. The only thing I can say in my defense is that I didn’t know how to be a friend back then.”
Wild sighed, waving down any interruptions at this point. “I had a chance at making another friend once. Pop and I had just finished our big training journey, and he wanted to introduce me to the daughters of a friend of his. The youngest, I guess Scarlet Skyway would be the closest translation of her name? Anyway, she was being trained as a martial artist like me, and had challenged me to a friendly spar. I won, of course…”
“Because you are awesome!” Rainbow Dash interjected.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Anyway, I won, but I had kept something from her because I was afraid of losing the new friend I had just made. And because I didn’t come clean when I had the chance, it came out in the worst possible way, destroying that friendship before it ever had a chance.”
“It has something to do with th’ water ya had me prepare for you, doesn’t it?” Applejack concluded. “And y’ c’n show us all now ‘cause yer no longer injured ‘n’ all.”
“Yes, exactly. The very last place Pop took me to on purpose during our training journey was the Cursed Pools of Sorrow, a training ground in a valley covered in springs, each one with one or more bamboo poles set in them, and most of them with a tragic tale of drowning associated with them.”
“I’ve said it before, Wild,” Granny Smith put in her two bits, “and I’ll no doubt end up sayin’ it again, but yer pa was a dang fool!”
“You’re still not getting any argument from me,” Wild stated dryly.
“You got cursed, didn’t you?” Pinkie asked in concern.
“Yeah,” Wild admitted. “We both did. Not that Pop’s curse seemed to bother him too much unless a shot at a cure came around. Not that any of them ever worked… Anyhow, we both got cursed to change form whenever we came in contact with water. Hot water triggers the change one way…” And with that, Wild picked up the steaming tea kettle and poured the water inside over her head.
Everyone gawked are the crimson maned pony before them swiftly grew from a mare about the same size as Rainbow Dash into a giant black maned stallion!
“My name,” the towering stallion stated in an embarrassed tone as he set the kettle back on the coffee table. “My untranslated name that is, is Ranma Saotome. Sorry about this.”
O O O
Everyone stared in awe at the giant in the room with them. Wild Pony, or rather Ranma, was tall. Really tall. As in bigger than Big Mac, tall. As in bigger than a Saddle Arabian tall. As in quite possibly as big or even bigger than Princess Celestia tall! He was still the same chestnut brown over all, although his mane and tail had become raven black and the rough patches where his coat was still growing back in had evened out quite a bit.. His sword-on-shield Cutey Mark remained unchanged, and his bright blue eyes were also the same, if somewhat sad at the moment.
“Gosh, yer big!” Apple Bloom stated the obvious, earning a giggle from Dinky Doo and Pinkie Pie, and a blush from Ranma.
“Eyup, yer a long drink of water all raht,” Big Mac agreed in a calm, measured tone intended to be reassuring. It seemed to work, as everypony released their tension.
“Ooh! Ooh! I bet cold water changes you back! Am I right? I’m right, right?”
Ranma actually laughed at Pinkie’s excitement, relieved that his new friends seemed to be accepting his transformation. “Ya got it in one, Pinkie,” he confirmed as he picked up the pitcher and poured it over his head, reversing the transformation.
O O O
Fluttershy looked at the pony she had come to view as a sister, and quite possibly a brother now as well, and saw past the brave front she was putting up. Wild was scared, terrified really, of losing the friends and family she had acquired in Ponyville. Moving closer to Ranma, she gave her sister a brief hug. “I’m still your friend, Ranma. Thank you for trusting us with your burden.”
“Yeah, this don’t change a thing,” Applejack agreed firmly.
“Eyup!” Big Mac put in laconically.
“Agreed, Darling,” Rarity stated, getting over her own shock and picking up many of the signs that Fluttershy already had.
“You can count on Rainbow Dash!”
“I’m happy to be your friend,” Ditzy stated.
“Do you know what this calls for?” Pinkie announce rhetorically. “A PARTY!”
“That’s your answer to everything,” Rainbow Dash pointed out.
“So? It’s a good answer!”
O O O
END CHAPTER FIVE