New Generations and Friends
By A Random Guy
Not much had changed in Equestria since Murphy last left it. It had been fifteen years since he bought the mystical watch from that old Taiwanese thrift shop. Fifteen years since that watch transported him into the magical land of colorful, talking horses. Now that he was back, what surprised him the most was that hardly anything changed.
Murphy didn’t have any trouble walking through Ponyville, since it was the same Ponyville he left. The same thatched-roof houses scattered the place and all the notable buildings were standing where they were supposed to be. He expected massive renovations to have taken place over the years, a new foreign landscape in an old town. That didn’t happen. Going off how the ponies waved and said hi to him as if he was just returning from a long trip, Murphy guessed that not enough time passed for any big changes.
But there were differences. The first difference he found was the big pile of rubble in the middle of Ponyville. This was where Golden Oaks Library was supposed to be. He asked a passing pony, who he recalled as the eccentric musician named Lyra, what happened. After making a big fuss about his return, she told him about a battle with some monster and how he demolished the tree house. Lyra was kind enough to redirect him to the new home of Twilight Sparkle, a fancy new abode north of town.
The second difference he found was the big pile of crystals that resembled a tree standing outside of Ponyville. Murphy saw the thing as an eyesore, a shining, regal structure standing out against the quaint, wooden town. He didn’t see why anyone would allow that to be built. The Home Owners’ Association probably wasn’t happy with it clashing with the Alpine motif that was going on.
The third difference he found was when the door to the eyesore opened up to reveal an alicorn. He immediately recognized her as Twilight, the same adorkable unicorn he became best friends with so long ago. She hardly changed, aside from the wings she was sporting. No aging, no pruning, she was still the same unicorn, now with wings.
“Oh my gosh, Murphy!” Twilight said as a giant grin grew on her face. “You’re back!”
“I’m back, and in the flesh,” Murphy said, opening his arms out and embracing the unicorn, or now alicorn, in a hug. He also noticed that she grew a couple inches.
After a long moment of hugging it out, Twilight let go and grinned at her returning friend. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it? About a year now, from what I remember.”
“It’s been fifteen years for me,” Murphy said.
Twilight gave him a confused look. “Wow, fifteen… That explains how you look way older, but opens up an interesting question on how that happened. Time dilation? Our worlds must be running at different velocities on the fourth dimension, though I would need to experiment to verify that. Maybe you just jumped to a different time and are behind your home universe, but that would require”-
Murphy stopped Twilight from going off the deep end by putting a hand on her shoulder. “It’s good to see you again.”
“It’s good to see you too. But if you spent fifteen years back at your world, didn’t you try to come back?”
The human shrugged. “Honestly, I just kinda forgot about Equestria. Didn’t remember this was a place until today.”
Twilight seemed a little hurt by his response, which made him want to break eye contact. “After all we’ve been through, you forgot about Equestria?”
“Not at first,” he said. “When I got back, I couldn’t get you guys out of my mind. But life kicked in, I found a girlfriend, got married, had a kid, all that fun stuff. I just… grew up.”
“Huh… fifteen years,” Twilight said.
“One five, mate,” Murphy replied.
“Well, I’m glad you’re back. Come on in. The girls aren’t here right now, but someone might stop by later.”
Murphy followed the alicorn through the doors into the castle. The interior had the same over-the-top designs with the crystals as it did outside, but at least it there wasn’t a town inside to clash with. He wondered how Rarity reacted when she saw how gaudy everything looked together. He supposed that the feinting couch was put to good use when this place was first put up.
Murphy walked beside Twilight as she led them through the crystalline corridor. “So, you’re a married now,” Twilight noted. “How’s it been for you?”
“It’s been pretty swell,” Murphy replied. “Her name’s Janet, and she’s wonderful. I met her a little after I left Equestria, right as we started collage. We hitched ten years ago, and we’ve been living a happy life together ever since.”
“Then you had a kid?” Twilight asked.
“Yep. We had a girl, Zelda. Janet really pushed for the name. I think it suits her, since she likes to get into trouble.”
“Did she inherit the kind of trouble her daddy gets into?” Twilight asked.
Murphy chucked as they turned a corner at an intersection. “She would if she had the means. About a month ago, we were having a family dinner at an upscale restaurant. The waiter took our orders, but they were taking too long to bring out the food, at least that’s what Zelda thought. Being the adventurous devil she is, she grew impatient and decided to take matters into her own hands.
“She excused herself to go to the restroom in the most polite way we’ve ever heard her say, so of course she’s planning something. It doesn’t occur to us that she’s not doing what she said she would until the waiter came over and told us about the ‘situation’ in the back. Somehow, a little girl sneaked into the kitchen and ate several meals that were about to be brought out.”
“Now why does that sound so familiar?” Twilight wondered.
“Are you talking about that time with Trixie or with Discord?”
“Both.”
“I think she pulled the same trick I did with Discord, now that you mention it,” Murphy said. “Anyways, I don’t remember you having wings.”
“Do you like them?” Twilight asked. “I got them a few months ago.”
They continued to make small-talk as they entered a crystal chamber with six large gem chairs, and a tiny one too. Twilight sat in the one with her cutie mark above it, and Murphy sat in the one to her left. They spent the next hour reminiscing about the past, catching up on what’s been happening in their lives, exchanging stories, and sharing some new jokes they’ve come across.
At some point, Spike came in with a tray of tea, which he almost dropped when he saw the human sitting alongside the alicorn. The dragon sprinted across the room, stopped to carefully place the tray on the table, and jumped on Murphy to give him a big hug. After that spectacle was over, Spike joined in the conversation, trading stories and jokes as well. Twilight gave Murphy a look that told him not to share the dirtier jokes he had previously been telling liberally. Even so, they still enjoyed making up for the lost time they spent away from each other.
At the latter half of the hour, Spike excused himself to do dragon business, leaving human and alicorn alone together once more. They were getting to the point when Murphy felt like he could finally ask the question that brought him here in the first place.
-“And fifty Pinkie Pies later,” Twilight said, “We had one Pinkie Pie left out of the whole bunch. She was so determined in proving who she was that she kept staring at the wall after the rest were gone.”
“Wow. I never thought Pinkie could sit still for that long,” Murphy said as he sipped his tea.
“I knew she could do it, but it still surprised me when she did.”
“Yeah, she’s always been full of surprises.” Murphy took one last sip from his cup before placing it down on the tray. “Twilight, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you. It’s the big reason I came here for. Not that I didn’t came here to meet old mates, but it’s still the big reason.”
A bit of concern grew on the alicorn’s face. “Okay, what do you need?”
“Well, Zelda’s turning eight next month, and I really want to get her something special, something meaningful, something that she’ll remember years down the road.”
Twilight nodded. “What did you have in mind?”
“I know it’ll sound odd to you, but it’s a fairly common thing for girls her age to ask for, though it did catch me off guard when she started asking.” Murphy paused. “She wants a pony.”
“I see,” Twilight said. She looked across the room, levitating her teacup to her lips before taking a sip. “So… the children in your world like to have ponies for birthday presents?”
“Mostly girls do. But the best they get is to ride horses on a ranch somewhere.”
Twilight already knew that humans rode horses. Murphy told her about it when he first arrived in Equestria. It didn’t make it less of a foreign concept. “Do you want her to ride one of us?”
“Not exactly,” Murphy said. “What I would like to have is if a pony could come to my world and stay with us for a while, be her friend for a while. I understand that anypony you choose would have to come back at some point, and I don’t even expect a pony to stay that long. I just want something special for my girl.”
“Something special…” Twilight thought about this for a moment, going through all the possible scenarios that could arise from the given situation. What if the pony got stuck in the human world and couldn’t come back? What if the pony became terrorized from what she saw? What if she lost all her legs in a freak accident involving a giant frog commanding an army of tiny duck-sized cows? Hundreds of other off-the-wall concerns swam through her head, all hypothetical results from this favor an old friend was asking her.
Murphy noted how deep the alicorn was in her thoughts. “Look, if it’s not going to happen, I understand. I know that”-
“Yes,” Twilight interrupted, “But this will need serious planning.”
“Really, you’ll do it?”
“Not personally, I still have royal duties her in Equestria. But I don’t see why I can’t arrange something.”
“Wow, I don’t know what to say. Thank you! Thank you so much!”
“Hold on there, cowboy,” Twilight said. “There’s no guarantee that I can do this. Like I said, this will need serious planning. Getting a pony to your world is the first step. Finding a pony willing to go is the next. Then I have to ensure her safety in any way possible.”
“Oh,” Murphy said with a dejected look on his face. “I knew it’s a long shot”-
“I’m not finished,” Twilight interrupted again. “Given all scenarios I can think of, and given the planning needed to cater to those scenarios, and given that I find a solution to the time shift problem, I should have something up before Zelda’s birthday.”
“That’d be great. Can you find a way travel through worlds?”
“I already have a couple ideas in mind. One is a portal we recently came across, though that has a few problems that wouldn’t fit with this situation. Another idea I found through some research a while back, but it requires some effort on your part.”
Murphy threw his hands up. “Hey, I’ll do whatever. If I can do something to make your job easier, just tell me.”
“Alright, then answer this question,” Twilight said. “Do you know anyone else in your world that’s been in Equestria before?”
“Tall order,” Murphy said. “That would be a resounding ‘nope’.”
“Think about it. Is there anybody with a watch like yours?” Twilight pressed on. “Maybe they say something only Equestrians say.”
Murphy thought to himself about it. He thought of all the people he knew, the people he met, and the people he only heard of. He also thought of people on TV, but he felt that it may be a dead end. “Sorry, nothing comes to mind.”
“Eh, I knew it was a long shot.” Twilight took another sip of her tea. “But don’t worry, I still have other ideas. Just leave the planning to me.”
Murphy nodded. “I can’t thank you enough.”
<><><><><>
Their little get-together didn’t take much longer to end. Spike rejoined and chatted with them during that time, offering a different perspective to Twilight’s stories. When the time came, Murphy told them he needed to pick Zelda up from school back in his world. They said their goodbyes, told each other they’ll see each other again, had one last round of hugs, and then the human departed.
The watch took Murphy back to where he stood before jumping into Equestria, at the front of the local elementary school. A crowd of parents had gathered along the sidewalk, all waiting to walk their children wherever they needed to be. Most of them were mothers, having either left work early or left a chicken dinner cooking at home. Some were fathers, having filled the roll of stay-at-home parent. But it didn’t matter who was in the crowd, none of them noticed the guy randomly teleporting in the middle of the group. Though technically, they never saw him leave.
He looked at his phone to check the time, or rather to check if any time had passed. The clock showed the time to be a quarter after five, but it corrected itself to a minute before three once it regained signal. It didn’t surprise him, since no time had passed for him the last time he came back from Equestria. He didn’t know why this odd quirk occurred, but he had a few ideas for taking advantage of it.
“Someone else with a watch like mine,” Murphy thought to himself. “Maybe Twilight is on to something. I don’t see why other watches couldn’t have been made. She made it seem like that’s the case.”
The time on his phone switched to three o’clock, exactly the same time the school bell went off. Within minutes, a herd of children spewed out the door, all anxious leave the drudgery of modern education behind and spend the rest of the day doing whatever. Several kids broke from the crowd and headed over to the gathering of parents. One by one, a parent and kid went off to either walk or drive home, as they did every day.
“But if there aren’t any more watches, it’ll be fun to see how she can get a pony to this world.”
And just like every day, Murphy first saw a girl with a brown backpack with large doggy ears. It was Zelda, huddled up with her friends, walking slowly as a unit as they talked about whatever they had on their minds. She looked up and waved at her favorite daddy. Murphy waved back, and then waited as his little girl stuck with her friends. Then, one by one, her friends walked off to go where they needed to go, thinning out the group until Zelda was alone. Murphy considered it her after-school ritual. Only after she did all that would she come over to go home.
And just like every day, Zelda skipped to her daddy, the ears on her backpack flopping everywhere behind her. “Daddy! Daddy! Guess what we did in school today!”
Murphy tuned to walk home as Zelda skipped up to his side. He held out his hand for her to hold on to. “Alright, what did you do in school today?”
“We drew our dreams in art class!” Zelda said in a sing-song voice as she made her daddy’s arm sway.
“Like a night dream or a dream of something you want in the future?”
“I did both!” She reached behind her and pulled out a sheet of paper from her doggy backpack and held it up for her daddy to see. “See, it’s me, and mommy, and you running a horse farm!”
“Ah, I do see,” Murphy said as he examined his daughter’s artwork. This masterpiece was entirely drawn up in crayon. Half the page was covered in green, conveying the image of a field. Right above the green, there were three stick figures in different poses, expressing how happy they were with crude smile faces. A herd of stick horses surrounded them on all sides. Some were swooping in from the sky.
For some reason, it reminded him of when he helped up in Ponyville’s Winter Wrap Up, when all the ponies finished up cleaning up winter and celebrated afterwards. They all had gathered around in a field to party, not so different from the picture. Even the pegasi swooped around above. Rainbow Dash dared him to put on all the Winter Wrap Up vests at once and try to walk around. It was fun, but Zelda didn’t need to know the details of it.
“So, what do you think?” Zelda asked.
“I think it’s lovely,” Murphy said.
“So what did you do today?”
Murphy shrugged. “Nothing special, though I did meet some mates I haven’t seen for a long time.”
“Do I know them?” Zelda asked.
“No, I don’t think you know them.” Murphy paused for a moment as he thought about what Twilight had said about his question. “Though, you may meet them someday.”
“Are they boring people you and mommy hang out with all the time?”
“I don’t hang out with boring people,” Murphy said defensively.
“What about those ‘parties’ you take me to but aren’t parties because there’s no cake and all people do is talk about boring stuff.”
“Sweetie, I know one particular ‘boring’ person that will obliterate anything with a party.”
“Oh yeah, Cindy’s birthday party had three cakes. You can’t top that.” Zelda’s eyes challenged her daddy to do just that.
“Oh yeah, my mate can top that.” Murphy smirked at the thought of the one particular “boring” person popping out of nowhere and proving his daughter wrong. He wouldn’t put it past that bubbly pink mare, and he would have some physical evidence to back his claims.
“Imagine, if you will,” Murphy said with mock elegance, “an extraordinary lady, dressed in raging pink, who pulls around a wagon. This wagon is stuffed to the brim with cake, candy, confetti, and a big music box. Whenever someone new walks into town, she’s always the first to greet them with the wagon. She winds up the box, and all the cake, candy, and confetti pop out of the wagon while she sings a silly song.”
“Is she a cucumber that sings a silly song?” Zelda asked.
Murphy paused for a moment. “Aren’t you a little young to know what that is?”
“We have Netflix, daddy.”
“I swear, if it’s a rip-off of”-
“Hey look!” Zelda interrupted. “It’s a box!”
Before Murphy could say something, Zelda let go of his hand and took off towards a box. “Don’t open that box,” he called out. “It’s not ours!”
“There aren’t any houses nearby. Why would a box be delivered on a sidewalk?”
She was right. This part of the sidewalk didn’t directly connect to any nearby house. The box was sitting in the middle of the walkway, partially open. He knew it was odd that a box would be randomly placed there, and that’s what worried him. Murphy ran through several thoughts about this mysterious box in his head, but there was one thought that ran the loudest. “Please don’t be anthrax.”
Zelda was almost next to the box by the time Murphy’s body kicked into automatic. He sprinted ahead without thinking. He felt intent on grabbing Zelda and pulling her away from the box before something bad could happen. But he was too late. She opened the box before he could reach her.
“Woah!” Zelda gasped. She reached into the box and pulled something out of it before Murphy could object. “Daddy, check this out,” she called back. She spun around and held up the thing for her daddy to see. He could almost hear a certain melody playing in the background. “It’s a pony!”
Murphy skidded to a stop as he came face to face with the pony, a live, little pony. “Is that…” he thought to himself as the pony looked back at him with large somniferous eyes. “No, it couldn’t be.”
Right off the bat, he could tell that this wasn’t a regular horse. There was too much magenta in its coat, and its mane was too purple. No, this was a magical pony from another world, the genuine Equestrian variety. And it wasn’t one of the normal breeds either. As Murphy began comprehending what Zelda held in her hands, he noticed certain parts sticking out. Instead of having a horn, or wings, or neither, it had all the features of the three races.
“That’s… an alicorn,” he stammered. “You found a freaking alicorn!”
“I know!” Zelda said as she started cradling this magenta wonder. “Where do you think her mommy is? Do alicorns have mommies?”
“I don’t know.” Murphy said. “A better question would be why is there a box with an alicorn in it?”
Murphy already knew the answer to his own question, or at least he thought he did. This would be an interesting answer to Twilight’s problem of bringing a pony to this world, but it came with some issues. For instance, why the heck did she send an alicorn? How the heck did she send an alicorn? Who, what, and/or where did she get an alicorn from? And why is this alicorn a baby?
“Can we keep her?” Zelda asked as she rocked the alicorn in her arms. “Her parents probably lost her, so we should keep her with us.”
Murphy couldn’t argue with that. Abandoning your children wasn’t what a parent would do if they wanted to keep them around, especially in Equestria. It boggled him why any parent would allow their kid to end up on a strange world with strange people, even if an alicorn princess asked nicely.
He looked at the pair, his daughter rocking the little baby pony to sleep, the pony yawning and snuggling up in her arms. She did want a pony as a birthday present. It would be cruel to take it away from her now.
“Alright, we can keep her,” Murphy said. “But I’m going to do some investigating to see if I can find her parents.”
Zelda looked up at her father with a massive grin growing on her face. “We’re keeping her?” she asked. “Yay! I have my own little pony!”
“Again, she’s staying with us until we can find her parents.”
Zelda ignored her daddy as she giggled with glee, but she was careful not to disturb the alicorn that had fallen asleep in her arms. “She needs a name. We don’t know her name. Can I name her?”
Murphy shrugged. “Sure, unless we find out she does have a name.”
“Yay,” she squealed, and then quieted down to a soft cooing, like a mother to her child. “Guess what your name is. It’s a special name. I’m going to name you Twilight Sparkle!”
Murphy’s heart skipped a beat as he heard Zelda say that name. “Uh… You’re naming her Twilight Sparkle?”
Zelda nodded. “Yep, she once was a unicorn, but she turned into an alicorn, just like this Twilight.”
“Alright…” Murphy looked at his daughter, dumbstruck. “How do you know about Twilight?”
“From the show, duh.” She said as she rolled her eyes.
“She has a show?”
“Yeah, it’s My Little Pony.”