Val let out an angry growled as he tried hopping onto the counter. At least he was getting better with the hooves. “Give ittttt!” he whined.
“Not until you say you're sorry,” Pinkie said solemnly.
“I am not saying I'm sorry!” he snapped. “It's not my fault they're such cry babies!”
The pink pony just glared back at him, a gaze as hard as stone. He glared back. He could only hold it for a few moments before his gaze lowered. “Fine. I'm sorry about what I said...”
“About?”
“About the little ponies.”
“And their names? Real names, not the things you called them?”
He groaned, but gave in. “Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake.”
She nodded, satisfied. She put a small plate in front of him on the table. On it were a small sampling of different cakes. He quickly stood up on his back hooves, trying to reach them. He let out an eek as he adjusted too far and started toppling back.
Cheerilee rushed to his side, her eyes wide. However, as she ran, suddenly the door swung open, catching her in the face and making her topple back.
“Cutie mark--” Was all the three said before Val landed amidst them.
Cheerilee groaned and held her nose, before slowly peering out around the door. She then shook her head. “Oh dear...”
Val had managed to avoid landing on and instead landed smack dab in the middle of the crusaders. And the little dragon pony, Claw she believed, was in the midst of licking his face. He let out little undignified squeaks. “Get off! Get offfff! Stop it! Sto--” Followed by hacking and coughing. “Ew ew ew ewwww my mouth was open and everythinggggg!” He held his tongue off, trying to wipe it off with his hooves. Then blanched. “Ewwww, I walk around on these! Guhhhhhh!”
He finally managed to shove Claw away, turning back to glare at him. “What are you doing, dog? I am not a... not a...” He froze, his eyes looking up at the cutie mark crusaders. His eyes focused on Sweetie and a little red flooded his cheeks. It lingered for a moment... until Claw leaned in and gave him a nice, big lick that covered his entire face. He stared with wide eyed horror before covering his face. “Gahhhh! Get it off ew ew ewwwww slobberrrrr!”
Cheerilee smiled before trotting over. She gently guided him towards the table and grabbed a napkin, before wiping it over his face. “Calm down, Val. It's just a little saliva.”
There was another gasp and she looked back in time to see the five pairs of eyes looking between her and Val. She let out a sigh of exasperation. Here they went again.
“Your son from the future came back in time, too?” Sweetie asked, staring with wide eyed glee.
She paused. Looked down at Val. Looked back at Sweetie. Then at Val. She... really didn't know how to answer that. She didn't even know what she was really being ask. She struggled for a few moments before sighing. “No?”
“Awwwwww,” the three said in unison. Silverbelle said it a few moments later, the filly looking as confused as her.
“Then who is he? Why doesn't he have his cutie mark? Can we help him get it? Is he your son from the past? The present? Ohhhh, do you have a very special somepony now? Is it Big Mac? No, wait, unicorn. Is it a prince?” Scootaloo asked as she trotted over, looking closely at the unicorn. He was too busy scrubbing his face to notice.
Cheerilee sighed and shook her head. “No, I do NOT have a very special somepony right now. He is not my son. I am merely taking care of him for the time being.”
“Awwwww,” the three said in unison, again. Claw was in the midst of stealing Val's cake, his long tongue snaking out along the table.
“Ummm, awww?” Silverbelle added.
“He doesn't have a cutie mark yet and I doubt he will for a while.” Could dimension traveling ponies even get cutie marks?
“Gahhh!” Val cried out when he finally moved the napkin away.
Scootaloo grinned down at him and held out a hoof. “Hi! I'm Scootaloo!”
“Applebloom,” the earth pony said as she appeared at her friend's side.
“Sweetie Belle!” the unicorn added as she appeared.
“Errr... I uhhhh.... errr.... S-Silver... Silverbelle,” the last pony said, quickly hiding behind her cousin and friends.
Val stared up at them for a few moments. He then smirked. “I am Valkala Del Hsskrugnr of house Araknioss!” He stood up wobbly. “But you may call me Lord Valkala, future ruler of equestria!”
There was a pause and... “Wait, are you Twilight's kid?” Scootaloo asked.
“What? No, why would I be... wait, the princess of friendship? I have nothing to do with that strange creature!”
“Then how can yah be a ruler? Are yah related tah one of the other princesses?” Applebloom asked. “Luna?”
Cheerilee face hoofed. Oh heavens give her strength, they were encouraging him.
“What? No! I will not claim my throne through birth right, I will claim it through battle and victory! I will conquer this land and--”
“Wait, you're going to become a royal guard?” Sweetie asked.
He started to deflate. “W-what? No, I'm going to... defeat in conquest... how... why would I be a guard for that?”
“Well, how are you going to conquer things if you're not a soldier?” Scootaloo asked.
“I am a powerful warlock! I will make all bend before my magical might!”
“So yah gonna try tah out magic Twilight? Yah ain't been here very long, have yah?” Applebloom asked with a little giggle.
“What? I, hey! Stop laughing!” he stomped his hoof. “I am going to out magic all who dare challenge me! Be they pony or... or whatever your winged horsed horn things are! I will one day rule this realm and all will kneel before me, for I shall be their lord and master!” He posed dramatically, a hoof clenched to his chest, the other straight on the ground.
The crusaders looked at him, then each other, before bursting into laughter. Applebloom reached out and put an arm around his neck, giving him a noogie. “Ah like yah, you're funny!”
“Ow! Ow ow! Cease your abusing of my head!”
“Now, don't yah worry one bit! We'll help yah get your cutie mark no problem! We were already gonna help Silver--” Her mouth was covered by her two friend's hooves.
“Shhhhhhh,” the two said in unison. She eeped and nodded.
“We were already gonna help Claw get his,” she said once the hooves were removed.
“Owww,” Val said, wobbling a bit in a daze. Cheerilee sighed and just nibbled her cupcake. If nothing else, at least the poor colt was being swept up into the tidal wave that was the cutie mark crusaders. Never stood a chance.
“So, where yah from?”
“Far away,” Cheerilee popped in quickly before he could start going off on them. As cute as she thought it was that he was interacting with foals his own age, she didn't want to start another incident. There was no way she was going to try to explain to them he was from another dimension that just... no. So much no.
“The Underdark, kingdom of the drow!” he said proudly. Or he could just ignore what she was trying to do.
“Cool!” Scootaloo said. “That's one of the zebra places, right?”
“The BLEEP is a zebra?”
There was a gasp from the fillies, even Claw covered his mouth in shock as they all stared at him. “Errr... what? Are zebras important?”
“Y-you bleeped,” Scootaloo said, her eyes wide.
“Y-you aren't supposed to bleep,” Sweetie added.
“Y-yah gonna get in big trouble,” Applebloom said, actually shaking a bit.
He stared at them for a few moments, before a smile formed on his lips. He opened his mouth, but Cheerilee covered it before he could speak.
“No,” she said firmly, before uncovering it.
“But--”
“No.”
“But--”
“Do you want to go back to the hospital and the bed? We can head right back there, young man. No more cup cakes or ice cream. At all. Is that what you want?”
He glared up at her, but only for a few seconds before looking away. “Fine...” He looked up at them. “What's a zebra?”
The three shared a look, before smiling to him. “Striped earth pony,” Scootaloo finally said.
Cheerilee cringed. “Actually, children, it's not quite that simple. You see, zebras have a rich and varied history that--”
“What's an earth pony?” Val asked, interrupting.
“Me and Applebloom are earth ponies.”
He looked between them. “But... you're just ponies.”
“Right, earth ponies,” Applebloom said.
Cheerilee just rolled her eyes and gave up. She wondered why she tried, sometimes.
Val looked between them a few more times before face hoofing. “You... you're joking, you're joking. You actually had to come up with a special name to call your BLEEPing normal ponies--”
“One more bleep out of you and we're going back to the hospital, without any cake,” Cheerilee snapped, glaring down at him with the full ferocity of her teacher's gaze. He looked up, for only a second, before looking away.
“Whatever,” he grumbled.
“So, do you want to come back to the club house and we can start?” Sweetie asked, giving him a smile.
Val locked up for a moment, before quickly looking away. She swore his cheeks got a little redder. “Start what?”
“Getting you your cutie mark!” The crusaders said in unison.
“Um... yeah,” Silverbelle added.
“What the...” He glanced up at Cheerilee and the words died in his throat. “What, errr, is a cutie mark?”
They looked at him, at each other, and the teacher quickly stepped in before the tidal wave of the crusaders could take out the whole shop. “Girls, Val has had a really, really busy time today and I think he's going to need a bit of time to process everything. How about we schedule this little play date another time? Maybe tomorrow?”
“Awwwwww,” all five of them said it that time.
She glanced back to Val. “Come on, let's get you back to the hospital.” She raised a hoof to signal Pinkie, but the mare already had a small bag of treats deposited to her hoof.
He gave a groan. “Ugggggh. But the place is so weird and clean and just... ugh.”
She put a hoof to his back and gently guided him out. “Now come along. I'll see you later, girls,” she called back.
The group watched them go, before Sweetie trotted to the counter, tossing her bag of bits on the counter. “Ummmm... all the gem stones you have, please. Claw is really hungry,” she said before motioning back to the dragon pony who was currently gnawing on a plate. “Oh, and mostly garnets.”
------
Cheerilee smiled as she stepped back into the hospital. Today was turning out to be quite the hectic day, but it was almost over. All the little signs of Discord's arrival were now gone, the streets were back to normal, there was nopony walking upside down, even the homes were now on the ground instead of trying to sumo wrestle each other. She was looking forward to returning to her nice, small home, having a small glass of grape juice and reading a book.
Of course, not everypony was looking forward to the night. As they stepped into the building there was a light shriek and the employees scattered. Somehow one of them had even managed to get a big plastic shield. She couldn't imagine where from.
“I see he is back and unharmed,” Redheart said with a slightly strained grin. “I take it Princess Twilight wasn't able to decipher anything?”
“Not yet, she did validate the dimension theory. Sort of,” Cheerilee said with a shake of her head. “I'm just dropping him off before I go back home.”
“Oh. I... see,” the nurse said as she gave him a wary look. “And she didn't wish to... hold him... nearby? By any chance? Perhaps in the castle? Maybe even the dungeon?”
“Redheart!”
She cringed. “Right, sorry,” she said. “Come along, I'll show you back to his room.” She started trotting off, Cheerilee followed behind her.
Val, however, wasn't following. The teacher stopped and looked back. “Val, what's wrong?”
“You're leaving?”
“Of course. I need to get home. It's getting late.”
He looked outside, before glaring up at her. “I... I don't want you to go. I demand that you stay here,” he said angrily, stomping a hoof down.
She rolled her eyes and moved over. “Now now, that's not going to happen. I need to get home. You'll be safe here, all of these ponies are professionals.”
“No!” he shrieked, shaking his head. “I won't I won't I won't! They'll try to put the thingie on me that stops my magic! I won't be a prisoner here! I demand you stay and be my guard!”
“Val...”
“NO! I WON'T!” he screamed again, stomping his hooves.
“Val!” she said firmly again, making him freeze. “I am going home and you are staying here. That is final.” She could practically feel everypony in the building staring at her, and him. “You will be fine, and safe. These ponies look over dozens of ponies a day!”
“NO!” he screamed and tried to run. She saw it coming from a mile away and grabbed his tail in her mouth, dragging him back before he made it two feet.
“Val,” she said after pinning his tail with her hoof. “This is what's best for you.”
“I don't wanna I refuse!” he screamed, his horn glowing again.
“Val!” she yelled again, but this time he ignored her. Great white balls formed over his head and started shooting out, slamming into a window and shattering it and another sending a fire extinguisher down the hall. “Val, knock it off.”
“No no no!” he wailed, thrashing his hooves on the ground. “I won't I won't I won't!”
She put a hoof to her forehead, starting to get a new appreciation for the poor ponies who had their children act out in super markets. She already had to spend all week taking care of children, and while she did love it, she needed a break. Her day had been stressful and...
She then reached out and plucked him up, pulling him in for a hug. “Very well. I'll stay, Val.”
He blinked and looked up. “R-really?”
“Yes,” she said softly. “I know all this must be very, very scary for you. A new place, a new world, a new species. All... of this. If I help make you feel comfortable, then I'll stay with you until we get all this figured out.” She looked to Redheart. “Is that okay?”
“Yes!” the mare said quickly as she eyed the broken window. “In fact, if you want to take him home with you, you're more than welcome. Or to the princess. Did, err, she find anything? Else?”
“Well... it looks like there might be something to the other dimension theory and his magic is weird,” Cheerilee said as she gently patted the colt's back. “There there. It's going to be okay.”
“Y-you're not going anywhere?” he asked, looking up at her.
Cheerilee glanced around at the frightened staff and then down at the child. She gave a nod. “We will.” She smiled to Redheart. “I think I'll do that. Take him with me. Are there any more tests that need to be done?” She could almost feel the collective sigh of relief from the staff.
“No, no. If child services sends anypony to talk with him, where will he be?”
Cheerilee looked down for a moment. She thought about him attacking the princess and let out another sigh. “I... suppose I should take him to my home. I have a... spare room he can sleep in.” He was relaxing and she felt relief go through her. Her day had been stressful, but she imagined the poor colt's had been far, far worse.
“Great, great, you can go ahead and take him with you. We'll have all the paperwork dealt with,” Redheart said quickly before trotting off.
The teacher glowered at the retreating nurse, having a sneaking suspicion they planned all this. She soon came back with a small, red box. “Here. In case you need it.”
Cheerilee blinked and peered inside. An inhibitor ring. She quickly closed it and balanced it on her back. “I doubt I'll need it, but thank you. He's really not so...” She tried thinking of the right word. “Violent, when outside the hospital. Truly. Usually.”
“I'll take your word for it,” the nurse said, taking a step back.
“The ponies he... errr... hit with that spell. Are they going to be okay?”
“They're still resting it off, but we're watching them continuously.”
Cheerilee nodded and looked down at Val. “Come along. Let's... get you home.” She stepped out of the hospital and gave a little sigh. Well, it wouldn't be the first time she foalsat a pony. Besides, he at least listened to her. Mostly. She was sure they'd find somewhere to put him before she knew it.
------
The teacher let out a soft sigh of relief as her home came into view. The sun was just going down, its golden rays giving the small, pleasant cottage a gentle glow. It was about the same size as Fluttershy's, though it was far more organized. There wasn't any moss and it was colored dark brown.
“It looks like something a druid would live in,” Val grumbled.
“I'll take that as a complement,” she said as she trotted to the door and pushed it open. The main living room had a small fireplace, a couch, a few book shelves, desks and a coffee table. The right side lead to the kitchen while the left side had the stairs upstairs and the entryways for the two extra rooms. She rolled her eyes at the sight of all the presents in the back of the room. Apparently Pinkie hadn't forgotten them. Though how the mare knew that Val would end up here she'd never know. “You'll need to sleep down here, tonight. Tomorrow we can work on cleaning out one of the side rooms and... I suppose I might have an old air mattress we could set up for you.”
“You make beds made of air?” he asked, actually sounding impressed.
“No, no, that would be pegasi. It's just a plastic bed filled with air.” He just looked confused. She smiled and led him towards the couch before plopping him onto it. “Try to behave, please?”
He sighed. “I'm still going to enslave and conquer your country,” he warned.
“And knock off talk like that.”
“But--”
“Uh uh uh,” she said. “If you're a good boy, we can even watch a little television before bed.” She made her way towards the kitchen. She really wanted that glass of juice. Maybe calm down with a nice crossword puzzle. Today had just been so stressful.
“Whats that?”
“What's what?”
“Teel vision.”
She paused, her hoof one the refrigerator door. She then shook her head, pulling it open. “Behave and you'll find out.”
He gave an undignified grump, but sat on the couch. “Fine.”
She soon came over and sat besides him, holding out a glass of grape juice in a sippy cup. He dropped it in a few second, but the magic of the sippy cup held. “Careful.” She then flipped the television on.
His eyes nearly bulged out of his head. “You... you have magic illusions?”
“I do believe they use magic in the making of these,” she said with a smile. “Don't you have them back home?”
“Not like this,” he mumbled. “Are you... spying on ponies? Is this a great scrying box?”
She smiled and flipped the channels until a cartoon came on, before leaning back. “Of course not. It's just television. It--” She paused and took a soft sigh. “It's illusionary stories. They're fake, not real. You know about stories, right? These are just... better shown ones.”
He nodded. “Ohhhh. So it's like... a box that tells bard stories?”
She nodded. “Yes. Just like that.” She had no idea what that was, but so long as he knew it was fake, she was sure there would be no problems. She still had a feeling it would end up broken soon. “If you touch it, there won't be any more stories,” she warned.
He gasped. “The magic in it is that delicate?”
“Yes, yes it is.” She sipped her juice and watched it with him for a few minutes. He seemed enthralled at the simple show. It was nothing like the... horrible gladiator matches he'd mentioned before, but it still seemed to have him quite entertained. She slipped away after a few minutes, trotting upstairs to grab some blankets and sheets. When she came back down, the necessities balanced precariously on her back, the colt was laying on his side and watching the show with his head on the leg rest. “Did you finish your juice?”
“Mmmm hmm,” he mumbled as he stared at the screen.
“Okay.” She gently lifted his head up and put the pillow under it. He barely seemed to notice. She then put the blanket over him and turned off the television.
“Huh? What? I-I was watching that,” he objected drowsily.
“You need to get some sleep,” she said firmly. “Today was a big day and you need your rest. You're a growing colt.” Not to mention whatever else he was.
“'M not tired,” he muttered groggily.
“Of course not, but you need to sleep.” She gently leaned in and softly hummed. “Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head...” she softly sang. It wasn't long before the child's eyes closed and he fell asleep. She smiled before trotting to the lights and started turning them off. Well, today had been a very, very interesting day. But it all worked out in the end. Knowing Twilight, by tomorrow she'd have this all figured out, have the boy transferred somewhere safe, away from... those ponies he called family, and everything would return to normal.
Why, she was sure Twilight had it almost all figured out already.
------
Twilight stared at the scrolls, banging her head on the desk. She had no bucking clue what ANY of this meant. It would take her forever to figure all this out! Oh well, at least it probably wasn't time sensitive. Aside from the fact Claw was sent back in time which meant it had to be something near now and gahhhhhh!