Chapter 50 (Independent Discussions)
Chapter 50
Even though it was a Saturday morning, Allen had been up before the sun. With the weather schedule calling for hot and sunny all day, Allen had gotten up early to get his morning chores done before the heat of the day set in, and he was just now retreating back inside. His clothes already sticking to him as sweat dripped down his face from the oppressive heat and morning humidity.
Glancing at the temperature gauge on the front porch, he shook his head as he saw that it was already over eighty-five degrees and it was barely past nine in the morning. The lack of a breeze didn’t help matters either, as evident by Old Glory hanging limply from its bracket next to the steps. Quickly opening the door to escape the oppressive heat, he stepped inside and let out a happy sigh as the cool air washed over him.
Quickly shutting the door behind him, he made his way upstairs, stripping out of his sweaty clothes as he went, intent on taking a cool shower and then taking it easy for the day. After all, even farmers occasionally took holidays off and seeing as today was July 4th, Allen fully intended to enjoy the day by relaxing inside, before later cooking up a couple of steaks for himself, and enjoying the last of his beer like a true American.
Too bad nopony sells fireworks in town, he thought to himself as he deposited his sweat-soaked clothes in the laundry hamper in the bathroom. Would have been nice to celebrate by shooting some off, oh well... maybe next time.
Turning on the water, he stuck his hand inside and when the temperature was just right, stepped in and let the cool water wash away the sticky sweat and heat of the morning. As he let the water cascade over him, Allen closed his eyes and enjoyed the sensation of the cool, clear water running over his hot skin. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes, grabbed the soap, and set to work getting himself clean.
After cleaning and drying himself off, Allen got dressed in a pair of old gym shorts and a white t-shirt. Heading back downstairs, he decided to get some paperwork done before he relaxed too much. Sitting down at his desk, he gathered up the various papers stacked on it and began going through them.
Most of these papers were things that Penny had already dealt with, although there was a smaller pile of papers that pertained to things she needed him to give his approval on before she could proceed, one of which was a potential source of alternative fuel for his tractors. The rest of the papers were mostly for Allen’s files so that he had copies of everything, just in case anything were to happen to the originals.
At least there isn’t a lot of paperwork that I need to take care of today, he thought thankfully to himself as he set a paper detailing last month's expenses aside for later scanning and filing.
Grabbing another paper, he quickly scanned it before adding it to the growing pile of papers to file. Of course, that assumes that I don’t let them pile up in the first place.
Settling into a rhythm, Allen quickly worked his way through the small stack of paperwork and made sure to carefully scan each one into his work computer for added redundancy and ease of access later.
As he was scanning the final paper, the sound of hooves knocking on the front door drew his attention. Pausing, he got up from his desk and went to open the front door. The heat and humidity hit his face like a brick, and he immediately started sweating as the hot, humid outside air battled with the cool, dryer air inside for dominance over the foyer. Looking out, Allen saw that he had two visitors.
“Hey Twilight, Fluttershy, what brings you two out here today?” he asked curiously upon seeing the two ponies.
Giving him a strained smile, Twilight used a hoof to wipe some of her sweat-soaked mane out of her face and replied, “Well, after your visit with Rainbow Dash the other day, Fluttershy and I realized that nopony had probably told you about some of the dangers of living near the Everfree Forest. So we decided that the first chance we got, we would come by and correct that. Though admittedly, we probably should have picked a cooler day to walk out here,” she added miserably as the heat took its toll on the two overheated ponies.
Looking between the two, Allen nodded and said, “Yeah, you two look like you should get out of the sun, here,” he said as he stepped aside and waved them in, “come on in out the heat before you stroke out or something.”
Quickly stepping inside, both Twilight and Fluttershy heaved grateful sighs of relief as the cool air flowed over their hot fur. Allen took note that Fluttershy had her wings partly extended away from her body, mimicking birds when they also got too hot.
Twilight meanwhile just panted and fanned herself with a sheaf of papers held in her magic, as she and Fluttershy followed Allen deeper into his house. Entering the kitchen, Allen quickly filled two glasses of water for his guests and handed them to the two ponies.
“Speaking of Rainbow Dash, how’s she doing?” he asked curiously.
Accepting them gratefully, both Twilight and Fluttershy chugged the cool, clean water down quickly before hoofing the glasses back to Allen for a refill. Filling them up again, Allen handed them back and the two mares proceeded to drain the cups dry again. This process repeated several times before finally the two mares were sated.
Letting out a content sigh, Twilight replied as she and Fluttershy hopped up on a pair of seats at the table. “She’s doing better. The doctor said she should be out of the hospital tomorrow. Unfortunately, she’s still not allowed to engage in powered flight for another couple of days, so she needs to have somepony take her up to her cloud house when she wants to go home.”
Filling up his own glass of water, Allen pulled up his own chair at the dining room table and sat down. “Well that sucks,” he replied.
Fluttershy nodded, and quietly added, “Thankfully she’s cleared to glide, but only from her house down to the ground, so she doesn’t need anypony to come and get her when she wants to go out for the day.”
“Yeah, and she’s only on flight restrictions for another couple of days anyways,” said Twilight as she began pulling books out of her saddlebags and setting them on the table between her and Allen. Fluttershy meanwhile had mirrored her friend and pulled out her own set of books.
“That still sounds rather inconvenient,” replied Allen as he reached across the table and scooped up a random book to read its title. “Dangerous and Annoying Beasts and Where to Avoid Them,” he read aloud, “Interesting title,” he commented as he casually flipped through the book's pages.
“It’s an older book,” replied Twilight as she opened several of the books in front of her to various pages, “and not everything in it is accurate. However it’s a good starting point, I think, for somepony new to Equestria’s native fauna.”
“It will at least give you an idea of which animals are best left alone,” added Fluttershy softly.
Allen nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense. So what should I be most worried about coming out of the Everfree?”
“Honestly? Not much comes out of the forest of its own volition,” admitted Twilight, “most things tend to avoid the edges of the forest unless food stocks run low further in or something causes them to leave. Though the timber wolves tend to get more aggressive during certain times of the year, or at least that is what Applejack has told me.”
Allen nodded absently, as he turned a page. “Probably due to mating season, having pups, or a lack of food in their territory,” he remarked off-handedly, “we have timber wolves back home, though none live in my area.”
“You are already familiar with them?” asked Twilight, greatly surprised that Allen had experience with the magical constructs when he had previously stated there was no noticeable magic in his world.
Perhaps his people don’t consider their timber wolves to be magical in nature or maybe they have evolved to be able to survive in a world with little mana? Odd, this bears additional study, she thought quietly to herself.
“More or less, I’ve never seen one in the wild before, only in books and TV documentaries,” admitted Allen as he casually flipped through the book, glancing over the various entries. “Us humans hunted many of them to extinction or near extinction over the years. It’s only been in the last few decades that conservation movements have worked to get their numbers back up in certain areas of the country.”
Opening her mouth to inquire further, she was interrupted when Allen turned the book around, and pointing to an illustration, asked, “You guys have cockatrices here too?”
Leaning forward, her question momentarily forgotten, Twilight looked at the entry that Allen was pointing at. It depicted a creature with the head of a chicken and the body of a winged reptile hissing at the reader, its leathery wings spread out in an intimidating display.
“We do,” she replied, a shiver running down her spine as she recalled her relatively recent encounter with one. “And speaking from personal experience, I highly recommend that you steer clear of them. They are very territorial and will turn you to stone when they lock eyes with you.”
Pulling the book back to himself, Allen looked at Twilight in surprise, and asked, “You were turned to stone?”
Twilight shivered again. “I was out doing some research on local flora one night in the forest shortly after I moved to Ponyville, and I accidentally stumbled upon one. After our eyes met, I couldn’t look away, and I felt myself turning to stone. The next thing I remember was walking up with Fluttershy standing over me asking me if I was alright.”
“So you don’t remember anything else?” asked Allen curiously.
Twilight shook her head. “No, it was like falling asleep. One minute, I was turning to stone, the next, I was back to normal. Though it was still a terrifying experience as I hadn’t really told anypony where I was going that night. If Fluttershy and the Cutie Mark Crusaders hadn’t found him, I don’t know how long I would have been stuck out there for.”
“I’m sorry, the Cutie Mark what now?”
Twilight sighed, as she rubbed her forehead with a hoof, the mere thought of the terrible trio bringing a headache on. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders are a trio of... energetic local fillies who are trying to earn their cutie marks by doing anything, and everything, they can think of to get them, with often... very messy results.”
“I see,” replied Allen, “should I be concerned?”
Twilight shook her head. “Unlikely since you live so far outside of town, but if you are approached by some fillies named Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, or Scootaloo, offering to help you with something, then you should be cautious. I made the mistake of letting them help me organize the library one time,” she shuddered, “I still can’t figure out how they got tree sap between every single page of every book in the library.”
Allen winced at the mental picture. “I’ll... keep that in mind,” quickly moving the subject back to the previous topic, he asked, “So how did you become de-petrified?”
“Oh, I convinced the cockatrice to turn Twilight back from stone,” interjected Fluttershy softly.
“And... how did you do that?” asked Allen skeptically.
Blushing a little and hiding her face slightly behind her mane, Fluttershy replied, “Well, I just used The Stare on him, and gave him a good scolding. He was more than willing to turn her back to normal after that.”
“Wait, you looked at the cockatrice, scolded it, and he turned Twilight back? I’m confused, I thought you weren’t supposed to look at them or they would turn you to stone?”
Fluttershy nodded. “Oh you aren’t, and they do, but my special talent is related to animals, and I can usually get even the most uncooperative animal to behave themselves... but I will admit, it was a bit of a gamble that I took. However, I didn’t really have many options at the time, considering I was trying to protect the girls from the cockatrice.”
“I feel as though there is a story there,” remarked Allen dryly.
Both Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other and smiled. Turning back to Allen, Fluttershy nodded and quickly told Allen the story of her first time foalsitting the Cutie Mark Crusaders. By the time she had finished her story, Allen was shaking his head. Geez, it sounds like those three are a walking disaster waiting to happen. He thought to himself as his mind tried to put faces to the names. I know I’ve heard those names before though. I think Sweetie Belle is Rarity’s sister, and I think I met them all at that Q and A session at the schoolhouse back in May. He wondered to himself, however after a moment, he decided it wasn’t important enough at the moment to worry about, and shook his head. Taking a drink of water instead, he replied, “Well, that’s quite the story.”
Fluttershy nodded. “They can be a hoofful at times, but they are really sweet fillies. They just need to learn to tone down their crusading activities a bit.”
“Yeah... no kidding,” remarked Allen as he set his glass down. “So other than scolding a cockatrice into turning people back to normal, is there any other way to turn them back?”
Twilight took the opportunity to reply. “There are,” she nodded, “after I was petrified, I did some research and found that there are several spells that can be used on an affected individual, along with some potions that can both protect you from and reverse petrification. Zecora, the local zebra shamaness, can make them quite easily and Ponyville General is well-stocked with many of her potions. So, just so long as you are found, the effects can be reversed.”
“And while you are petrified you don’t notice time passing?” inquired Allen curiously.
“As far as we know, you won’t,” replied Twilight with a shake of her head. “The longest known case of a pony being petrified was over one hundred years, and after their initial shock of finding themselves in the future, they reported they don’t recall experiencing time pass for them. One minute they were walking along, the next, they woke up in a hospital.”
“One hundred years?! Jesus H. Christ, that’s horrifying,” exclaimed Allen. “What happened to them afterward?”
“They went on to live a full and happy life, with no noticeable side effects of having been petrified for so long. I think they passed away a few years ago. From my understanding, the first few years were difficult, but after they met their spouse, it became easier.”
“What about their family?” pressed Allen.
“Apparently, their parents had already passed away before they were petrified, but their siblings were all still alive, though obviously much older, so they were able to reconnect with them before they passed away, which helped,” said Twilight.
“Damn, they were still alive? How long do you guys live for again?” asked Allen incredulously.
“It depends, on average pegasi tend to have the shortest life spans, being around one hundred to one hundred and twenty years, earth ponies tend to live the longest, with some making it to two hundred, but the average is around one-fifty, while unicorns are a mixed bag. Some can live for many years, while others live around one hundred and forty or so,” explained Twilight. “It really just depends on how strong their magic is, and what they do for a living.”
Allen felt his eyebrows creep higher and higher as Twilight spoke and by the end of it, he was shaking his head. “Damn, that’s crazy, I know that Dr. Stable told me I could expect to live a bit longer now that my thaumic network was fixed but to hear that there are some of you guys living past two hundred years old is just mind-blowing.”
Twilight giggled. “Well, if that blew your mind then hang on, because Princess Celestia and Luna are both well over a thousand years old.”
Allen blinked in disbelief. “Bullshit,” he said simply.
“It’s true!” replied Twilight defensively at hearing Allen’s blatant skepticism. “Go out and ask anypony and they’ll tell you that the princesses don’t age, or if they do, it’s so slow as to be unnoticeable.”
“But... how?”
Twilight shrugged. “Not even the princesses know, and I know that because I asked her once and she told me she doesn’t know why she and her sister age so slowly, and I suppose in the end it doesn’t really matter. Besides, they’re not the only beings on the planet that age slowly. Dragons, for example, can easily live for thousands of years. Hydra’s are also known to have very long life spans as well.”
“It’s mostly due to their ability to regenerate lost or damaged body parts, up to and including their heads,” explained Fluttershy softly when Twilight paused to look through one of her books for references.
Allen just shook his head in amazement. “Just when I start getting used to how things work around here, you guys throw me another curve ball. Okay, so getting back on topic, what other things do I need to worry about?”
“Well, other than the cockatrices, timber wolves, and the occasional parasprite, not much really. Most of the really dangerous stuff, such as hydras and manticores tend to live further inside the Everfree,” replied Twilight absently, as she read from one of her books. “Though if you go to Froggy Bottom bog, you’ll be more likely to run into cragadiles and hydras.”
“Cragadiles, don’t you mean crocodiles?” asked Allen, unsure if he’d heard Twilight correctly.
Twilight shook her head. “Nope, cragadile. It’s a cousin of the crocodile, but its hide is very tough with a texture and composition similar to rocks, hence the name. Though for all intents and purposes, it acts the same as its cousin, the crocodile.”
“Okay, and uh, what’s a ‘parasprite’?” asked Allen, a small headache forming in the back of his brain.
Fluttershy winced and shrunk in on herself a little. “It’s a small, colorful bug that looks really, really cute, but will eat everything in sight if you let it, and it multiplies very, very fast. We had an infestation of them last year, and they nearly destroyed the town. Thankfully, Pinkie was able to get them to return to the Everfree using polka music.”
“Oookay?” said Allen, a confused and worried look on his face, as he wasn’t sure what to make of Fluttershy’s description of the little pest.
“They look like this,” said Twilight helpfully as she levitated her book over to Allen.
Taking the book in his hands, he looked down at the page in question and saw a picture of a small, green orb with large eyes, small legs, and tiny iridescent wings hovering in front of the camera.
Fluttershy is right, it does look kinda cute, thought Allen as he began to read the description underneath the photo.
Parasprites are voracious eaters and can easily wipe out entire fields of food in minutes if the swarm is large enough. Additionally, they reproduce asexually by consuming twice their body weight in food and expelling their resulting offspring out through their mouth. This form of reproduction allows the parasprite to rapidly multiply and one may turn into thousands within an hour or less. Thankfully, parasprite swarms are rare and are easily contained by using appropriate music, such as polka or standard marching music, and leading the swarm away from populated areas. Additionally, the average lifespan of a parasprite that is in swarming mode is less than forty-eight hours, hence its high birth rate. If they are not swarming, however, they have been known to live for upwards of one to two weeks. Parasprites have many predators in the wild and are considered a delicacy in some parts of the world. As such, between their short life spans, and the many entities that feed on them, their populations are kept under control.
Scratch that, it is no longer cute, and must be destroyed on sight, thought Allen grimly as he finished reading the bug's description.
Setting the book down on the table, Allen leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling. “Alright, well if I see any of the little buggers, I’m hitting them with a can of Raid, and the biggest fly swatter I have.”
“What’s ‘raid’?” asked Twilight.
“It’s an insecticide used to kill bugs, such as wasps, cockroaches, ants, and such,” explained Allen simply.
“Oh, interesting,” she replied before returning to looking over her books for additional information.
Allen meanwhile had gone back to idly looking through the book Twilight had given him and had come across the section dealing with manticores. Looks like they’re the same here as in our mythology back home, thought Allen as he flipped the page. In fact, there are a lot of creatures here that are essentially identical to the mythological ones back home. It’s very strange that our worlds have so many similarities in mythical creatures. Makes me wonder if they were somehow connected in the distant past or something.
Turning a page, he came across an entry showing a large eel-like creature sticking out of the side of a cliff. Hmm... Quarray Eels... is that? Yep, that’s a pun. Sigh, well at least they prefer to live in rock caves in the side of cliffs instead of soil, so the odds of having to worry about dealing with an Equestrian version of a Graboid are low. Shaking his head, Allen set the book aside and drained his glass of water. Once it was empty he stood up and refilled it. Turning around, he leaned against the sink and asked, “So those woods on the other side of the river from my farm are part of the Everfree Forest?”
“They are,” confirmed Twilight with a nod.
“And so long as I don’t go wandering too far into the forest I’ll be fine?” he asked.
“Most likely,” she nodded again, “though there is no guarantee that something won’t come out of the forest, so I would still advise caution when working near it. Timber wolves have been known to wander out at random intervals and attack ponies near the edge of the forest.”
“Right, I’ll keep that in mind,” replied Allen as he closed the cover of Dangerous and Annoying Beasts and Where to Avoid Them. Scooting back his chair, he stood up, looked at the nearby clock, and asked, “So was there anything else you wanted to tell me about the Everfree?”
Both Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other before turning back to Allen. “Well, there are also some plants you need to look out for, and a few other creatures we haven’t covered yet,” said Twilight.
“But will I need to worry about them if I stay out of the forest?” asked Allen as he headed for his fridge and began pulling out the fixings for his solo BBQ, namely a couple of steaks, some potatoes, and a couple of ears of corn on the cob that he had purchased in town the other day that had been grown in one of the locals greenhouses.
“Well technically no, but it never hurts to be prepared in case you need to venture into the forest sooner rather than later,” replied Twilight as she watched Allen begin preparing his food at the kitchen counter, “are you planning on having lunch or something? We can go if you want,” she said, having noticed Allen’s meal preparation, and not wanting to be a bother.
Allen shook his head. “Naw, I’m just prepping for my solo cookout today,” he said as he went back to the fridge and pulled out one of the last few beer cans. Popping the top with a hiss of escaping air, he took a swig and went back to work. “Besides, it's the middle of the day, and pretty hot out, and it doesn’t feel right to kick you out just so that I can eat by myself, so I don’t mind you staying a bit. In fact,” he paused and opened the fridge door to see if he had any pony-friendly foods, “I think I’ve got enough fixings here to make you both a nice salad if you want, as a way of saying ‘thank you’ for giving me the heads up about the forest.”
“Oh, we wouldn’t want to impose,” replied Twilight with a hasty wave of her hooves.
“I’m not much of a salad eater, so this stuff will all just go to waste otherwise,” admitted Allen, “Penny is the one that brought it over the other day when she and I had a working lunch, that was more work than lunch, so we didn’t eat as much as we thought we were going to,” he said as he started pulling additional ingredients out of the fridge and setting them on the counter.
Both Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other for a moment, unsure if they should accept Allen’s offer or not. However, after a moment, they decided to go for it, and with a small smile, they turned back to Allen, and Twilight replied, “Thank you, Allen, we’d be happy to have lunch with you. Though next time, we’re going to treat you to a meal on our bit.”
Allen laughed and set about mixing the salad and various cut vegetables together. “Alright, I’ll hold you to that.”
As Allen worked, Twilight and Fluttershy glanced around his kitchen while they waited. Noticing Allen’s calendar hanging on the upper fridge door, Twilight saw that today’s date was circled and had a small bit of text at the bottom. Unfortunately, she was too far away to make out what it said, and not wanting to let an awkward silence descend due to lack of conversation, she asked, “So do you mind if I ask why you have today’s date circled? Were you planning on doing anything special today?”
Allen shrugged. “Sort of,” pointing to the calendar, he said, “It’s July 4th today,” as if that explained everything.
Twilight nodded slowly. “Yes, yes it is and is that a significant date for you and your people?” she asked as she slowly began pulling out her ever present and faithful quill and parchment from her saddlebags.
Allen paused his meal preparations and sighed, as he realized that naturally, Twilight would be ignorant of the importance of that date to him. It was easy to forget sometimes that not everyone knew about your country’s Independence Day, or cared.
Resuming his work with a nod, he replied, “It’s the day my country was born. July 4th, 1776 was the day that the Declaration of Independence was signed, which declared that we were no longer a colony of Great Britain, but an independent nation free from foreign rule.”
“I can’t imagine this ‘Great Britain’ was too happy about that,” remarked Twilight as she quickly set to work committing words to parchment.
Allen shook his head. “They weren’t, and we fought each other for another six years until they finally gave up and went away, with a lot of help from the French and Spanish of course,” he added as he began dividing up the salad between two bowls for his guests.
“Soooo... why did your country separate itself from Great Britain?” asked Twilight, a hungry curiosity burning in her eyes, her quill continuing to dance across her lengthy parchment.
“Taxes mostly,” replied Allen simply as he set the pair of bowls down in front of the two mares, who thanked him for the food, before he resumed his explanation, “along with a few other things that annoyed the local colonists to the point that they had enough. Honestly, if the king had been less of a douche and had been more willing to work with the colonies, we’d have probably remained subjects of him. But that’s just my American bias kicking in. I’m sure someone from England would have said that if us colonists hadn’t been such whiny, ungrateful bastards and just done what we were told, we’d have gotten along just fine.”
“Um... I feel as though we’re missing a lot of context here,” commented Fluttershy, as Twilight was too busy scribbling notes to say anything.
Allen nodded as he filled a pot with water and dumped the de-husked corn cobs in it before turning the burner on underneath. “Oh yeah, but I don’t have the time to give you guys a history lesson on the who, what, where, when, how, and why the Revolutionary War happened. That would take days. All you need to know is that we got tired of being ignored and pushed around by the king and essentially said, ‘Screw you guys, we’re going home,’ and left.”
“Fascinating,” muttered Twilight absently as she continued to write.
“So what are you planning on doing today then?” asked Fluttershy as she took a small bite of her salad. “That is... if you don’t mind me asking.”
“Well normally, my dad invites friends and family over and we have a big cookout every year, complete with fireworks and lots of beer drinking. Sometimes we’d go to town and watch the local parade and fireworks show there. But since I’m by myself this year, and nopony around in Ponyville sells fireworks, I’m just going to settle for taking it easy today, have a nice steak, and enjoy the last of my beer,” he replied as he washed the potatoes, stabbed them and then stuck them in the microwave to cook.
“Were you planning on inviting anypony over to celebrate with you? Maybe Penny or your workers?”
“Not really. Penny is busy right now, and I figured most everybody else was probably busy doing other things or trying to beat the heat to be bothered coming over to celebrate the birth of a nation they have no knowledge of,” replied Allen with a shrug.
“I see...” Fluttershy fidgeted a bit as she glanced at Twilight who was still scribbling away on her parchment, and not wanting to let an awkward silence take hold, she screwed up her courage and asked, “So that flag with the red and white stripes on your porch is your country’s flag?”
Allen smiled and nodded as he turned around. “Yep, the stripes represent the original thirteen colonies, and the stars represent each state in the union. There are currently fifty states that comprise the United States of America, so there are fifty stars,” he paused, noticing that both mares' water glasses were low, and pointing asked, “Would you like some more water?”
“Yes, please,” Giving a thankful nod, Fluttershy pushed her glass closer to Allen, who leaned across the table to grab both of them.
Filling them up, he returned the glasses back to their spots on the table and resumed his work. Fluttershy, meanwhile wracked her brain to figure out what to ask Allen next as the dreaded awkward silence began to descend upon the group. Thankfully after a few moments, an idea popped into her mind, and she blurted out, “So how are your animals doing?”
Looking back over his shoulder as he seasoned the steaks, Allen saw that Fluttershy was giving him an awkward and strained smile, and sensing she was way out of her comfort zone, he took pity on her and returned her rigid smile with a gentle one of his own.
“They are doing very well. Nothing out of the ordinary, other than the chicken eggs are tasting better than before. Reuben’s coat is shinier, and he’s been putting on more weight, even though I haven’t been feeding him any more food than usual. In fact, all of my animals are packing on the pounds and seem much healthier than usual. Not that they were sick or anything back home, but that they just seem to have a sort of... healthy glow to them, if that makes sense.”
Glad to be on a subject she was comfortable with, Fluttershy seized the opportunity and replied, “It must be the higher concentration of mana in their diet. If they are gaining weight, you might need to cut back on how much you are feeding them. Giving them too much food could lead to health issues.”
Allen nodded as he finished up the last of his food preparation. “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about cutting all of them back around ten percent of what I normally feed them, and seeing how they respond. Though I honestly didn’t expect the mana in the soil to be impacting them this quickly. I figured it would take a year or two before I started seeing changes.”
“Mana is a lot like water,” interjected Twilight as she committed her final thought to parchment and set her writing implements aside. “It likes to take the path of least resistance, and with your farm having little to no mana in the soil, it is not a surprise that the local mana reserves were quick to fill it in and reestablish equilibrium. The plants meanwhile, having been deprived of mana, likely sucked it up as fast as it came in.”
“Well that would explain why my hay fields along the border of the farm were so good in comparison to the ones further in during first cutting,” mused Allen as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“Exactly,” nodded Twilight, “and the longer your farm remains in Equestria, the greater the impact will be. Your animals will become stronger, and healthier.”
“Well they’re definitely healthier that’s for sure,” said Allen with a nod of his head as he headed for the sliding glass doors.
Both Fluttershy and Twilight made to get up to politely follow Allen outside, however, a wave of his hand made them stay where they were while Allen stepped outside to fire up his propane grill.
Getting the grill lit up, Allen closed the lid, stepped back inside, and taking a sip of his cool beer, he asked, “So Twilight, how is the research on getting me home going?”
Twilight swallowed, and replied sadly, “Very slowly. Even with all of the help that Princess Celestia and Luna have given us recently, both Lyra and I have a lot of material to sift through. What’s worse is that what we’ve found so far seems to point to it being very difficult if not impossible to send large amounts of matter between dimensions without consuming an astronomical amount of energy.”
“So you’re saying I’m stuck here forever?” asked Allen quietly as he stared down into his beer can as if he’d find the answer floating in the alcoholic liquid.
Twilight sensing Allen’s souring mood, quickly shook her head and explained, “No, just that we can’t send you back right now. We’ve found some promising leads lately, but there are a lot of unknown variables that we still need to work through, and what that means is that our only current way of sending you back would be by brute forcing it. Which is the most inefficient solution, not to mention the fact that we don’t have any reliable way of finding your home amongst all of the other possible worlds out there.
She paused and shook her head as she tried to gather her thoughts better. “Both Lyra and I have been combing through everything we can find on the matter, and... well, as I said, there is a lot of stuff to go through, and not all of it is going to be useful. We have found evidence that Starswirl the Bearded supposedly created a stable portal to another world before he disappeared with the help of a friend of his, and while that’s a positive sign, we’re not sure if that will help get you back home. Besides, nopony is sure where the portal is any more or even what it looks like. I’ve asked Princess Celestia if she could help, and she told me she has ponies working on trying to locate it. She thinks it's a mirror, and that it’s somewhere in Canterlot Castle, but she doesn’t really remember.”
Allen sighed and took a long pull of his beer, draining the can in one go. “Well... that’s disappointing,” he said quietly as he set the now empty can on the counter and grabbed another one out of the fridge.
“But we’re obviously not giving up!” replied Twilight hastily, seeing Allen’s forlorn look. “And one never knows what can happen! I mean, we haven’t even managed to finish looking through all of Canterlot’s or Manehatten’s archives yet, and there are still plenty of archives inside and outside of Equestria that we can look through... but it’s going to take more time... I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” replied Allen as we waved away her apology with his hand, “you guys are doing the best that you can with what you got. I mean, unless you’re willing to risk releasing this Discord guy and try and get him to talk, you’re kind of limited on what you can do at this point.”
“Yeah...” sighed Twilight as she for a brief, and crazy moment, considered the idea of freeing Discord. However, she shook her head and quickly discarded the idea. We only just managed to get that maniac back in his stone prison, there is no way we’re going to let him back out without looking everywhere else first.
Conversation trailed off at this point as no one was sure what to say next. Allen took the opportunity that the lull in conversation gave him to go and check the grill and seeing that it had reached temperature, he grabbed his plate of steaks off the counter and put them on. The smell of cooking meat soon drifting across the deck.
Closing the lid again, he stepped back inside and shut the door in an effort to keep the cool air inside. However, he didn’t stray far from the door as he kept an eye on the grill from just inside.
Twilight meanwhile broke the silence by asking him how things were going on the farm. To which Allen replied, “Pretty well, all things considered. We’ve managed to get a good rhythm going with hay production, and have been making regular deliveries.”
“I saw a few of them pass by the library on the way to the train station,” nodded Twilight.
“Yeah, apparently, Mr. Rich has filled up his local warehouse, and ponies aren’t able to take the hay away fast enough, so he’s been sending the excess hay to his other stores in Canterlot and Manehatten.”
“Is it selling well there?” asked Fluttershy as she finished her salad.
Alle nodded. “Sure looks that way. The local store managers are begging for more, and so we’re sending as much as we can to them. But I’m starting to run into the issue of distance.”
Tilting her head, a forkful of lettuce suspended in her magic, Twilight asked, “What do you mean?”
“Well,” began Allen as he stepped out quickly to check on the steaks, before slipping back inside, “I’ve cut all of the hay that I can on my farm for the moment, and I’ve been cutting all of the fields closest to my farm as well. Unfortunately, grass doesn’t grow back in a day, even with good weather, and so we have to go farther and farther away from the farm to work. That translates to more fuel consumed along with wear and tear on the equipment with no real work getting done. I’ve been getting around that by having my workers pull my equipment to the hay fields before I fire it up. But that slows us down and tires them out, and is just an all-around pain in the ass.”
“Is there anything you can do about your fuel problem?” asked Twilight.
Allen nodded as he spared a glance out through the glass door at the grill. “Yeah, at least in the short term. Penny has had a bit of luck in that regard. The solution isn’t perfect, but it’ll stretch my fuel reserves even further if I go with it.”
“What did she find?” asked Fluttershy curiously as she watched Allen step outside again to go flip the steaks over.
Allen replied as he closed the door behind him, “Used fryer oil apparently. It’s not perfect, and I’ll need to make a couple of modifications to the tractors, but it’ll do for now. Thankfully, I use older diesel engines, so they are more forgiving on what I run through them.”
“Is it going to be difficult to make these modifications?” asked Twilight.
Allen shook his head. “Naw, I just need to bolt an additional fuel tank on the side of the tractors and hook in another fuel line with a valve to cut off the oil when I’m not using it. The problem is going to be getting the fryer oil clean, as well as keeping it fully liquid. I’ll need a way to keep it from congealing in the fuel tank. Probably the easiest way is to put an electric heating element in it, while another option would be to run a hose from the radiator through it so that the tractor will keep it warm naturally. Of course, that will mean that I have to run diesel fuel for a bit until the tractor warms up enough that I can switch over, and I’ll have to switch back to diesel before I shut it down so that way I can clear the lines of the oil.”
“What would happen if you didn’t do that?” asked Fluttershy curiously.
“The oil would congeal in the engine and I wouldn’t be able to get the tractor to start again,” explained Allen, “basically if I forgot to clear the fuel lines, I’d have to tear down the engine and clean out all of the congealed oil before I could start it again.”
“Oh, that doesn’t sound good,” replied Fluttershy quietly.
Allen shook his head. “No, it wouldn’t, but so long as I remember to switch back to diesel before I shut down for the night, it should be fine. Unfortunately, I’m not one-hundred percent sure if running the tractor on straight fryer oil isn’t going to cause additional problems down the road in regards to maintenance, but I’m kind of running out of options, so it’s a bit of ‘damned I do, and damned if I don’t' situation,” he replied with a helpless shrug.
“Why don’t you just modify one tractor to run on the fryer oil, and so that way if anything bad happens, you’ll still have the others?” suggested Twilight.
Allen nodded. “I was considering that. If I did that, I would probably modify the 806, as it can do both the mowing and round baling, and it's in better condition than the seven.”
“But if something goes wrong, wouldn’t you rather it be with the other tractor?” questioned Twilight.
“Yeah, but the whole point of using the fryer oil is to cut down on fuel usage, and the 706 can’t run the round baler, so modifying the seven wouldn’t be as good, because I would only be able to use part of my hay equipment. Besides, even if the eight does go down, I still have the Case 7220 for baler work. Like I said, it’s not a perfect solution, but it’s the best that I have right now, and unless there is some magical creature or plant out there that can produce diesel fuel that you guys haven’t told me about, then this is the next best thing.”
Both Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other for a moment, before Twilight replied hesitantly, “As far as I know, I haven’t read about any creature or plant that can secrete fuel. What about you Fluttershy?”
The pegasus shook her head. “Me neither.”
Stepping back outside one last time, Allen saw that his steaks were ready, and after turning off the grill and piling the cooked meat on a clean plate, he came back in and said, “Well then, I guess this is as good an option as we’re going to get. Because Penny hasn’t been able to find anything else even remotely close to what I need.”
“Anyways,” he said as he walked past the two mares and set the plate on the counter, steam lazily wafting off the succulent meat, “other than that, there hasn’t been much going on around here besides working our tails off,” he quickly loaded up his plate with food, and sat down at the table. Spreading some butter on his potato and ear of corn he asked, “So what about you guys? Anything happening since I last saw you?”
Finishing off her salad, Twilight swallowed and replied, “Well, school’s been out for the last few weeks, so between doing research with Lyra, I’ve helped Ms. Cheerilee set up a summer reading program for the foals. They get points for each book that they read, and when they accrue enough, they get to pick a prize.”
Cutting into his steak, Allen took a bite and chewed, relishing the tender meat and delicious juices as they hit his tongue. Swallowing he cocked an eyebrow and asked, “What kind of prizes?”
“Well, I was planning on giving away books, but Ms. Cheerilee suggested we give away things such as balls, inexpensive toys, coupons to various stores in town, such as Sugarcube Corner, and so on,” replied Twilight, a hint of a pout on her lips as if she couldn’t believe that anypony wouldn’t love the idea of winning a book for reading books.
Smiling, Allen took a bite out of his corn on the cob and replied, “Sounds a lot like what my local library did when I was a kid back home.”
Twilight’s ears perked up and she asked, “Oh, and how was it?”
Taking a sip of beer, Allen replied, “Pretty good. The prizes were nice, for a kid anyways, and it was something to do during the summer. I’d ride my bike to the library and spend an afternoon there reading, before going and getting some ice cream at the ice cream parlor down the road,” his face relaxed into a smile as his mind took a trip to a happier time. Pausing, he noticed that both Twilight and Fluttershy’s bowls were empty, and glancing back at the counter, saw that there was still plenty of salad left. Pointing at it, he asked, “Do you want some more salad? I’ve got plenty left.”
Smiling, Twilight lit up her horn and floated the bowl over. “Thank you, and yes, as I don’t know about Fluttershy, but I’m still pretty hungry,” her stomach took the opportunity to growl loudly in agreement.
Everyone froze for a second at the sudden growl before glancing at each other and then bursting out into laughter. Calming down, Twilight quickly portioned out the rest of the salad between her and Fluttershy and the group resumed eating and chatting about whatever came to mind.
Time quickly flew by, and before the group knew it the sun was beginning to set in the distance. Glancing outside, Allen remarked as he stood up from the table, gathering the dishes as he did so, “It’s getting late, you two should probably start heading home before it gets too dark, and I better get out and get everyone fed.”
Twilight nodded in agreement as she gathered her things and carefully put them back in her saddlebags. “Agreed, I wasn’t expecting to stay this long, sorry about that,” she apologized.
Allen smiled and waved her apology away as he set several dishes and plates in the sink. “It’s fine, it was good to have some company today. Even if it wasn’t the usual celebration my family did, it was still a nice little get-together.”
“Yes, it was rather nice, thank you for letting us stay,” said Fluttershy as she too got up from her seat and gently pushed it back in.
“No problem,” replied Allen as he grabbed his ballcap off one of the pegs on the pantry door and motioned for the two mares to follow him into the foyer so that he could change into his work boots.
“I’ll go ahead and leave Dangerous and Annoying Beasts and Where to Avoid Them here for you, in case you want to look it over some more,” said Twilight as she and Fluttershy waited for Allen to put his boots on.
Pulling his laces tight, Allen replied, “Thanks, I’ll look at it later.”
Tightening the last of his bootlaces, he stood up and opened the door, the hot, humid air smacking him in the face as he stepped outside and to the side so that Twilight and Fluttershy could come out behind him. Quickly shutting the door, he wiped his brow with a hand, as even though the sun was heading down, it was still oppressively hot enough out that he was already sweating.
And I haven’t even done more than take a half a dozen steps outside.
Turning around, he glanced down at the two mares and said, “Welp, I better get chores started, and you two better get going before it gets too dark.”
They both nodded. “Yes, we should, thanks for lunch Allen,” replied Twilight with a smile.
“And thank you for the warning about the Everfree,” said Allen with a grateful nod as he and the two ponies walked down the sidewalk together. “Though I’m not really planning on going on a hike there anytime soon.” Both Twilight and Fluttershy giggled at his joke.
Reaching the driveway, Allen said, “Well, goodnight, and I’ll see you two around sometime.”
“Same to you,” replied Twilight happily, while Fluttershy just nodded, a small smile on her face as the two of them set off towards town.
Allen returned their waves and headed for the barn so as to get started on evening chores.
Reaching the end of Allen’s driveway, Fluttershy and Twilight both turned towards town and walked in companionable silence for a time. As they entered the edges of Sweet Apple Acres, Fluttershy quietly turned to Twilight and said, “Well, I think that went well.”
Twilight nodded in agreement. “I think so too, though one thing still confuses me.”
“What’s that?”
“Allen mentioned that there were timber wolves back where he lived, but not anything else, even though he knew what a cockatrice and a hydra were. Though from the way he spoke of them, it sounds as though they were more myth than reality,” replied Twilight, a puzzled look on her face. “What’s more,” she continued, “he said that his world has little to no mana in it, though the fact that he has an appendix seems to indicate that there is at least a little mana floating around.”
“Maybe his timber wolves are able to survive in a low mana environment?” guessed Fluttershy.
“Hmm, maybe, but something is telling me that his timberwolves, and our timbers are not the same.”
“Well then how come you didn’t say anything?” asked Fluttershy.
Twilight’s shoulders sagged slightly, and her ears pinned back. “I didn’t want to overload him with too much information at once, and don’t give me that look, I’m getting better at not lecturing ponies all the time as I used to,” grumped Twilight when she saw Fluttershy’s look of disbelief at her not jumping at the opportunity to spew knowledge like an erupting volcano every chance she got. “Besides, he’s got Dangerous and Annoying Beasts and Where to Avoid Them, and that book has a whole section dedicated to timber wolves. Plus, he seems to at least have a basic understanding of their behavior and that it is best to avoid them if he sees one.”
“True,” nodded Fluttershy in agreement, “and it’s not like they come out of the Everfree that often anyways.”
“Exactly, besides, this section of the Everfree is separated by the river, so unless they have a way to cross it, they’re unlikely to be an immediate threat to him. Besides, it’s kind of hard to mistake a timber wolf for anything else,” replied Twilight with a single nod. Opening her mouth to continue her current thought, she was cut off by the sound of distant thunder coming from the direction of the Everfree.
Stopping, the two mares looked to the east and saw dark thunderclouds gathering menacingly over the distant forest, and a sudden burst of wind caused the pair to shiver as the temperature plunged sharply.
Looking at each other, Fluttershy quietly said, “I think we better hurry home, it looks like a nasty storm is coming out of the Everfree.”
While uncommon, wild weather was prone to spill out of the Everfree from time to time. It was one of the reasons that all towns, no matter how small, that bordered the forest had their own dedicated weather team to combat these storms in an attempt to lessen the damage caused by them.
Studying the angry clouds for a moment, Twilight was quick to agree as the pair hurriedly resumed their journey. “Yes, let’s get going. Hopefully, the weather team will be able to keep the storm from hitting us or at least lessen the impact.”
“I don’t know, that looks like a pretty nasty front forming over there,” worried Fluttershy, “and with Dash unable to help, the weather team is going to really struggle to keep that storm away.”
“I’m sure they’ll manage,” replied Twilight confidently, though even to her ears, her confidence sounded hollow.
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He going to surprise when he learns the name is pretty literal when comes to timber wolves.
This was a nice, comfortable chapter to read while enjoying lunch and a cat in my lap.
11547942
Yeah... and probably sooner than he was expecting as well.
11547948
My family had a cat that liked to sit in your lap, anytime you sat down, he was there trying to get in your lap. Honestly, he acted more like a dog than a cat. Super friendly, and if you let him, he would come up to you and rub his head on the palm of your hand, effectively petting himself. He was an odd cat.
Doesn't Equestria have normal wolves?
11548003
I don't remember if it was ever discussed in the show. It's quite possible but in this case, timber wolf is referring to only one very special type of wolf.
Intresting how his vegetable oil, is palm oil, that sets at room temeprature, and not sunflower oil, that remains liquid, I have no idea at rapeseed oil, I think is liquid but discovered salad cream amde with that really doesnt like me.
Fortunatly, since he only asked about the Everfree, hasnt seen Torch or Tatzlewurm, though the wall picture of beings of Equestria to scale might be of intrest to him? And Ursa Major, which is one of those in th Everfree.
Now how to get Daring Doo to find out and write about one of the native tribes in the dense jungles using a combustible sap from a jungle tree, they call the Thisll Do tree? Beause they say when looking for something for lamp oil etc, Thissll Do? Which on Earth, is the Brazilian Diesel Sap Tree?
OOps.
UhOh. Incoming Timberwolf raid driven by the Thunderstorm and zap apples?
Why do I get the feeling that there's some foreshadowing goin' on here?
Considering he's in a town full of ponies, he ought to be able to get some pretty good beer at least. Horses love the taste of hops, and alcohol barely affects them, so one might easily expect earth ponies to have a vibrant brewing culture.
I'm gonna laugh if he sees a timber wolf and just flamethrowers the damn thing with Everclear and a Zippo.
♥️
love the chapter i keep hopping that Reuben gets to the point he can talk.
Good chapter, hope things get better for you!
11548489
Thanks, and they are. Summer is just around the bend, which means good bye factory job, hello farm work. That will perk me right up. Besides, my dad is doing a lot better, so that's reduced my stress levels a bit.
11548188
That or takes a chainsaw to it, either one has the potential for comedy.
11548118
I was going to mention that this chapter, but decided to cut it for later as the chapter was getting pretty long and you guys have already waited long enough.
11548094
It's just your imagination.
11548562
Well I'm certainly glad to have it, and happy to hear you're doing well by the way.
Heh, I'm all of a sudden imagining a scene with Penny telling Allen she's not much of a drinker while sipping a tankard-sized boilermaker. Fun with alien physiology eh wot?
Great chapter. Though can't blame ya for not liking rough weeks like how it's been recently.@_@
11548560
The alcohol and lighter one works for me. I can see ponies watching him do it and going "Why didn't we ever think to do this?"
11548666
Ha! I might have to borrow that idea if it comes up!
Foreshadowing
More foreshadowing
11549200
Huzzah! The foreshadowing has been doubled!
good man. you did want i mentioned with using fry oil as a sub for diesel. peeps have been using it for ages in tractors with no problem. next step for you is him finding out how to make biodiesel ;P which ironically aint that hard. just need a catalyst to break down the ester bonds in the oil to lower the viscosity of it. since there are volcanos and lava pools in equestria. sulfuric acid would work no problem to use as a catylist for biodiesel :P blend em together in a ratio, let the crap settle and what you have at the top is nice clean bio that can run without switching fuels.
also a quick tip asb well. peeps usually run the oil fuel lines near the manifolds before splicing them into the pee pump. that way the oil gets heated nicely for the injectors to function. you dont haaaave to. but it makes life easyer :P
You underestimate Pinkie Pie, Allen, also, wouldn't she have some fireworks?