• Published 4th Jun 2013
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A New World, A Fresh Start - drnkntst



Rick has been alone for over a year, now he finds himself in a new land with new friends.

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Chapter 15

Chapter 38

Rick was in the hospital for two weeks, he didn’t think it was necessary but the pony doctor wanted to be certain he healed up properly. Having two princesses visit you would make people think you were kind of important and therefore deserving of special attention. The time seemed to just fly by for Rick.

He was visited many times a day by his friends. Twilight made sure to keep him supplied with reading material, particularly the Daring Do series, he was hooked on them. Fluttershy had quiet lunches with him and her pet rabbit Angel. Rarity would bring along Sweetie Belle and discuss her dress designs over tea. Rainbow Dash talked about her amazing adventures and flying skills. Pinkie Pie went over her party plans and many, many random topics. Applejack and Applebloom would bring plenty of treats for Rick who happily gorged himself on them.

The best part was that thanks to Princess Celestia putting a rush on his new house, it had already been finished. Pinkie Pie had agreed to move the party there and have it be a ‘house warming’ party as well as a ‘welcome home’ party. All his friends would be there as well as many other ponies from the town. He just had to see it for himself first.

“Wow, the princess really is too generous. Wouldn’t you agree, Twilight?” Rick asked as he looked around the living room.

“I don’t know about that, Rick. I believe you deserve at least this much, maybe more. You seem to put everypony else’s needs far above your own, to the point of getting yourself hurt. Even then you have yet to complain. Princess Celestia believes you are an important citizen of Equestria and she just wants to make sure you have a place to call home.”

“Well that may be, but I still feel like it’s simply too much. She even had a large garage built on.”

“Ga- gar-” Twilight was having trouble with the word.

‘Garage, Twilight. It’s the name of that storage space for my truck. On Earth, people often use them for more than storing vehicles. I myself had a workshop in mine.”

“Huh, interesting.” Twilight seemed to consider this.

“C’mon, let’s look around a little more.” Rick lead the way through the kitchen and the bedrooms. The pair returned to the living room. “Twilight, I can’t thank you enough for making me feel welcome in this town as well and even more so for letting me stay in your home. You and your friends have certainly changed my life for the better.”

Twilight wasn’t quite sure what to say to that, “um, you’re welcome.” She blushed as she dropped her head and kicked at the ground a little. “Oh, I hope you don’t mind, but I invited somepony who wanted to meet you.”

“Of course, Twilight, invite anyone you want. I trust your judgment.” He reached down and patted her head. “Now, Pinkie, Rarity and Rainbow Dash are going to start setting up for the party, I’m sure they could use some help organizing if you like, I have to go to Sweet Apple Acres to bring my truck back here.”

Twilight lit up at the chance to organize, Rick hadn’t been here long, but he knew his friend well. “That sounds like a good plan, I will see you at the party in a few hours.”

“Excellent, I’ll see you soon.” Rick waved as he walked out of his new home, not having to duck for the first time since he arrived in Ponyville.

Chapter 39

As Rick walked up the road to Sweet Apple Acres, Winona came bounding down the road to meet him, “hey girl! Where’s AJ?” he asked as he knelt down to pet the playful canine. His answer came soon enough.

“Over here, Sugarcube! We were just finishin’ up the last of the treats fer yur party. Whatcha doin’ out here?”

“I was coming to get my truck and take it home. Tell you what, why don’t you load all those up in the truck and I’ll drive them and your family over there. It would have to be a lot easier than walking a cart over, also a lot faster.” Rick lifted the tray of pies of Applejack’s back.

“Well that’s uh mighty kind offer, Hun. Ah think we might just take ya up on that.” She smiled up at him. “Ah’ll let everypony know.” She turned to walk back to the house.

“Good, I’ll load these up and anything else you need me to.”

“We got uh few more things inside. Ah’ll get them if ya wanna just take the items off the cart fer me.” AJ instructed over her shoulder.

“Yes boss.” Rick whipped a mock salute then turned to the cart and set to work. Bushels of apples, cupcakes, jugs of apple juice and more pies were on the list. It wasn’t long before the truck was loaded and so were the Apples.

“You doing alright back there Big Mac?”

“Eeyup.” Once again, Big Macintosh had to ride in the back due to his size.

“Excellent,” Rick climbed into the driver’s seat, “how about everyone else?”

“All set!” Applebloom chirped from the middle seat.

“Let’s get this infernal contraption on the road.” Granny Smith ordered from the back.

“Yes, Ma’am.” Applejack chuckled from the passenger seat. “Moving out.”

Chapter 40

Rick left the windows rolled up due to the dusty road, it wouldn’t do to have all those delicious treats covered in dirt. He was keeping the speed low but he was still kicking a lot of dust into the air. Suddenly, he slammed on the brakes. A giant pink bubble rose from nowhere and enclosed Ponyville. A single unicorn was standing in front of the truck.

“Everyone, stay in the truck. I’ll take care of this.” He turned off the ignition, climbed out and closed the door behind him. As he walked closer he got a better look at the unicorn. It was pure white with a blue mane and tail, there were stripes of lighter and darker blue. The pony also appeared to be male and pissed. There was another unicorn inside the bubble that looked pink with purple yellow and pink in its mane and tail. Also, Rick couldn’t be certain, but it appeared to have wings too.

“Stop right there, creature, I will not allow you and your metal monster to attack this town!” “Wait, what?”

“Listen, I don-” Rick began but he was interrupted by a blast from the white unicorn’s horn. “Whoa!” Rick barely managed to dodge the blast.

“What do you want here, Creature?” The question was followed by another blast. The strange attacker turned to his pink compatriot, “warn my sister and her friends, we may need their help!”
“Stop! I haven’t done anything- aah!” Rick dove into the dirt, dodging another blast. He could hear panicked yelling from within the truck. He responded by running away from the truck to draw the attackers attention from the defenseless ponies inside.

“Running won’t help!” Another blast was fired, this time, Rick was not so lucky. He took the shot in the shoulder. He dropped, climbed back to his feet and started to run again… toward his assailant. “If you can’t widen the gap, close it,” his grandfather’s training kept running through his head.

The sudden change in his tactics were sufficient enough to throw his attacker off his game. It just wasn’t enough to stop him. The white unicorn charged in too, his horn brightening as if charging for a stronger blast. Rick didn’t have much time. He dove right as the strengthened blast was loosed, he rolled under the shot and jumped back to his feet. His shoulder was hurting and his arm barely worked, but he couldn’t afford to lose this fight. Rick swung a fist with all his strength and connected but that’s all it seemed to do.

“Is that all you’ve got?” The white unicorn fired off a blast square into Rick’s chest causing him to fly backward thirty feet. He slammed into the packed dirt road and rolled onto his back. “I see now why you have to have a bigger monster escort you.” The white unicorn started charging his horn up again.

Rick was helpless, “don’t… hurt... ” The sound of breaking glass could be heard from the truck.

“STOP! LEAVE HIM BE!” Applebloom threw herself across Rick’s chest, tears were flowing from her eyes. “JEST GO AWAY!”

“Applebloom? What are you-”

“No… get away… Appleblo-” Rick begged Applebloom weakly.

“Get away from that creature, Applebloom! I have to stop it from hurting anyone!”

“NO YOU DON’T!” Applejack was just a blur of orange in Rick’s view but the voice was unmistakable. She had gotten in between the two.

“Get… out… of… here…” Rick was getting worried, not for himself, but for these two ponies. It would kill him if they got hurt for his sake.

“Applejack, what are you doing? Get away from it!” The white unicorn instructed.

“What’s going on here? Shining Armor, why are you *gasp* WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!” Twilight was pounding on the shield. Rick couldn’t see her clearly, but he could hear fury and concern in her voice. “LET ME THROUGH, I HAVE TO HELP HIM!”

“I’m fine, Twily, don’t worry. I stopped the…”

“YOU’RE NOT THE ONE I’M WORRIED ABOUT! DROP THIS SHIELD, NOW!!” The extreme outburst was enough to startle the pony now known as Shining Armor enough that he lost focus and the shield faltered enough to let Twilight jump through. She ran past him and straight to Rick. “This is bad, we have to get him to the hospital. Big Macintosh, we need your help!” Big Macintosh climbed out of the truck, he was having difficulty with the gate still up. Twilight strained under the force of magically lifting Rick’s large body onto Big Macintosh, she kept him balanced with her magic.
“Twilight, what’s going on here? What is that thing? Why are you…” Shining Armor was confused and angry.

“We will talk later.” She said plainly. As she walked past him, he could see the tears starting to show in her eyes.

Applejack ran back to the truck to let Granny Smith out then she started toward town. She was stopped by Shining Armor, “Applejack, please tell me what is going on. What was that thing? Why is Twilight mad at me?”

AJ stopped near him. Through her rage, worry and tears, she told him, “that was no ‘thing.’ That was Rick. He is our friend. He just got out of the hospital today. He was in there because he was injured while saving the lives of three fillies, including Applebloom. We were on our way to his house warming party. The home that Celestia herself had built for him.” The slow clarity of Applejack’s words shocked Shining Armor. “Now, I have to go see to my friend.” She galloped away to catch up.

Shining Armor stood speechless in the road. He couldn’t believe what had just happened. He was trying to protect innocent ponies and had hurt an innocent in the process. What would he do now?