Home Again

by drnkntst

Chapter 10

Chapter 25

“Oh my, I really said that?” Fluttershy’s blush was spreading quickly as Twilight’s spell wore off.

“It would seem we all made fools of ourselves, Dear, but the main issue now is where did Rick disappear to?” Rarity said as she patted Fluttershy on the back.

“Maybe I can spot him from the air. I’ll just fly around a bit and spot him in no time.”

“But, Rainbow, we don’t know which way he went, when he left or even IF he left at all,” Twilight pointed out. “We need more information before we act.”

“Yes, of course you’re right, Twilight, We can’t just go bumbling off without any direction. But how do we figure out which way he went?” Rarity inquired.

“Hmm, that’s a good question. Applejack, I know you’re great herding, can you track him?”

“Ah could if there were tracks frum his house, but all the roads aroun’ thar are too packed down. Ah can’t spot any tracks ta follow.”

“Rainbow Dash, did you see anything from the air?”

“No,” Rainbow actually looked angry with herself for her lack of finding evidence that she hadn’t even been asked to look for yet. “I could try looking in the forest but chances of spotting him through all those trees are pretty slim. If I knew where to look, I could find him no problem.”

“So then that still leaves the original problem,” Twilight rubbed her chin in thought. “Fluttershy, do you think your critter friends could help?”

“Well, I can ask them.”

“Good, if they can just point us in the right direction, we can do the rest.” Twilight reassured.

“Excellent, Dear, the sooner we can all get together, the sooner we an iron out this wrinkle,” Rarity pointed out.

“What are you talking about?” Rainbow asked.

“Why, the cause of this whole disaster in the first place. He was confused after we confessed out feelings and when he couldn’t get any help from us, he decided to leave instead of come between us.” Rarity sat on her haunches looking slightly dejected. “I may have been the worst of us all.”

“Now, Ah know how Ah upset him, but what’d ya’ll do?” Applejack asked.

“I overheard you two talking and when I heard how he felt about us, I pranced about like a filly with a crush and I fear I only served to confuse him more.”

“Couldn’t have been any worse than Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash said pointedly.

“And what did Fluttershy do?” Twilight raised an eyebrow toward her shrinking yellow friend.

“Oh, uh, um, well…” Fluttershy looked back and forth from her friends her eyes begging for and escape from the piercing gaze. Finding none, she gave in. With her head lowered, she confessed. “He just looked so sad, I couldn’t help it. When he started crying, I just had to do something. I hugged him and he fell asleep while I held him.” Her blush had increased more than it should have been possible to.

“Wait, he was crying? Why was he crying this time?” Applejack asked.

“What do you mean this time?” Rainbow asked accusingly.

“We were talking ‘bout how good he was with Apple Bloom ‘n’ he started talkin’ ‘bout his daughter. He broke down after that an’ that’s when he told meh ‘bout the party ‘n’ that’s when Rarity heard us talkin’.”

“I see, so it seems that we all feel the same way, is that right?” Twilight looked from one mare to the next, each of whom where doing the same thing. Each asking themselves just what their true feelings really were and were those feelings strong enough to cost them their friendship. Well, four of them were.

“I don’t see what the problem is! We all love him the same way we all love each other! He’s our friend and that’s all there is to it!” Pinkie exclaimed in her normal bubbly manner.

“Yeah, I feel the same way, Pinkie. Rick is cool and all, but I’m way too busy with my training for the Wonderbolts to get into all that touchy-feely stuff,” The gifted flier proclaimed.

“Okay, well I know how I feel and I most certainly care deeply for him,” Rarity admitted. “Although I must admit that I’m worried about what might happen since I’m not the only one.”

Fluttershy spoke up, “oh, Rarity, I don’t think there will be any problem between us. I told him I wouldn’t ever abandon him and I promise I will never do anything that would cause us to move apart either.”

“That’s right, we’re all mature fillies ‘ere ‘n’ ain’t no stallion gonna come ‘tween us.”

“Right, no matter what happens; we can get through it as friends,” Twilight confirmed, “but first, we need to find Rick. Fluttershy, talk to the animals and get us a direction to search in then meet us outside Rick’s house. Pinkie Pie, stay here in town. If he comes back, we want somepony here who can let us know. Rainbow Dash, I want you in the air searching from above. Rarity, head over to Canterlot and see if he went there. Applejack, once Fluttershy talks to her animal friends the three of us will try to track him down. Everypony understand their assignments?” There were five nods of agreement. “Good, now let’s go get our friend back.”

Chapter 26

Rick was lying on his back in a field of flowers on a blanket. Curled up next to him was Hanna. She had her arm draped across his chest while she rested on his outstretched arm. They watched Annie run through the field with Paul.

“Great day,” Rick commented, “I have to most beautiful woman here beside me and the cutest little girl just giggling away. Best day ever.”

“Mmm, I agree,” Hanna hummed into his chest, “best day ever.”

Rick looked down into his wife’s beautiful eyes, to his surprise, they were the color of rich amethyst. Her hair was wrong too, she never had purple hair let alone purple with a streak of pink.

“What’s wrong, Rick?” she asked looking slightly concerned. Rick stared wide eyed at his wife with the wrong hair. She sat up and leaned over, “you don’t look so well.” He couldn’t take his eyes off her pendant; he didn’t remember her having one shaped like a butterfly. He also didn’t remember her having a snow-white sundress with a dark purple belt.

He stood up on the blanket and then lost his balance falling on to all fours. Rick looked down at his feet and felt the world go cold. He had hooves where five seconds ago there were hands and feet. Terror was starting to swell in his mind, he looked up at his wife… wives?

Standing before him were seven mares, he recognized them as the six element bearers and a pony like reincarnation of his beautiful wife. Looking from one to another, he was in complete shock. What happened? How did his wife turn into a pony? Why did he turn into a pony?

“What’s the matter, Honey?” Hanna asked.

“Yeah, tell us, Sugar,” Applejack approached him slowly along with the other six ponies.

“Now just wait. A. Minute.” Rarity spat, “he cannot be your ‘honey’ and your ‘sugar’,” she pointed to each speaker, “when he is my darling.”

They started arguing loudly over just who Rick belonged to and then Twilight offered a solution.

“You know girls; there is a way to share him that we can all be happy with.”

“Certainly you don’t expect us to all to act as his harem. It’s just too horrid.” Rarity protested.

“No, of course not. I will simply split him into seven equal pieces and then we can each have a have him and we won’t need to fight.”

“What, wait, Twilight, you can’t do that!” Rick objected.

“Yes I can. In fact, it’s already done.”

Rick raised a hoof to protest only to find that his hoof was no longer in his possession. Instead, it was being held by Applejack. In fact, each mare had a piece of him with Twilight holding his head.
“I told you we could share.” Twilight smiled.

“Aaagh!... ” Rick woke up drenched in sweat. He gasped for air, desperate to get as much as he could, and checked his body, patting it to make sure it was indeed in one piece. Slowly, he became satisfied that he was whole and started to look around at his environs.

“I see you are awake,” an unfamiliar voice called from nearby.

Rick managed to get his legs under him and sat on his haunches. “Yeah, I-uh I had a bit of a nightmare there.”

“So it would seem.”

“What happened? Where am I?”

“We are deep in the Whitetail Wood and you were quite ill. It would seem you ate some berries that were not in season.”

“Huh, how did you know that?” Rick started rubbing his temple with a forehoof.

“Because you luckily… expelled the berries. You should be fine now that you have had some rest.”

“Ugh, thank you for taking care of me… I’m sorry; I didn’t catch your name.”

“I am Trixie, formally the Great and Powerful.” She looked sullen by the last part. “Who might you be?”

“My name is Rick Rhinestone and I was never all that great or powerful.” The sad attempt at a joke did manage to at least make Trixie less upset.

“Well, Rick, why did you come out here into the woods?”

“Oddly enough, I have no idea how I got here or why. I had a nightmare and woke up out here in the middle of the night in some creek.”

“Hmm, was this nightmare also about Twilight Sparkle?” Her words pierced through the haze in his brain and woke him up instantly.

“W-why… h-how did y-you… she’s… ” The shock of this pony he had never met actually knowing the mare that had become his best friend and somehow knowing that she was in his dreams was unsettling top say the least.

“You were screaming in your sleep.” A sly smile formed on her muzzle.

His cheeks started to warm as a blush began to form. “I-I see. I used to do that a lot, I thought I stopped doing that.” He grinned weakly.

“So you’re from Ponyville?”

“Yeah, have you been there?”

“Twice, I am ashamed to say that I tried to pass myself off as the most powerful unicorn in Equestria and did cruel things to Twilight and her friends while I was under the influence of a powerful amulet. Twilight Sparkle showed me the error of my ways and since then, I’ve been roaming the country trying to improve my magic so I may once again be Trixie, the Great and Powerful.”

“Are you planning on trying to get revenge on Twilight?” Rick was grateful to Trixie for taking care of him, but he’d be damned if anyone was going to hurt his friends. It was his job to protect them after all.

“And what if I were? How would… you… ” She froze mid-sentence as her ever enlarging eyes were filled with four huge, translucent hands appearing behind Rick. Trixie had never seen magic like this before and even though she had no idea what they could do, but she was certain she didn’t want to find out. “I swear, I have no intention of harming anypony.” The hands dissolved into thin air. Trixie started breathing again. “Besides, I’m actually grateful to her. She helped me to realize that it is far better to use my magic to help than to simply show off.”

“Hmm, I see, she is quite amazing isn’t she?” Rick relaxed a little more.

“Well, they don’t just make anypony into a princess of Equestria.” She giggled nervously. “But my question is, if she is so amazing, why were you having a nightmare about her?”

“That… that is another problem entirely. Look, it’s really private and I don’t want to go into it. I appreciate what you’ve done and all, but this is something between her and I.”

“I suppose I can’t force you tell me anything, last time I tried, I was laughed at, literally.”

While the statement confused Rick a little but he wasn’t going to pry into an embarrassing situation since she wasn’t doing that to him. “Thank you, now, if you could point me in the direction of the nearest town with a train station, I’d be most appreciative.”

“Hmm, I suppose that would be Canterlot. I have been meaning to go there myself as I am in need of some supplies, but first, we should eat.”

Comments

[Robobrony]

Another nice chapter, keep it up.

[Dragonfox]

You are doing a fine job. Keep up the good work. I can't wait for the next chapter so, I hope you have the next one out soon.

[jaybird]

just what was rick about to do with those hands to trixie...in the middle of the woods.

[damnaion]

10# hummmm

[APoeticDeath]

His last name should be roll.