Chapter Thirteen: Truth and Acceptance
Part 2
Chapter Thirteen: Truth and Acceptance
Again, many thanks to Silver Wrench for co-authoring!
**********************
Silver wrench woke up to the sound of a loud rapping on the bedroom door. He rose groggily and rubbed at his eyes with a hoof. For a moment he nearly freaked out as he saw the blue hoof that was in front of his eyes rather than the hand that he expected. It was just before he screamed with horror that his mind kicked in and he started to remember everything that had happened the day before.
“Rise and Shine, Silver.” Applejack’s deep country twang was a pleasant thing to hear first thing in the morning; definitely better than his sergeant shouting at the top his lungs at the very least. Silver rolled out of the bed and stretched. He hadn’t slept that well in months. Sleeping in an actual bed rather than a hard cot or the much harder and colder ground could do wonders for how you feel in the mornings.
Silver stopped as he moved to face Applejack and took a look at his face in the mirror. A calm blue pony face with oddly intense magenta eyes. His horn protruded straight from the top of his forehead, and his ragged and sleep tousled mane was grey with a streak of light blue. Yesterday this face was that of a stranger, today it felt a little more comfortable. There were similarities between his old face and the one he wore now. The cut of his chin, the oddly out of place tooth, they were the same.
“Morning…” Silver was barely audible. He’d never really been a morning person, but even if he had been, he didn’t ever feel that mornings were a good time to be loud.
“We’ve got us some workin’ to do today. Best to be gettin’ an early start.” Applejack was almost entirely too cheerful for Silver. He grumped in her direction as she turned to leave. “I’ll meet you in the dining room for breakfast.”
Silver walked out of the room slowly, still feeling groggy and half paralyzed by sleep. He stumbled through the hall, yawing widely. He very suddenly ran into something that he thought was a yellow and red blur that had been headed in his direction. With a loud bang and a crash he was thrown back a little bit, and muffled apologies began emanating from his feet.
“I’m reaaaal sorry Silver, I was tryin’ ta get downstairs, and I didn’t see ya, and I’ve got to get down to school real fast or miss Cheerilee will have me doin’ extra lines again and….”
The assault on his ears was ended only by Silver raising a hoof like Big Mac had done the night before. Apple Bloom just looked up at him. Silver took a moment, trying to remember her name. “Hey, uh…. Apple Bloom, where’s the bathroom?”
“Two doors down on your right, but don’t go in the first one, that’s Applejack’s room.” Apple Bloom smiled mischievously, and took off once again at top speed down the hall behind him. Silver noticed that unlike all the rest of the ponies he’d met, Apple Bloom didn’t have a mark on her flank. Even though it was a passing curiosity, he wondered if he could even ask anyone about it, or if the subject was taboo.
Having found the bathroom, Silver splashed some cold water in his face to wake himself up. It struck him suddenly that it didn’t surprise him to find modern conveniences like indoor plumbing in this world. Things he’d taken for granted at home it seemed he would continue to take for granted. He did what he had to do and left. As he walked down the hallway again, he caught a familiar and mouth watering scent in the air. Coffee, actual coffee! Silver had been out on his tour of duty far too long, and had not had a proper cup of real coffee in more time than he could remember. Out in the desert, what passed for coffee was a nasty freeze dried powder that was supposed to be mixed with hot water. All too often though, all they had were unheated MREs and the lukewarm water that sat and staled in their canteens.
Silver followed his nose to the kitchen where everyone was gathered for breakfast. Granny Smith offered Silver a bowl of oatmeal, which he promptly thanked her for. He wasn’t all too thrilled with the idea of oatmeal, it was not his favorite type of breakfast; he preferred bacon and eggs, or a good blueberry muffin. He looked around for a moment, seeing Granny Smith, Applejack, and Apple Bloom; he noticed the absence of the big and very red, Big Mac. Before he could ask where he was however, Applejack came up to him.
“Would you like some coffee Silver?” It was all that he could do not to start jumping up and down with joy. He managed to control himself enough to sit there calmly and nod, although he did nod rather vigorously. Applejack just smiled and brought him a fresh, steaming cup of the aromatic brown liquid. “Cream and sugar?”
“No thank you.” Silver would normally have drowned the coffee in cream and sugar, but this time, he just wanted to taste the pure, bitter flavor of genuine coffee. As he raised the mug to his lips, he inhaled slowly, reveling in the scent. It was the most enjoyable scent that had passed his nose in a very long time, even more enjoyable than the scent of the apple orchards. He took his first sip, and his taste buds practically exploded. He felt that no matter what happened now, he could live here forever with coffee that tasted this good. The coffee more than made up for the oatmeal.
“I’ll take it you like it.” Granny Smith smiled at Silver.
“Yes I do. I haven’t had real coffee in quite some time.” Silver felt that it would be safe to tell them that much at least. Caution still had to be the order of the day. “By the way, umm, how come Big Mac isn’t here with us?
Applejack sighed a little before replying. “Granny felt that since Big Mac can’t really do much for the harvest with his injured leg that letting him sleep in once in a while wouldn’t hurt nothin’”
Silver sighed, having hoped to get a chance to talk to Big Mac and get some more sagely advice before putting in a day of hard work out in the orchards. Silver and the rest ate their breakfast in silence, interrupted only by a very gentle knock at the door.
“Why hey there Fluttershy, C’mon in! And Howdy to you too Phantom!” Both Fluttershy and Phantom walked in and moved towards the table. At almost the same time, they noticed Silver sitting there with the cup of coffee in his hands and a wide grin on his face.
“Umm. Hello, I’m Fluttershy.”
“I’m…Phantom” Both Phantom and Fluttershy were acting shyly but not like they had before. Applejack was proud of Fluttershy for being assertive for once. It seemed that being with Phantom really had done her good.
“I’m Silver Wrench.” Silver smiled and took another sip of coffee. He was too preoccupied with the coffee to really notice that the two new ponies were both pegasai. Silver did notice however that the two new ponies seemed to be a couple. He thought about asking Applejack more about them later.
The four of them, Silver, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Phantom spent the rest of that breakfast chatting amiably about nothing in particular. Silver did notice that both Fluttershy and Phantom seemed to be shy, but they both hid it very well. It was only the few pauses that seemed to be interspersed in their speech that gave it away.
The breakfast passed all too quickly for Silver’s liking. He would have preferred to spend the majority of the morning sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee, but there was work to be done, and he was needed to help with it. The four of them were headed off to the same part of the orchard that Silver and Applejack had been working the day before.
Work on the orchard started off rather slowly and roughly, but as Applejack helped them find the ways in which they helped best, the work started going smoother. Applejack bucked the trees, and Fluttershy shook the apples loose, while Phantom and Silver carried the buckets off to the cart and brought the empties out for Applejack and Fluttershy to fill. They worked the long morning through, and had taken a break for lunch when a rather frazzled lavender unicorn came running up.
“Applejack! I’m so sorry, I was working late last night and then I fell asleep, and then I overslept, and I’m rea-a-a-aly sorry.” Twilight sounded more like Pinkie pie as she apologized at top speed.
“It’s alright Sugar Cube. It happens to all of us. I’m just glad you made it.” Applejack smiled at Twilight and pushed another glass of apple juice over to her. Twilight took the glass of juice and sat there with it in her hooves as she took a look around the table. She recognized everyone but the Blue unicorn that was sitting almost directly across from her.
“Hi, I’m Twilight, who are you?” Twilight might have seemed a little brash, but Silver figured that was just her nature.
“I’m Silver Wrench. It’s nice to meet you.” Silver was fine with Twilight being there, mainly because he’d met her before, but also because he’d been warned beforehand that she’d be coming. Silver vaguely remembered that Applejack had mentioned a book worm type friend that would be coming. Silver looked around Twilight nervously, wondering if her talkative little dragon had come with her. Not seeing him, Silver thought that for a while at least, there would still be silence.
The five of them trekked back to the work site, and all resumed working. Or rather Silver and Phantom resumed working, as Twilight, Applejack, and Fluttershy went off to talk privately for a few minutes. Phantom came up by Silver’s side somewhat nervously.
Silver was starting to get bored with the continual work of haul and carry, and thought that maybe a little conversation would not be a bad thing. They’d had the entire morning for silence after all, and even though he enjoyed it, perhaps it was for the best that he talk with somepony. After all, he couldn’t start to fit in to this world if he didn’t learn more about it.
“Your name’s Phantom Right?” Phantom blanched and nodded. “So, I take it that you and Fluttershy are a couple then right?” Phantom nodded again, looking rather confused. “So then, how’d you two meet?”
Phantom seemed to perk up a bit and laughed at some private joke. “I actually met Fluttershy when I first got to Ponyville. I was very surprised, and fell out of the sky and broke my wing. She was the first pony I saw after that, but I don’t remember much from then because I fainted.”
Silver listened, surprised that Phantom who seemed to fit in comfortably to the surroundings was also new to town. Silver stopped himself after that thought, he was jumping to conclusions again, and that always got him into trouble. Maybe Phantom had been there for years. “So how long have you been in Ponyville?”
Phantom thought for a moment. “I’d say about a month and a half, maybe two months now. How about you? I’ve never seen you around.” The rest of what Phantom said was lost in a silent mumble, but it didn't take much to figure out that the unheard words were which is not all that surprising.
Silver smiled, he’d been right the first time. So Phantom was new to town too after all. “I got here yesterday. It was actually a bit of a shock.”
“Really. That’s interesting. Where are you from originally?” Phantom had stopped moving the apple buckets, mostly because all the ones there were empty.
“Baltimore,” replied Silver without thinking, again. Silver cursed himself for being so mentally pre-set to give that response. Hopefully silver just heard Baltimare, like Granny Smith had thought last night. What confused Silver was that there was a city in this pony world that even sounded like Baltimore. Yet, even more confusing than that at the moment was the sudden look of horror on Phantom’s face.
“D-d-d-did you just say B-b-b-Baltimore?” Phantom looked absolutely horrified. Silver sighed resignedly, and just nodded his head.
“That’s not possible. You too?” Phantom still looked horrified.
“Me too what?” Silver had no idea what in the world Phantom was on about.
“You’re from Earth?” Phantom said it so quietly it was hard to hear. That stopped Silver cold. He couldn’t believe it. Had he really just heard the name of his home planet?
“Did you just say that you’re from Earth?” Silver asked, dumbfounded.
“Yeah.” The corners of Phantom’s mouth twitched a little while Silver just started twitching.
Silver thought that his mind had partially exploded, or at the very least turned suddenly and against all probability in to a rather liquid tapioca pudding that was now leaking out his ears. There was another human here that had become a pony. So he wasn’t the first one after all, which raised a whole host of questions, ones that he wanted to ask, ones that he was afraid to ask, and ones that he would never ask. Silver’s mind had gone into freak out mode. Who would have thought that meeting another former human here would have been worse for Silver’s mental state than meeting another mythological creature?
Phantom stood by quietly and watched as Silver twitched uncontrollably and stood staring off into the unseen distance. It was almost as if Silver was freaking out like he’d used to do. Phantom knew just how horrible those freak outs could be, and would wait for Silver to come out of it on his own. It wasn’t like he knew how to bring him out of it anyways….
Silver’s mind had been racing for a little while now, and he hadn’t yet figured anything out. He’d gotten as far as a few theories as to how he’d gotten here, then his brain shut down, and went into a sort of loop that went Oh god what’s happening over and over again.
Phantom started pacing nervously, Silver had been twitching like that for a few minutes now, and he was starting to get worried. He thought that something was really wrong with Silver, maybe he was sick, or he’d just passed out and not fallen. Phantom wondered if you could be unconscious and still standing, and as his mind locked onto that, he forgot to be nervous for a bit.
Silver started calming down as he went over the recent events in his mind. Everything from his last memories on earth to the dinner last night were rushing through his mind. Suddenly, Big Mac’s words made a lot more sense. Silver did need to take some time to sort things through, and come to grips with his situation. He was a Marine after all, and shouldn’t be acting like some greenie out on his first tour of duty. Silver managed to collect himself enough to ask the first question that he could physically form.
“H-how?” Silver’s voice was a little shaky, but as he calmed down and his confidence returned, that would stop. Phantom jumped a little, startled to hear Silver’s voice after he’d been quiet for so long. Phantom knew what Silver was referring to, and he also knew that he didn’t have the answers that Silver wanted to hear.
“I have no idea honestly.” Phantom began. “When I first got here, I wondered the same thing. I talked to Fluttershy’s friend Twilight about it, and she said that it was some kind of spell that went wrong. I’m not sure about all the details, but I’m sure Twilight could fill you in.”
Silver thought about that. Twilight seemed to be the key to learning why he was here. Applejack had suggested that he talk to her about his problems, and now Phantom was telling him that she’d helped him too. More and more pieces of the puzzle were coming together, but Silver was nowhere near figuring out what the picture was yet. “Maybe I should talk to her after all.”
Phantom and Silver lapsed into a rather short conversation about Twilight that was rather quickly interrupted as the girls returned.
“I’m so sorry we were gone so long, we just lost track of time.” Fluttershy walked over to Phantom with her head downcast as if she was really upset about losing track of the time. When Phantom laughed, she perked right up.
“Hey Phantom, congratulations on getting the job at the Ponyville Theater. “ Applejack smiled in Phantom’s direction, then turned and headed over to Silver. “I think that I’m gonna have ta stop making it a habit of leaving you alone to do all the work. That’s the second time in two days now.” Applejack gave a nervous sort of a laugh.
Silver smiled at her, suddenly very glad that she was there. “It’s no problem at all. Phantom and I were actually having a nice conversation, until you came and ruined it!” Silver’s voice was full of mock sternness.
“Oh, is that so,” replied Applejack with a wide grin. “Well, then, we should get back to the rest of them and let you resume your conversation.” The two of them headed over to where Twilight, Fluttershy, and Phantom were chatting.
“… and did I tell you that I got seven passes for the concert next week? Since I’m working there, I get free tickets for the show, and I thought that you and your friends would like to go Fluttershy, and I asked for one for me, but I forgot that I’m working it. You guys can have it though, and give it to anyone you want.” Phantom was talking a lot faster and more confidently than he had been when it was just Silver and him there.
“What concert?” Applejack said, leaning in closer to hear. Silver was interested too, wondering if the name would sound like some ponified version of a band on earth. That did seem to be a thing here from what he could figure, but there was the chance that it only applied to cities.
“Victory Cleft, and some new pony DJ.”
“I remember Victory Cleft,” Twilight chimed in. “They played at Canterlot Palace once for Princess Celestia a few years ago. They were really young too, so it was surprising to hear how good they were.
The conversation continued in that track for a little bit, mostly with Phantom and Applejack asking Twilight questions about the band, and Twilight trying to remember. Silver realized that they’d lost a couple of good hours worth of work already, and with what Applejack and Big Mac had said, it sounded like they were behind on the harvest already.
“Hey Applejack, shouldn’t we be getting back to work?” Silver gestured towards all the empty and waiting buckets.
Applejack blushed. “Yeah, I guess we should. Come on everypony, let’s get back t’ harvesting!” The five of them went back to the tedious work of harvesting apples, chatting about different things. The atmosphere had changed subtly since Twilight arrived. The day had been good before, but now it somehow seemed even more fun.
Silver wasn’t talking all that much, he was content with just listening and learning more about the ponies that were around him. Apparently Phantom was taking flying lessons, and Twilight knew the Princess personally. The more he listened the more he learned. Silver did chip in occasionally, and as the day wore on, he could be found asking more and more questions. As the sun had begun to set, and Applejack thanked them all for a hard day’s work, Silver realized he had no idea where the time had gone. He’d been having so much fun he’d hardly noticed that the time had been passing. As Phantom and Fluttershy turned to leave, Twilight walked over to Applejack and whispered something conspiratorially in her ear. Silver took the chance and walked over to Twilight. “Excuse me Twilight, but could I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure. What about?”
“Well, Phantom said you helped him with a couple of things when he first got here, and I was wondering if maybe you could do the same for me”……
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Insert Dragnet theme here, Twilight's in trouble.
the collective minds of seven Human Turned Ponies will have them figure it out lickity-split.
570635
Who said.that they were all human turned ponies mm?
570959
the spell did.
and i still stand that dash's should be a chick.
573627
Well, wait for Part 3/4 to find out!
and I draw your attention to this quote from chapter 1: "A worde of caution before the spell, it draws not just from pony kind, but from all the worlds in entirety, for some soulmates may be founde in far away places. "
Some will be ponies from other places in Equestria.
awesome story
610833
You totally have my permission. Thank you so so so much!!!!
This story is so awesome! I love reading it and I love the characters.
611144
And there are still more characters to introduce. This story was originally only going to be ten chapters, but it's kind of gotten a lot longer. We aren't even half way done yet.
is this story dead?
818038
no, I've just not had the time to work on the next chapter. Unfortunately it's gonna be another week or so for it to be up....
870852
The reference was compeletely unintentional....
Alright, the next chapter is halfway done, Just waiting for it to get back from my proofreader, and it will be up! Soon! In like a week! A month.... maybe... Sorry... I'm working on iT!!!!!