58. Homeward Bound
Holy shit, it's still not over. Even hours after the reception ended, there are parties still going on in the streets, or in clubs, bars, and other public establishments where there's enough room for a party. The same goes even for me.
I'm lying on Rainbow's bed, wedged in between Rainbow and Vinyl. It's not just us. Twilight and the others are in the room as well, along with a few select stragglers like Lyra and Octavia. We can still hear the music in the streets, despite the fact that it's like...past 4 in the morning. Hah, I haven't stayed up this long in months.
“Why are we still awake?” I groan with a weak laugh, leaning my head back. I've eaten so much tonight, I feel like I won't need to eat for the next few days, at the very least. I couldn't help myself. There were so many sweets there, I couldn't help but gorge myself on everything I could find. Sometimes I both hate and love my sweet tooth. This is one of those times.
“I can't sleep, bro. I'm way too hyper to sleep,” Vinyl remarks, and then yawns in direct contradiction to what she just said. “Ignore that. My body is more tired than my mind is.”
“I am the dancing champion! This makes...I can't even count that high!” Pinkie squeals, randomly cartwheeling across the room.
“That's cuz nopony can pull off what you did out there, Pinkie Pie,” Applejack retorts just before biting into another apple. Ugh, I don't know how she can stand eating after the cake was given out. That thing was massive. I think I had like, three pieces. It wasn't as good as Pinkie's cakes, but it's still much better than any store-bought shit I could get my hands on back in my time. “Seriously, ah don't think ponies are meant to bend that way. How did ya even do that?”
“Any good Pinkie never reveals her secrets!” Pinkie trills. Where the fuck is all of her energy coming from? She should be as tired as the rest of us. Honestly, at this point, we're all slowing down. I guess they don't want to go to sleep because that means the party is over.
“Idiot, that's not how the saying goes,” I say, lifting my head again. My eyelids are drooping, but I don't want to sleep either. Tonight was a blast. Pinkie really outdid herself this time around. You know, since it was her in charge of setting that thing up.
“I think I broke Tavi,” Lyra comments, drawing my attention. To my amusement, Octavia couldn't stay awake as long as the rest of us. As a result, she's lying on the floor in an undignified position, completely asleep. Lyra lifts one of Octavia's hooves with her own for a second, and then she releases it. Octavia's hoof falls back down limply. “See, look.”
“Did you just call her 'Tavi?'” Rainbow asks incredulously. Somehow she's still awake as well. “You do know who that is, right?”
“Doesn't matter who it is. Nopony is safe from my nicknames! Just ask Seth. He knows all about it. Right Sethie?” Lyra responds, winking at me.
“You're lucky I'm so tired, or I'd get up and kick your sorry ass,” I growl at her, jabbing a finger at her in the most threatening manner that I can muster while being this exhausted. “Seriously, that is the dumbest nickname. Gah.”
“Girls, we lost Twilight,” Spike alerts us, indicating a passed out Twilight with a claw. Hah, we're dropping like dominoes now. Rarity gives the snoring Twilight a glance.
“We probably should get some sleep. We've stayed up quite long enough,” Rarity advises the rest of us. She pokes the skin under her eye tenderly. “Oh, I hope this doesn't have an impact on my complexion.”
“It won't, drama queen,” Applejack assures her with a wry expression. She too is starting to nod off as well. I can see her adjusting her position on the floor until she's comfortable.
“Even so, I should go to the spa when I get back to Ponyville,” Rarity determines, yawning daintily. “Fluttershy, Seth; why don't you come too?”
I look over at Fluttershy when she doesn't answer, and it turns out she's lost the battle with her exhaustion as well. She's curled up in the corner next to Twilight, snoring quietly. “She can't hear you right now. And why don't you ask me that in the morning? My tired brain seems to think you asked me to go to the damn spa, and I know that can't be right,” I respond.
“Why, that is the case. You said yourself that your hair needs some work. Nopony can make it look as good as Aloe and Lotus can,” Rarity reasons.
“Yeah well...fuck it, I'm too tired to argue. Ask me again in the morning and I'll properly answer you then,” I say, and then a yawn overtakes me as well. “God, I'm so tired.”
As my eyelids slowly close against my will, it hits me that I should probably get out of Rainbow's bed, but I just don't have the energy or will to move at this point.
“Good night, everypony,” Applejack murmurs, and that's the last thing I hear before passing out myself.
The next day, I feel like all of Canterlot took a day off. I say that because nothing wakes me up the next morning. No, I'm so tired, I don't wake up until I physically can't keep my eyes closed anymore. I mean, I have nothing to do now that the repairs are all finished, so there's no point in getting up early.
When I do fully regain consciousness, I become aware of a both a great deal of snoring, and a heavy weight on both my legs and my left arm. Okay, why am I being held down and...oh shit.
Upon opening my eyes, the first thing I notice is a sleeping Vinyl draped across my legs in a most undignified position, snoring in an unladylike manner. Wait, why the hell am I sleeping in the bed, and not on the floor? And if Vinyl is right that, that puts Rainbow...next to me, clinging to my arm.
Right, this is what happens when you get so tired you can't even move. God, I'm so glad nopony is awake. This is really awkward. I feel a bit disgusted at myself for this. Was it so hard just to get up and move to the floor? Sheesh.
I painstakingly extricate my arm from Rainbow's grasp, as well as remove my feet from under Vinyl. The two of them are sound asleep, so they barely stir upon being disturbed.
Standing up, I notice with chagrin that all of the ponies that had been in the room last night are still here, sprawled across the floor like someone had just emptied a can of ponies in the room. Of course, that image gets me to chuckle a bit.
As I move to the shower, I reflect over the activities of last night. That was one of the craziest parties I've ever been to, not counting the dumb college parties I've seen. I feel incredibly embarrassed though, upon remembering the stupid shit I did last night. A dancing competition with Celestia. And even slow dancing...oh god, why did I do that?
The lukewarm water of the shower helps to calm me down and fully wake me up. I guess this is the last I'll be seeing of Canterlot for a while. I mean, after spending a month here, fighting in it, and nearly dying in it, I'm done with this place. I want to go back to Ponyville now.
In a week, provided I do enough work hours, I'll have enough money to put an initial payment down on a house. Then I'll have a place to hide if I want alone time...since I haven't had any substantial alone time since getting to Equestria. Rainbow's great and all, but I need some me time. Preferably spent in the bed, reading a book. Maybe I'll give that Daring Do series that Rainbow swears by a shot. It can't be worse than that human trash I looked at. A thought strikes me then. I wonder if, now that the statement of my existence has gone out to all of Equestria, the author of that series will try to contact me. I really hope he does. I'll tear him a new one.
When I'm done, I get dressed back in my usual clothes. Well, by usual, I mean those black pants I've been wearing since I got here, but at least now they're repaired. I also have a new sleeveless, mostly because I wanted one, and my last one got shredded to pieces...and then incinerated. I don't know, between that shirt and my previous coat, I think Chrysalis had a problem with my wardrobe. Lastly, I put on the new coat Rarity made me. It's exactly the same as the last one, but that's fine with me.
Returning to the main room, I notice that everypony is still asleep. A quick glance at the clock tells me that it's already past noon. Well, I think they've slept enough.
I stalk over to Rainbow, stepping over a sleeping Pinkie in the process. When I reach her, I slowly reach my hand down and gently tug on her ear. I snicker a bit when Rainbow moans quietly and reaches up one of her front hooves to rub the affected spot. I swear, it's like messing with a sleeping cat.
I tug on the other ear, and this time Rainbow just twitches. God, this is great. I'm half tempted to throw her into the tub again, but I don't feel like she's done anything to warrant that kind of prank.
Just as I'm about to tug on her ear again, I vaguely sense something on the right side of my face. I turn my head, and my vision is immediately assaulted with the sight of two cyan eyes looming massively right next to me, accompanied by an overwhelming sense of pink. “What are we doing?” Pinkie whispers, and I immediately recoil back a few steps, almost tripping over Lyra in the process. I have to actually try not to yelp in shock.
“Jesus Christ on a stick!” I hiss, muffling myself with a hand. Pinkie is just standing there with a giant smile on her face, looking as innocent as possible even though I think she knows full well what I was trying to do. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
“Nope, I'm trying to get an answer! You look like you were about to play a prank on Rainbow, and I really really like pranks, so I was wondering if I could...” Pinkie responds, spouting off as always. Her voice is getting louder, so I reach forward and hastily cover her mouth to stifle the sound. “Mmfph?”
“Yes, I'm trying to play a prank. Shut up, or you're going to wake everypony up!” I warn her in annoyance. Pinkie was fast asleep when I stepped over her. How did she wake up so quickly, and so quietly? Pinkie giggles behind my hand, and then I feel something warm and wet slide across my fingers, causing me to withdraw my hand hastily in disgust. “Ugh, did you just fucking lick me?”
“Ooh, pranks! I love pranks. What were you planning? Can I help?” Pinkie whispers, seemingly ignoring my question while returning her tongue to her mouth. Ugh, I just got licked by a goddamn pony. I wipe my hand off on my pants. Lesson learned: don't try to shut up Pinkie with your hand.
“I'm just gonna tug on her ears til she wakes up. You can help by just shutting up,” I retort, reaching for Rainbow again.
“Oh, I've got an idea!” Pinkie once again practically ignores me, and then she pulls a stretch of fabric out of her mane. Wait, does she just keep fabric in her mane? Pinkie giggles quietly, and then she wraps the fabric gently around Rainbow's eyes, tying a knot behind her head. Huh, she's blindfolding Rainbow. Which means...oho, I see what she's trying to do. That's actually rather brilliant. Pinkie turns back to me. “Now do it.”
Hm, I should do something that will wake Rainbow up abruptly. Well, this is a pretty lame way to wake her up, but the aftermath should be priceless, if Pinkie's idea works. I reach out my hands towards Rainbow's stomach, stretching out my fingers. Once my fingertips make contact...I grin and start tickling her viciously.
The response is instant. Rainbow wakes up with a gasp and flails her hooves. “What the...oh Celestia...stop that! I...” she exclaims. She kicks out at me so that I step back, and then she takes to the air. “Somepony turn on the li...oof!”
Pinkie and I snicker as Rainbow flies straight into the wall with a loud thump. Rainbow backs away from the wall.
“Ow! Who put a wall there? What time is it? Where's the light switch?” Rainbow cries out, which just gets Pinkie and I to laugh harder. Rainbow starts flying around, trying to find the light switch. Of course, she runs into every wall she finds. “Ow! What the...stoppit! Yowch!”
“What the hay is going on?” Vinyl moans, stirring from her position on the bed. She opens her magenta eyes, blinking a few times before she recognizes what she's seeing. “Rainbow, what are you even doing?”
“I can't find the light switch!” Rainbow laments, running into the desk. The room is plenty bright enough, so Vinyl gives Rainbow a disbelieving stare...until she sees the blindfold. She blinks a few times, and then she glances at Pinkie and I, understanding dawning on her face. She soon joins us in our merriment.
The hilarity continues until Rainbow accidentally rams into Twilight, who squeaks and wakes up instantly. Twilight glares at Rainbow, holding a hoof to the affected spot. “Okay, enough clowning around,” Twilight growls. Wow, she's super annoyed at being woken up like that. Her horn lights up, and Rainbow stops moving. “How did you manage to...Seth did it. Of course.”
“Wait, Seth did what?” Rainbow demands, and when Twilight removes the blindfold, she understands. Rainbow quickly turns her head and glares at Pinkie and I, who are still finding this whole situation hilarious. “Oh I should have known. Waking up normally with this guy in the room is practically impossible.”
“Only because you sleep like a rock,” I point out, but then Rainbow lunges at me and the two of us go tumbling over the floor, both of us chuckling and wrestling. And Rainbow is still stronger than I am. I could use magic, but that's cheating.
“Oof!” Lyra grunts as Rainbow and I unintentionally roll over her. She lifts her head and sighs. “Can you two cavort elsewhere? I'm trying to sleep.”
“Waah! We overslept!” Twilight exclaims after she looks at the clock. “Everypony wake up! It's past noon already!”
Her voice gets the others to stir, and then the day really gets started.
“I should take my leave. It was a fun party, though it was not my intention to spend the night,” Octavia says sheepishly once she and the rest of the ponies in the room are awake and attentive. Much to her shock, Vinyl drapes a hoof over her shoulder in an overly friendly manner.
“Naw, it's totally fine, Tavi. Good to know some of you upper class ponies aren't so bad after all,” Vinyl compliments her with a grin. Octavia nods appreciatively, and then she does a double take.
“What did you just call me?” she asks in confusion. Lyra takes this moment to approach as well.
“Oh, didn't you get the memo? Your new name is Tavi. Better get used to it,” Lyra teases her. Octavia flushes, looking even more confused.
“Please don't call me that. It's too...unrefined,” Octavia requests, much to our amusement. “I'm actually very fond of my given name.”
“You should lighten up a bit, Tavi,” Rainbow joins in on this bullshit next, wearing a cheeky grin.
“Yeah, no point in being so uptight, Tavi,” I say next. Octavia shakes her head vigorously in denial of her new nickname.
“I'm not being uptight! I'm just...” Octavia tries to protest, but as Applejack approaches next with a mischievous expression as well, she heaves a sigh. “...just not in public, please.”
Even that minor victory is enough to get us chuckling. Still blushing slightly, Octavia opens the door and bids us goodbye. And then there were nine.
“I should go now too. I've got to meet Bon Bon before we head back to Ponyville,” Lyra expresses. Then, before I can stop her, she lunges at me and captures my lower chest in a hug.
“Ugh, would you stop that? You ponies and your hugs, I swear to god,” I complain, pushing down on Lyra's head to try to remove her. “Get down.”
“No, don't lie. You love it,” Lyra retorts in a fake high pitched cutesy voice that causes me to pause. Lyra is finally removed from me when Rainbow shows up and pulls her away, thankfully. “What the...”
“Lyra, quit hanging on Seth,” Rainbow orders her, looking annoyed. Lyra pouts, but she does what she's told, heading for the door.
“You've totally got to come visit when you get back to Ponyville. We should play that song I sent you last Hearth's Warming together,” Lyra tells me with a smile, just before she too leaves the room. Now there's eight of us. Right. Lyra's still as clingy and annoying as ever, but I might just take her up on that. It would be wrong of me to ignore her entirely after I almost got her killed.
“Right, so what's the plan anyway? Are we done in Canterlot? Please tell me we're done in Canterlot,” I ask, addressing no one in particular.
“Yes, we're done in Canterlot. It's been a long time, and I'm eager to go home,” Twilight responds, giggling a bit at my words.
“Ah think we kin go once we get our flanks out o' here,” Applejack comments. I lift my head and shut my eyes, sighing as if this was the best news I've ever heard. Which, as of right now, it might as well be. I'm so sick of Canterlot.
“Of course, I need to gather up all of my luggage,” Rarity reminds us. “It would probably be best if we split up and meet at the train station.”
“Yeah, I'm gonna need some help getting my stuff down to he station as well. Lend me a hand, Seth?” Vinyl requests, indicating the massive cart that holds her music equipment in the corner of the room. Ugh, I'm going to have to wheel that through the castle, aren't I?
“I suppose I have to,” I grunt. It's too early in the morning for this shit...except it's not morning, it's early afternoon. Whatever. Shut up. “Rainbow, are you going to help?”
“Why should I? It's not my job, right?” Rainbow responds with a smirk. I glare up at her as Vinyl and I approach the cart.
“I hate you so much sometimes,” I complain. This just gets Rainbow to laugh at my misfortune. Well, there's nothing for it I guess. Let's get this piece of shit down to the station.
Everypony splits up from there, having their own things to take care of before meeting back up at the station. Twilight wants to have a few words with Celestia I think, though I didn't really care to hear the details. I know Rarity is gathering up her own luggage, because she has a lot. I think Applejack and Fluttershy came without much in the way of luggage, because they were only going to be here for one day. So the two of them accompany us down to the station, discussing the farm. By discussing, I mean that Applejack is going on about it and Fluttershy is politely listening and occasionally agreeing.
I don't know where Pinkie went. I think she bounced past us after Twilight at some point. Which is good, because if I have to deal with her chattering along behind me, I might go insane. At this point, I tolerate her because everypony else seems to like her. Except I can only take her in small doses.
When we leave the castle, I look around, noticing that the guard seems to have returned to normal...except with one notable difference. At the castle gates, there's a white archway that everypony walking in and out of the area has to pass through through. There's two ponies on either side of it that are wearing white coats, so it must have some significance.
When I reach the archway, the ponies nod to us and motion for us to pass through. When I do, I feel a tingle pass over my body, as if something of a magical nature had just scanned me. “What the hell was that?” I demand once I'm on the other side. Vinyl, Rainbow, and the other ponies that are with me also look a bit uncomfortable from passing through the arc. Rainbow didn't even pass through the arch, yet she still seemed to have felt something just by passing over it.
“My apologies, sir. To explain, this archway was invented recently by us, the Canterlot Science Department, in order to increase security following the changeling assault,” one of the ponies explains to me. I notice he's treating me with a lot more respect than I'm used to seeing. I wonder what that's all about? And he's a scientist, too.
“What does it do?” Applejack questions. Well, I was about to ask that anyway, so I listen closely to the guard's response.
“It is a magical artifact that generates an invisible detection field that scans your basic biology,” the scientist explains, and then it starts to dawn on me what this thing is for. “It can tell whether or not you are indeed a pony, or a changeling in disguise. Of course, we had to make special adjustments so that you wouldn't set off the alarm, sir.”
“That's a damn good invention then. That'll keep you from getting taken by surprise again, so Chrysalis's only option will be a frontal assault...which will fail,” I surmise, nodding. I'm glad Celestia had the presence of mind to order this thing's creation. I remember her telling Twilight to do this. “Two questions: How were there 'special adjustments' made, when I've never let my biology be scanned before? Next, what's stopping the changelings from just flying over it?”
Rainbow appears antsy behind me, probably annoyed at having to listen to a scientific discussion. I ignore her though, because I think this is important. The more I know, the more prepared I'll be for any future changeling threats. I'm sure there will be in my lifetime, because Chrysalis has a grudge against me now, I think. As long as she's out there, the possibility will always be there.
“You're correct about your biology, sir. Twilight Sparkle informed the head of our department that is was unlikely we would be able to perform a close examination on you,” the scientist admits. Hah, Twilight's right. She's the only one I've let come near me with any equipment, and that was because I have a magic inside of me that may or may not have been killing me. “Therefore, with her help, we took samples of your magical signature left in the air from the battle, and tuned the archways to detect that instead.”
Okay, so the arches won't raise an alarm if they detect a normal pony, or my magic. That makes sense, because I doubt there's a way to replicate my magic. “And my second question?” I press.
The scientist gives a grin here. “The archway is a trap, sir. It's meant to trick any changelings into thinking that it is possible to bypass the arches. However, the field the archways emanate covers a wide area above and below what you see here,” he declares proudly. “They're set up all over Canterlot. Nowhere is safe for an enemy of Equestria.”
“I see. Smart. But, that gives me one last question. All of that magic has to come from somewhere. I mean, Shining Armor held up a barrier, but that all came from his personal reserves. Where are these archways getting their magic?” I inquire. At this point, Rainbow is hovering on her back in midair, almost like she's backstroking.
“The discovery of the crystal mines beneath Canterlot provided the city with a significant amount of magic, stored in the individual crystal ores. We hypothesize that these mines have been accumulating magic for centuries,” the scientist reveals. Huh. Well, I like that he's being so forthcoming with me. “There's enough stored magic down there to supply these archways for as long as we need them.”
“Okay? Are we done? No more questions?” Rainbow complains, lazily doing flips in the air. “I heard enough the moment he said, 'it finds changelings.'”
“Yes, I'm done. God, Rainbow, you might need to know this shit sometime,” I retort with a wry expression. Just before we leave, I turn back to look at the scientist again. “Thanks for telling me all that stuff.”
“It was my pleasure, sir. It's not every day I have a chance to converse with one of our predecessors,” the scientist expresses exuberantly. Oh...so he was being respectful because I'm a human. Well, that pisses me off a bit. “If you don't mind, would you be willing to visit us at the Science Tower sometime? We'd love to know more about you.”
“What, so you can use me for your own scientific gain? Sorry, I'm not interested,” I snap back at him, much to the scientist's disappointment. “Let's go, Rainbow.”
“That was a mite rude,” Applejack chides me once we've left the scientist and his archway behind.
“Who cares? I hate ponies like that. I don't exist solely to help you ponies advance. I'm not their fucking tool,” I growl, clenching my fists. Goddamn scientists.
“Ah git that, but couldn't ya have told him no a bit nicer than that?” Applejack advises me. “It ain't never done anypony no good to burn any bridges.”
“You forget who you're talking to. I could really care less what other ponies think about me,” I remind her, much to her frustration. I then notice Rainbow hovering awfully close to me. “What?”
“Do you care what I think?” Rainbow asks with a coy smile.
“What, are you fishing for compliments?” I return with a raised eyebrow. “I didn't think you needed them. Isn't your ego already large enough as it is?”
That much gets Applejack to snicker, while Rainbow just huffs, as if she'd expected me to actually answer that question.
“All that aside though, it's good to know we won't be taken by surprise like that again,” Vinyl comments.
“Okay, I can agree to that,” Rainbow remarks. I know she didn't mean anything by that, but just the way she says it causes a pang of guilt to shoot through me. She isn't holding it against me anymore, but I don't think I'll forget that damned wedding for as long as I live.
Our group meets up with Twilight and the others at the train station. The three little fillies are there as well, accompanied by Spike. Together we purchase our tickets and enter our compartment. While we don't have the private compartment now as we're no longer on business, the one we're in is still devoid of most strangers, because there are rather a lot of us, and we're sitting in a group.
The train's whistle soon sounds, and the machine roars to life, the wooden floor rumbling under my feet. At last, I'm going back home.
“Homeward bound!” Pinkie exults, throwing her front hooves around a flat-browed Applejack in happiness. “Are you excited? Because I'm excited. I have a 'We Saved Canterlot' party to plan! There's cakes to bake, balloons to inflate, ponies to invite, and...”
“Ah think we git the picture, sugarcube,” Applejack interrupts with a wry expression. Pinkie's spirits aren't dampened, as she proceeds to squeal in excitement. “Though ah'm still a bit tired from last night's party. Ah don't usually stay up that late.”
“I don't think any of us have stayed up that late in a long time,” Twilight agrees. Spike proceeds to poke her in the side.
“You're so lying. How many times have I seen you up at three in the morning, studying?” the little dragon accuses her, which to the amusement of the rest of us, earns a blush from Twilight. “That's what I thought.”
“Still though, I think we should wait a bit before having another party,” Rarity suggests. That in particular gets Pinkie's attention. She streaks over to Rarity until their muzzles are practically touching. “Pinkie, you're a bit too close.”
“Why wait? I know I can get the party ready by tomorrow, just you watch!” Pinkie questions. Rarity sighs and shakes her head.
“Hm, how to put this,” Rarity begins. I happen to agree with Rarity on this one, so I decide to put in my opinion.
“We just had a party, and it was a big one. I'm not attending a party so soon. The rest of you can do whatever you want,” I state flatly.
“So the day after next then?” Pinkie asks. I shake my head. “In two days then?”
“Still too soon.”
“Three days?”
“Pinkie...”
“Two and a half?”
“You just went down,” I point out, confused.
“I'm a haggler!” Pinkie explains with a wide smile.
“What the...I don't even with you,” I grumble, rubbing my forehead. “No, Pinkie. I need at least a week. That way I'll actually want to party, especially after I...hm.”
“After you what?” Pinkie asks eagerly, getting closer to me.
“Twilight, what am I doing as far as my schedule is concerned?” I say, rubbing my chin in contemplation. When I confirm that I have Twilight's attention, I continue. “I mean, Rose didn't come back with us...thank god for that...so she's obviously not going to be training me anymore.”
“That's a good question. There's still a lot I can teach you about magical theory, if you'd like,” Twilight suggests hopefully. That's right, Twilight and I had finished the basics before this whole wedding thing happened.
“Yeah, how about no?” I state without hesitation, much to Twilight's disappointment. “I've had enough of studying. At least in this time, I don't need education to make a decent living.”
“That's raht! All ya need is a set o' muscles and a good work ethic, and yer set,” Applejack inserts in approval. Of course, she'd agree with that.
“But...” Twilight starts to protest, but then she sighs, lowering her head forlornly. Wait, why does she seem so sad about that? “Never mind then.”
“What's the big deal? Me learning magical theory shouldn't mean that much to you,” I demand, getting annoyed. Twilight shakes her head.
“It's not that. It's just...” Twilight pauses a moment before continuing. “You remember how we used to have discussions back when we first met?”
“By discussions, you mean you telling me things while I constantly questioned your sanity?” I quip. I wonder if I'm starting to annoy her now. Sure enough, Twilight lets out an annoyed huff.
“Yes, that. I feel like that through our studies together, we were slowly getting to that point again,” Twilight admits. I raise an eyebrow. I didn't think those dumb conversations were that important to her. “If you aren't coming around to study with me anymore, I don't think you'll ever come by again.”
“And what's the problem with that?” I ask her in confusion. I mean, it's not like I do much other than annoy her to all hell while I'm there. “Wouldn't you rather have me out of your mane?”
“No! I didn't want to come out and say it, but...” Twilight begins uncertainly. I think it's safe to say that we're the center of attention right now. Thanks for turning a simple question into a argument. Twilight's gaze then overlaps mine, her violet eyes staring to mine. Okay, something's wrong. “I've gotten used to having you around every other day. I know you don't feel the same, but I still view you as a friend. I'd be sad if you never visited me.”
“You're not the only one who feels that way, darling,” Rarity says to Twilight, shooting me a meaningful glance.
“So, what, you're going to throw a hissy fit because you don't get to spout theory at me anymore?” I demand, disregarding her talk of friendship. I may have put aside her fuck ups with me and...
Hold on a minute. She fucked up with me by saying something nasty to me, along with a few other things. But...I also fucked up with her, by nearly getting her and everypony she knew and loved dead. You know what, it's not fair for me to be hung up on something she did when I've got something like that hanging over my head.
As Twilight opens her mouth to answer, I raise a hand to forestall her protests. “Wait, I take that back,” I say with a sigh. Twilight shuts her mouth and blinks, surprised. “Tell you what. I may have been a bit of a reader back in my time. Will you be happy if I deign to spend some of my free time at your library, reading?”
Twilight seems stunned, even as Rarity starts to smile next to her. Twilight's expression quickly turns to a happy one. “I would love that! I have so many books you can read. What kind of genres do you like? I have history, theory, fantasy...”
“Twilight!” I cut her off before she can go on another rant. Twilight stops and looks slightly sheepish. “A simple yes or no would have been fine.”
“Then yes, you can drop by at any time. My library is always open to you,” Twilight repeats, smiling. That's good. She's not being annoying anymore, and now I can get back into reading. It'll be a bit jarring to only read novels about ponies doing ridiculous stuff, but it's better than lounging around doing nothing in my spare time. “Other than that, I think your schedule is mostly up to you now. I know you said you don't like me micromanaging.”
“You're still going to come running with me, right?” Rainbow rejoins, nudging me. Hm, now that's a difficult question. I would only run on the days I wasn't working at Applejack's, but now I'm probably going to be working there every day again.
“I dunno. Maybe. Still, I'd rather not exhaust myself with you before...I exhaust myself at Applejack's,” I reply, voicing my thoughts. For some reason, that gets Vinyl to start snickering.
“Aw, come on. You'll never get stronger unless you push yourself!” Rainbow insists, poking at my leg muscles. “Look at these. They're good, but not up to my level.”
“Of course not! You're a pony, you naturally have more muscle mass than me! Not to mention you've been spending your entire life exercising,” I snap back at her in irritation.
“Ah can see Ponyville from here!” Apple Bloom announces, her two front hooves resting against a window. For some reason, that serves as a reason for all conversation to break off and for all of the ponies t press their faces against the windows.
“I feel like it's been ages since we've been home,” Rarity comments. That I agree with. It's only been a month, but I feel like I haven't seen Ponyville in years.
As the train slides into the station, I lean back and sigh. I don't know about the rest of them, but if I never go back to Canterlot again, I will be a happy man.
All things considered though, it's good to be back home.
Stats
Page generated in 0.023 seconds
Total duration
802 users online
1,205,381 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Kekeke-
Super Smash on 3DS... Such blasphemy. Back in my day, it was all about the Midair Upwards Kick with Fox.
That was the jam... oh, and uh... good chapter.
Ok, I get Seth doesn't like ponies but seriously, how does he not notice RD's behaviour?
Also (I don't remember if it was this fic or another that mentioned the following about the protagonist so I'll add it anyway), even though he doesn't want to bang ponies that doesn't mean he can't be in close romantic relationships with then but with no wanting
. *hint* *hint*
Sweet the new arc has begun
Overall not much occurred narratively speaking, but it was certainly a fun start off to the arc. First we have everypony crashing in Rainbow's room. I'm surprised that Lyra didn't bring Bon Bon, or that Octavia actually joined (so far she has only met Seth and Rainbow. Evidently she made some friends at the party. I wonder if we'll see her show up again now) but certainly was a fun surprise. Having them all trying to stay awake, for really no other reason then to see who can was kinda funny in its own right. Pinkie is still as insane as ever and it appears that Octavia certainly isn't used to her level of partying, being that she crashed first and all. This scene didn't take long but it was fun and gives us a reintroduction to the party from last chapter.
The next scene though was hilarious. First off we have Seth waking up to find Vinyl lying on him snoring away and Rainbow clinging to his arm. Were this occurring to somepony else, he'd probably laugh and take a picture. Not so fun for him though
. Teaming up with Pinkie though was awesome. Not his most creative way of waking Rainbow up, but the blindfold was certainly a great prank. I can just picture her flying around the room smashing into stuff while Seth and Pinkie laugh. Rainbow takes it all in stride again and responds in the proper manner ie: Tackling Seth and rolling around the room playfully wrestling. Probably annoyed Lyra but certainly a fun morning scene. Octavia is then rechristened as 'Tavi' for the rest of her life. Good to see her making friends with everyone, and Vinyl seemed pretty chummy with her (a nice nod to there fandom friendship there. I wonder if they will spend any more time together. Maybe off screen or something though since it doesn't really ad anything narratively speaking. Fun to see them though). Lyra once again goes in for the overdose of affection, though Rainbow got annoyed about it this time. I wonder why 
.
The discussion about the new changling detectors was interesting, and I keyed in on something that was said:
. Well there is at least one individual who could and he isn't going to be missing for long. Either way good to know that Celestia is taking some precautions, especially with Chrysalis still on the loose and raring for payback. Rainbow wanting to know if he valued her opinion was interesting. After how close they have become, I think she knows how much he does, but she just wanted to here him say it out loud. Being that they were in a public place and no longer under stress or feeling hurt or depressed, this attempt was always going to fail. Still, I suspect she could get an answer from him if she really wanted to.
The train ride back gave us a little insight into Seth's new lifestyle. So now that Rose is no longer in the picture (at least for now anyway) Seth no longer needs to train (though I can see him going to practice a little on his own every so often) so now he can return to working with AJ full time. He also now intends to visit Twilight to do some reading. Be interesting to see what he thinks of Daring Do and whether he can draw any parallels between it and our versions like Indiana Jones or Lara Croft. It would certainly make Rainbow happy to know he gave them a try at least. He seemed hesitant to resume his morning jogs with Rainbow. He seemed to enjoy them at the start of the last arc (well when he could actually take them and not pass out from exhaustion
) so I doubt he'll completely cut them. Perhaps he could alter them into some morning flying with her. I doubt Rainbow would have any issues and it would keep him from becoming exhausted before work with AJ and keep his magic training up. Also, I noticed when Vinyl sniggered about being exhausted with Rainbow before being exhausted with AJ. Little deviant 
.
I also spotted Pinkie's quote:
I see someone likes Teamfourstar
. God now I'm just imagining Sombra pinning Rainbow to a wall and shouting 'BITCH I EAT PEOPLE' 
Overall, a good start off for the arc and a great way to reintegrate Seth back into his life in Ponyville. I can't wait to see how things play out for him and what dark surprises are in store once the Crystal Empire resurfaces. Great work
I...what? What even happened here?
5104823
The correct wording is "I'm sure there will be in my lifetime." I think that might be a problem on your end, because I went back and checked, and it seems fine to me.
5105146
Mobile does that, because it's still there for me.
5105230
Care to elaborate?
5105254 Nope! Have this instead!
But, seriously, I feel like his cynical attitude is stopping many things from being done or achieving somethings...He has a prblem with paying back...He is over-doing it...Cynical as hell...a small dose is good but he has way too much of it...
love It
Ugh, can someone explain me why?
Cough-Sombra-cough... I think I know where this is going =\
My heart totally goes to Twilight at the end there, because I LOVE learning logic based things, and if I were in Seth's shoes, even not as a brony, I would definitely be hanging out in the library at least 65%+ of the time.
Heh, he said "home".
I'm honestly only in this story (I mean, I'm not in this story, but that's not the point) to see the progression of Seth and Bow's relationship. Because I need to learn how to write emotion. I don't really HAVE that much emotion in real life, so it is hard for me to know how to write it into my stuff naturally.
After that, I will probably just keep looking for moments of those two.
And you better not Opress the Rainbow. The Bow must stay Un-Opressed.
I think that's what you called them, anyway.