Chapter 58: Guests
Two weeks have passed since our little crystal trip. In the end, Twilight’s worries had been unfounded as she received an official pass from Princess Celestia on her test. Life has returned to relative normalcy for now. A few developments came up, such as the guys and I deciding that Wednesday evenings were our ‘guy night’ and hanging out then. Winona's puppies also arrived, each of them looking like their mother but with varying dark or lighter shades of color. There was also the day we were treated to an impromptu aerial pursuit as Atom chased Blue throughout the town while the weather pegasus kept a letter from the former guard. Surprisingly enough, it was the local mailmare, Ditzy, who stopped them by bopping Blue on the head and giving him a stern speech on taking other ponies’ mail. In the end it turned out that Atom and Spitfire had been exchanging letters, some of which were romantic in nature. Much friendly congratulating followed.
For now though, the only big thing planned is Ponyville’s music festival coming up that they host every few years. Apparently the whole event is a boost to both music sales for the artists and for the local tourist trade so everypony wins. No telling what else will happen, but it should be fun.
***Sunday, Day 63***
**Pre-dawn morning**
A muffled thump resounds through the room, and a tunnel opens up right in front of the closet door. The tunnel swirls with prismatic colors, a voice drifting out of it.
“Rhino...”
The ears of the room’s smaller occupant perk up at the noise as the pony in question snores on.
“Rhino?” This voice sounds younger than the previous one, in spite of the distortion caused by the tunnel. A few figures appear in the middle of the portal, starting to grow larger as they approach, but one faster than the others.
A small black furry head raises itself from the blankets and notices the glowing hole floating in the room. Specter’s eyes widen in alarm as he starts nudging Rhino’s head to wake him.
“Rhino!” A small pony leaps out of the tunnel, landing on the bed and wrapping her forehooves around his chest. That probably wouldn’t have been a problem, were it not for the horn in the center of her head accidentally jabbing him in the nose.
*First person*
I grunt as my eyes shoot open from the sharp pain on my nose. A mass of pink on my chest causes me to reflexively try to back away, only to fall out of my bed on my back taking the pink mass with me.
“Ugh...” I let out a groan as I try to make sense of what is happening.
“Are you alright, Rhino?” The mass of pink lets go, getting up and standing next to me.
“He’s seen worse.” The other few ponies step through the opening still in the room. The one who spoke, a white mare, chuckles at the sight. “Mind making yourself decent, Rhy?”
The nickname, one of the few I’ve ever had, sparks some memories of an unusual time I had a month back. I look up at the white mare with neon blue two-toned mane and tail wearing purple shades with astonishment as I roll over, “Vinyl?” I look to the pink mass that I identify as a fuschia filly with darker pink mane, “Pinchy? What.. how?”
“You remember me!” The filly hugs me happily, beaming brightly.
“I can answer that.” One of the other two adult ponies speaks up, a burgundy feminine pegasus with light brown mane. “You see, Pinchy, here, missed you. Twilight found this spell that allows us to visit other dimensions, and, well, here we are.”
I close my eyes and rub the bridge of my nose as I try to get my brain woken up enough to deal with this. “Well, Enigma, this is certainly... unexpected.”
Specter speaks up from the bed where he had managed to avoid being knocked off, “That’s putting it mildly.”
All four of the guests stare at the small creature in shock. Pinchy squeals in excitement, bouncing onto the bed next to Specter. “You can talk! That’s so amazing!” She takes notice of his wings, extending one slightly with her magic. “Nice wings, too!”
The little nimbat looks confused at the stares he is getting before it hits him, “Oh right! You guys met me when I was still a squirrel!” He looks down at himself a moment before looking back at the group with a sheepish grin, “Umm, surprise?”
“I’d certainly say so.” The grey mare with styled charcoal mane in the back speaks up, smirking slightly. “At least you look better this way, right?”
Vinyl rolls her eyes, smiling softly. “Sorry, dude. Tavi has a bit to learn still about teasing outside combat.”
I smile from where I am watching the exchange. “Well, I’m sure with you as a teacher, Octavia will be a master in no time.”
“Maybe.” She glances at me with a playful smirk. “Say, where’s that lovebird of yours?~”
I crack my neck as I answer, “At her home, likely sleeping as most ponies do when the sun hasn’t risen yet. This is mine and Hydro’s house.”
“Is that so?” The gray mare moves over to the door, putting a hoof on it. “I’d like to meet this ‘Hydro’. From what I saw during our bout, he must be intelligent if he works at a dam.” She pauses, raising a hoof to her chin. “Unless he’s a custodian, of course.”
A grimace forms on my face as I realize I’m going to have to explain the presence of four extra ponies in my room to my housemate. “He might already know you guys are here... let’s head downstairs to the living room so we don’t wake him anymore than we have... he’s a pretty light sleeper.” I turn to the door and Specter climbs up onto his usual perch on my head. “Oh and for the record, he’s the dam’s engineer, not the janitor. He pretty much runs it himself.” I feel a weight as Pinchy climbs up onto my back and settles herself there. “Ok fine, but only two passengers, the rest of you have to walk.”
Vinyl pouts playfully. “Darn. I wanted a piggy back ride.” She glances over at the pegasus, coyly smiling. “Oh, E.~”
“Not a chance, Vi.”
She sighs, making her way through the doorway. “You’re no fun...”
We all quietly make our way to the living room, I keep my ears perked but I don’t hear anything from Hydro’s room yet. Everypony gets settled, Pinchy choosing just to use me as her seat, and I fall back on host-mode until I can come up with anything better to do.
I motion my head to the kitchen, “Anypony want anything? I’m gonna grab a drink.”
Pinchy speaks up from my back. “I’d like some milk.”
Octavia raises a hoof. “Some tea would be nice.”
Vinyl is quietly nursing a small glass she’d apparently pulled from nowhere. She stops long enough to respond. “E and I are fine. We brought some lemonade with us.”
I nod as my passengers and I head into the kitchen and fix the drinks. As I put the last touch on Octavia’s tea, I get a feeling from the link again, quickly levitate the three glasses, and walk back into the room to find Hydro just coming down the stairs and staring at our guests.
I smile at him as I casually levitate Octavia’s tea to her while Pinchy and I get our milk. “Morning Hydro.”
He stares at me for my casual greeting. “Rhino...” he gestures to the occupants, “what’s all this?”
I take a moment to think of how best to approach this. I decide honesty is the best policy. “Quantum physics.”
He continues staring. “Yeah, I’m gonna go ahead and call bull on that.”
I persist. “No, really, meet some alternate dimension denizens I met a while back.”
He groans as he facehoofs. “You know what, whatever. We’ll talk over breakfast.”
After some eggs and a brief explanation, everypony seems at least on friendly terms.
“So let me get this straight,” Hydro starts, “one night, probably the one night where I wasn’t woken up by your snoring, you were transported by,” he points to our guests, “their version of Twilight. You did various things there for a few days, then were transported back the morning after you left.”
Specter looks up from his strawberry he is eating, “Hey, I went too.”
Hydro continues, “Right. And you said the reason you never told anypony about what happened to you is that without any proof of what happened to you they would probably just think you were crazy.”
“Correct.” I confirm.
“And now they decided to pay you a visit because this one,” he point at Pinchy, “missed you, and apparently thinks you are some sort of ninja.”
“Yep! He can climb walls, just like a ninja!” She leaps onto the table, beaming. “And I’m gonna be a ninja, just like him! He’s my idol!” She misses the small flash of pain that crosses Octavia’s face.
Hydro’s face remains impressively neutral. “And because she wanted to see you, these three decided they’d make it a sort of vacation, and appeared in your room this morning.”
I nod. “Pretty much.”
My earth pony friend sighs deeply. “Just another day in Ponyville huh?”
I shrug, “C'est la vie.”
***
The guests and I stroll down Main Street, no particular destination in mind. Hydro had split off to go do his own thing, while the rest of us simply wander.
I break the silence as I look to the group, “So what did you guys want to do on this vacation of yours? I’ve only got one thing planned today, so my day’s basically free.”
Vinyl shrugs. “I dunno, dude. What is there to do around here?” She glances over to a building nearby, frowning slightly. “Pinchy, get down from there.”
I look at her curiously, “Something wrong? She’s not bothering me if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“That would make sense, if she was still on your back.” She points to the building in question, where the filly was currently walking up the wall next to a second-story window. Apparently, the smell of pie drew her over there. “You taught her a little too well, Rhy.”
I frown as well as I see where the filly has gotten to. I walk to the side of the building and look up and call to her, “Pinchy, what are you doing up there?”
She stops, her mouth inches away from the pie on the windowsill. She turns to me, pouting. “...but... cherry pie...”
I resist the urge to smile at the typical foal answer, “We can get you a pie from a vendor if you want one. Come back down here before you hurt yourself.”
Instead of being upset, she beams happily at the promise of pie. “Okay!” The glow disappears from her hooves, and she starts to fall towards me.
My eyes shoot open and I catch her with my magic before she hits the ground. I let out a breath as I set her on my back. “Please don’t do that again, if you do I’ll stick you to my back to make sure you don’t wander off.”
She frowns, lowering her head. “I won’t do it again, Rhino.”
Vinyl steps up next to him, smiling softly. “Thanks for catching her. You have no idea what’d happen if she’d hit the pavement.” She shivers slightly, shaking her head. “Trust me.”
I rub the filly’s head playfully to get her out of her sour mood as I respond to Vi. “Are you saying that just because of the normal injuries from a fall like that, or is there something else I should know?”
“Calcium deficiency. Let’s leave it at that.” Vinyl rushes ahead, clearly not wanting to say any more.
Calcium deficiency... Oh. Hmm, well she drinks almost as much milk as I do so must be genetic... Most likely she means Pinchy has weaker bones. Well that’s not so bad. I’ll just have to be careful.
I look back at the filly, “So were you really set on cherry, or was there another flavor you wanted?”
She looks up at me, beaming brightly. “Can we have apple? Or maybe banana creme?”
I smile at the cute look she gives me. “Anything you want little one. Anything you want.”
“Yay!” She hugs my neck. “You’re the best, Rhino!~”
Before I could say anything, Octavia pushes past me, throwing a glare over her shoulder. “Can we go find a pie vendor, already? She can decide on the way there.”
I look over to Enigma, the only remaining grown pony besides myself. “I don’t suppose you know what that was about?”
The pegasus glances over at the classy mare for a moment. “I don’t know. I can read body language, but Tavi’s always so stoic. It’s hard to get a read on her.” Enigma glances at Pinchy for a second before turning to me. “I don’t know, maybe she’s jealous?”
I look to the grey mare’s back as she walks away. “Hmm...”
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Sweet! A couple of chapters out in about a few days!
And is this a crossover of sorts?
2594922 Yep
2595063 Stay classy.
2595376 All shall tremble beneath Fluffers!
Funny thing is that I found this fic through ERBoMLP. No regrets.
2595544 Glad to hear it, and glad you are enjoying it!
I found this fic through the featured box, and liked the premise. I just finished powering through it, and am now waiting on the next chapter.
(Great story so far, even if this new story arc is a little jarring, could have eased into it a bit more.)
-Mis
2598038 Wow, the whole thing? Well, I'm honored the story kept you reading for so long! And yes, the way I'm handling this new arc is definitely a bit more "tossed into it" than my usual "eased into it" but I thought I might try a different way to break up the usual technique and see how it does. I also feel it does reflect some of the guests' overall 'sudden, strange, yet entertaining' attitudes.
2598116
Aha! Explanations for whats up, I like you. Carry on then.
-Mis
I'm SO glad I already read the ERB of MLP fic's Q and A thingy.
I'm pumped to see how this continues.
Well alright then rhino you are officially a ninja.
2594922 Dang Atom, you and Spitfire? Lucky pony you.
...stupid sexy Spitfire...