The First Steps of the Rest of Your Life

by Rhino

Chapter 63: What to do

***Tuesday, Day 65***
**Noonish**

I step out of the clinic with a filly on my back and a nimbat on my head. I look to the two of them seriously and they look just as serious right back at me.

I look to Specter. “Alright, who’s first?”

He recites back to me, “Rarity, followed by Pinkie Pie, followed by Twilight, ending with Volt.”

I look to Pinchy. “After that?”

She recites back as well, with a small salute and fighting a smile, “After we finish up, we head back to the house to check on the others while we wait for Fluttershy’s report on Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Blue Breeze!”

My serious expression cracks at the twosome’s military like responses, and soon we are all laughing at each other as we head out to ask everyone if they want to join us at the concert.

Rarity.

I knock on the familiar door of Carousel Boutique and am answered by the sight of a hard-working but smiling fashionista.

Seeing she is busy, I make it brief. “Hello Rarity, I came calling to ask if you would like to join us at a concert later today. We have a group backstage pass and are running around asking our friends if they would like to attend.”

Pinchy speaks up from my back, pumping a hoof in the air. “So we’d like to know if you want to join us!”

Rarity smiles at the filly as she answers. “Oh as much as I’d like to darlings, I’m afraid I can’t. All these tourists and musicians have been wonderful for business, but not quite so for spare time. I do hope you understand.”

I nod. “I understand completely. Congratulations on your new business.”

The alabaster unicorn nods appreciatively. “Thank you, well, I’ll let you get back to your rounds. Oh, but if you see Fluttershy, could you let the dear know that even with all this business, we are still on for our spa day? Thank you again.”

Pinkie Pie.

As we approach Sugarcube Corner, Specter pops down in front of my eyes with a question. “Hey, with Pinkie running all over town greeting everypony and other things, what makes you think she’s here right now?”

I answer mysteriously. “If there’s one thing you can predict about the unpredictable one known as Pinkie, it’s that she will be where she is needed. Thus all we have to do is say we need to talk to her, and she’ll show up.”

“Makes sense.” Pinchy glances around, smiling cheekily and apparently calling out to the street. “Pinkie? We’d like to talk with you!”

“You rang?” The Pink mare is suddenly hopping along beside us.

I look at both her and the smiling pink filly. “I guess that works too. Do you want this one, Pinchy?”

She shakes her head, giggling softly. “I’m good! I already asked Rarity, after all!”

I concede her point. “Alright, Pinkie, some of the guys and I have a group backstage pass for Vinyl Scratch’s concert tonight and we were wondering if you would like to join us.”

Pinkie stops hopping for about half a second, in mid-air, before resuming as she answers. “Are you kidding? I wouldn’t miss it! Oh, should I bring snacks? What snacks do you bring backstage? Cupcakes? Muffins? Banana splits? Pies? Cakes? Chimicherrychong-”

I cut her off before she can really build up steam. “Don’t worry about bringing anything, I’m sure the Cakes are already part of the backstage catering.”

“Good point! See you then!” The sound of hopping abruptly stops as I look to see only air where the party pony was.

Twilight.

*knock knock knock*

“Why are we knocking if it’s a public library?” Pinchy asks from my back.

I reply as I wait for an answer. “Because it’s also a home, thus it’s polite to knock.”

After a moment, a familiar scaly form answers the door. “Oh, hey Rhino.”

I nod my head at the dragon, “Hey Spike. Twilight around?”

He rotates his wrist while holding it parallel to the ground. “Eh, sorta sorta, she’s here yes, but she’s out cold upstairs. She’s being doing nocturnal experiments for the past few days and it’s finally caught up to her.”

“Oh, well we should let her sleep then.” I think for a moment. “Actually, would you like to come with us to a concert then?”

He shakes his head, “Nah, thanks for asking though. With Twilight out I pretty much have the day off, and I plan on spending it my way.” He leans off to one side of the doorway and comes back wearing a fez, a robe, and holding a bubble pipe.

I chuckle at his ‘day off outfit.’ “I understand. Well, have a nice day off Spike!”

“Already on it!”

Volt.

As we approach the electric unicorn’s apartment, I remark to my passengers, “You know, I’m glad we decided to only take half of these invitation trips. I’m starting to feel like a door-to-door salespony. Actually now that I think about it, it’s more like when I was in Coltscouts.”

The filly on my back giggles, playing a bit with my mane. "I'd love to see a picture of that! Dad as a colt - it has to be cute!"

Specter comments as I chuckle, “You know, I bet I could get this one over really quickly if you let me.”

“By all means, feel free to speed this up.”

Volt answers his door soon enough and Specter does the talking. “Volt, concert later, backstage pass, you in?”

The unicorn seems stunned from brief but rapid question. “Umm, sure.”

“Cool, meet us at the house in a few hours.” Volt nods and goes back inside as Specter peeks down to look me in the eyes. “See? Quick and easy.”

I shrug as we start heading home. “I suppose I can’t argue with the results.”

Pinchy gently taps my cheek. “Rhino?”

“Hmm?” I look back at her. “What is it Pinchy?”

She gestures back at Volt’s house. “Why did it feel like that stallion had something hanging over him?”

It takes me a moment to realize what she is talking about. “Oh, that! That’s... that’s actually sort of a magical marker his marefriend put on him a while back to let other mares, especially unicorns, know that he is taken. I guess she just never got around to taking it off and the rest of us have just gotten used to it.”

She tilts her head, curious. “What do you mean, ‘taken’? He’s still here, isn’t he?”

Oh boy...

“Umm...” I try to think of a way to explain this to a filly. “Think of it as a way to let other ponies know that he has a marefriend, so they shouldn’t go trying to be his.”

She giggles softly. “So it’s like an engagement ring?”

I nod my head. “Or necklace, depending on if it’s not a unicorn, but yes. Sort of like that, but less serious.”

“That makes sense, but where I’m from, many pegasi give their special someponies a primary feather to thread into their manes.” She tilts her head a bit. “I think it’s because they never deteriorate, and it’s almost literally giving a part of oneself to another. That makes sense, right?”

I look upwards as I recall that tradition. “I understand that one, yes. I’ve heard about it too, and that it is one of the primary pegasi traditions. However, my mother also told me that not all pegasi use that, considering some don’t know about it when they lose their first feather, or they lose it in a storm or something. Thus the whole ‘necklace’ proposal is seen as a sort of species-neutral way of expressing your feelings. Still, anypony that does get to be part of the feather gifting is considered very special.”

“Umm, excuse me.”

“Hmm?” My head turns to the source of the voice to see a unicorn with Blue’s color scheme except with brown tips in his mane. The stallion is also wearing thick-rimmed glasses as well as saddlebags. “Oh, hello. Can I help you?”

He nods, his eyes roaming but locking back onto mine every few seconds. “Yes, I was wondering if you could tell me where I could find the town hall.”

I nod. “No problem.” I turn and point a hoof down the road. “Go down to end of this street, make a right, then keep walking for about five blocks. You can’t miss it.”

The blue unicorn smiles and says quietly, “Thank you. Have a nice day!”

I call after the pony as he walks away, “The same to you!”

***

We all arrive back at the house in great moods due to the anticipation of the upcoming evening.

As we pass by the living room, I kneel down next to the couch as I announce, “Alright passengers, this is the end of the line on the Rhino train. Please make sure to take all belongings with you and we thank you for choosing us as your transportation.”

Pinchy leaps off my back, turning and facing me. “You’re silly, dad.” She giggles, nuzzling my cheek.

I lightly nuzzle her back as I playfully answer, “Shh, don’t tell anypony. I’d rather they figure it out on their own.”

I feel Specter shake his head and laugh as he jumps down next to Berry. “Yeah, definitely in a silly mood. I bet it was Pinkie’s influence earlier.”

“No comment.” The sound of the door opening makes me turn my head to see a familiar earth pony mare. “Oh, welcome back Octavia.”

The gray mare looks from me to Pinchy and back, a confused expression on her normally-stoic face. “...did I hear that correctly?”

I tilt my head. “What? That I can be silly or that I called you Octavia instead of Fiddlesticks?”

She shakes her head, pointing at the filly on the couch. “Why did my pupil call you ‘dad’?”

Pinchy flinches, lowering her head. “...I forgot that sensei’s hearing is amazing...”

My cheery mood instantly falls to neutral. “Ah, that. Well, the short answer is that she wants to and I don’t see too much of a problem with it.” I turn to the filly and nimbat. “Why don’t you two go upstairs for a bit so Octavia and I can talk?”

“Okay!” Pinchy takes Specter in her magic and puts him on her head. With that, she rushes up the stairs, leaving me with her teacher.

I watch the two until they are out of sight, and hopefully out of hearing range. I turn back to the grey-suited mare seriously. “As you saw, there are now complications.”

“I can tell.” She sighs, shaking her head. “If it was just a simple crush, it’d be much easier for her to get over it. But this...” She motions to the stairs. “...I don’t think she’ll grow out of this.”

I shake my head as I take a seat. “Not without time and heartache. So, the question is: What are we going to do about it? We both want what’s best for her, but I struggle to see which is the best course of action in this case.”

Octavia sits down on the couch, frowning a bit. “I don’t know. I wish there was a simple solution, but I can’t think of any at the moment...” She puts a hoof to her chin, thinking silently for a few seconds. “...I only know of one actual member of her family...Berry Punch...but she doesn’t really spend much time with her sister...”

I lean back as I touch my forehooves together in contemplation. “I suppose that makes sense of why she doesn’t consider her actual father as such... do you know anything else about her life? And... what exactly is she to you?”

“...I think she lives with her sister...and her parents aren’t around, anymore...” She grimaces. “...and...I don’t really know what she is to me...I know I care about her very much...but...”

As I see her struggling for the answer, I hold up a hoof to stop her. “This isn’t the kind of question that can be forced. From what Vi told me, your group will still be around until tomorrow morning. Why don’t we take some time... to think about things. We can talk later tonight, we’ll probably need to talk to her about what she thinks as well.” I sigh and run a hoof down my face. “It’s not going to be easy, but if we do this right... we can come out of it with the best solution for everypony.”

“...I suppose you’re right.”

***

Sooner than one would think, we had a rather large group of our friends heading towards the stage for the concert. Fluttershy has dropped by earlier to explain that Applejack wouldn’t be joining us due to the Apple family already watching the audience of a stage on the outskirts of their land to make sure they stayed in line. Rainbow and Blue said they would have joined us, but had already spent all day putting together a setup of cloud seats, including perfect acoustics, snacks, beverages, and of course the comfiest clouds one could find. Specter had elected to stay home, saying that he just wanted to lay around for a while and not have to worry about crowds. Still, with myself, Hydro, Pinchy, Vinyl, Enigma, Atom, Pinkie, Octavia, Fluttershy, and Volt, we were still a ten strong group.

We arrive at the tail end of a performance by a mare that looks exactly like Octavia along with her black unicorn partner. As we pass around the applauding crowd, I could swear I saw the mare on stage give our Octavia a wink, to which she simply smiled in return. We approach the door with Glare standing guard and he lets us in with a smile.

Enigma makes an announcement as we stroll through the entrance. “Ok, anypony who wants earplugs let me know now, because once the music starts I won’t be able to hear you if you need them.”

Octavia holds up a hoof. “I would, and so would Pinch.” She takes the offered earplugs and puts a pair in the filly’s ear before taking care of her own.

Pinchy frowns, laying flat on my back. “...now I can’t hear anything...not even my own voice...” She thinks about this for a moment. “...cool!”

The only others who ask for the earplugs are myself, Fluttershy, and surprisingly enough, Atom. As soon as all of us are set, Glare comes walking around us and stands next to the door in front of us.

He knocks on the door once before addressing us, “She wanted to say a quick ‘hello’ before she goes on stage.” He eyes the white mare in our group, “Seems at least one of you is a big fan.”

The mare in question shrugs, smirking playfully. “If you say so, dude.”

The gold stallion raises an eyebrow at her voice before shrugging it off as the door next to him starts to open.

Enigma smirks to himself, elbowing me. “Watch the confusion on everypony’s face...” He pauses, tilting his head slightly. “...this won’t cause a paradox, will it?”

I nod my head at the door. “If the pony behind that door is who I think it is, then Octavia already disproved that particular theory.”

Volt looks at us both curiously. “What are you two talking about? Paradoxes and theories of what?”

I simply point to the door as a familiar unicorn DJ trots out to meet us. She stops as she sees her mirror and simply stares.

“What’s the matter?” Vi giggles, shaking her head. “P0N-3 got your tongue?”

Vinyl laughs as she hears Vi’s voice. “Well, I guess if somepony had to, it might as well be me.”

“Or your stallion. Can’t forget that.”

Atom, having seen this once before but is still uninformed, simply observes with only a single mouth twitch to show his opinion. Pinkie seems completely unaffected by the whole situation. Volt, on the other hoof, is unashamedly staring opened-mouthed at the mirror image ponies.

He forces out words after a few moments, “But... you... how?” He looks to me and Enigma for answers as I mouth the words ‘In a minute.’”

The two DJs continue chatting it up as if they are old friends.

Vinyl nods at Vi’s last statement as she pats Glare’s side fondly. “Of course you can’t forget them.” She nods her head upward at our group. “One of these yours?”

“Yep!” Vi drapes her hoof over Enigma’s back, grinning widely. “I’d like to introduce myself to Enigma, or E, for short.”

She shakes E’s hoof. “Nice to meet you. Keeping ‘me’ happy?”

“I’d like to think so.” He drapes a wing over Vi. “She hasn’t told me otherwise, at least.” He nods at Vinyl, chuckling softly. “Glad you didn’t mistake me for a mare. First time that’s happened since I’ve been here.”

Vinyl floats a set of headphones out of the room behind her and around her neck. “Well, she did talk about not forgetting your stallion.” She turns to the ever increasing murmur of the crowd. “Well, better get out there to give em what they want.” She leans up up nuzzles Glare. “Keep the crazy ones off me, big guy.” She turns and walks onto the stage.

Pinchy decides to speak up from my back, having forgotten to take an earplug out to hear. “What are they saying, d- I mean, Rhino?” She pulls one out to hear my response.

I motion towards the identical mares. “DJs are apparently immune to paradox brain explosions and consider themselves instant friends.”

“Oh. Okay, then!” She glances over at somepony else in the group. “I wonder...” With those words, she leaps off my back and onto Fluttershy’s. “Oh, wow, she’s just as fluffy as you, Rhino!” She settles herself on my marefriend’s back, sighing softly. “So comfy...”

Fluttershy looks back at her softly as Hydro nudges me and mutters, “Fluffy huh?”

I look at him with a knowing smile. “Hey, after all these years with me, you know I have no problem being fluffy.” A cough from behind us reveals an expectant looking Volt. “Ah, right, I did say I would explain... well, details will wait until our usual night, but for now let’s just say: alternate dimension crossing.”

Volt, instead of freezing or looking confused like everypony else did, beams at the three words. “I knew the theories about parallel universes were true! This is great!”

...well he took that better than expected...

The electric unicorn stares me right in the face as he says, “Later. I. Want. Details. Oh, I can’t wait to tell Twilight!”

I let out a nervous laugh as I back away and put Hydro between he and I.

Octavia, who was right next to me, whispers loud enough for me to hear. “If he makes a pun, I’m going to smack him upside the head.” She trots away, shaking her head. “I swear, he looks like the type.”

After a look between the two ponies, I decide to adopt my usual fall-back plan of saying nothing.

And so the concert commences. All of us backstage dance to the musical stylings of the track mixing mistress who controls the stage. Whether it be Vi’s head-banging, Shy and I’s bobbing, or even so much as Pinkie’s moves that defy description simply because half of them do not seem possible, a good time is undoubtedly had by all. Even between sets was interesting as we observed all the stagehooves in their elements as they strove to make sure everything was perfect. Lights, smoke, lasers, convenient bottles of water stealthily slid to the performer so she stayed hydrated, it was like a colony of busy ants.

Even ants need rest though, and as night begins to fall, the music and ponies all begin to wind down. Finally, the time comes and the DJ bows to the crowd and makes her exit, giving a tired wave and a smile to the rest of us as we too begin heading back from whence we came. The streets are quiet as our group slowly splits, each to their own home with a goodbye and, in Fluttershy’s case, a quick peck while I take the filly off her back. Soon, there remains only us 6 left as we arrive home, all tired but in a good way.

Hydro, Vi, and E all express their various desires for sleep, or in Vi’s case just lying down and not moving, and soon head to their respective rooms, leaving only myself, Pinchy, and Octavia.

I look at the mare and motion to Pinchy a few times with my eyes, to which she nods.

Octavia turns to the filly, smiling softly. “Berry, would you please let Rhino and I talk with each other in private?”

She nods, leaping off my back and heading toward the stairs.

I sigh as I see the filly goes out of sight. “So, have you thought about what I asked, just as I have thought about what to do?”

“...I have...” She sighs, sitting on the couch and looking at me. “...Pinchy is my pupil...and my friend...honestly, I’m not sure I could just leave her here...I...I’d miss her...”

I hum in thought. “My mind is split on this. Logically, one would think it would be best for her to simply go back with you to her world, as planned.”

“But then she might be upset.” She places a hoof on my shoulder. “She really cares deeply for you...you’re the father she never had...I’m just her teacher - a friend...”

I wince at her words. “And that is why I am conflicted. I see her, happy, and it breaks my own heart to think of what might happen. I admit I have grown attached to her, and I feel no small amount of warmth every time she calls me...that.”

“You’ve truly grown that attached to her?” She tilts her head, curious. “Even though you’ve barely known her for a week...you’re absolutely sure?”

“Technically, I’ve known her for over a month, even if only a little over a week of that was spent with her. She was with me for the vast majority of the time I was in your world, remember?.” I sigh. “I don’t know why I bonded with her so easily, sometimes these things happen. All I know is that it did happen, and now she thinks I’m her-”

“Dad?”

We both turn to see the filly peeking out from behind the corner. She steps out, a sheepish smile on her face. “...I couldn’t help myself...” She stops in front of me, looking up with wide eyes. “...I’m sorry I caused so much trouble...but I really want to stay here with you...”

Those words nearly break me as I hear them. I groan as I stare upwards at the ceiling and ask it, “Is this even possible?” I look back at the filly. “You would give up the life you have?”

She tilts her head, thinking a bit. “...I admit that I’ll miss my friends...but I don’t have to give them up, do I?”

I sigh. “One can never give up true friends, but it is true... if you stay here you won’t see them nearly as often, perhaps even not at all. You could always make new friends, but they would not be the same friends. That’s why I want to make sure you are absolutely sure about this.”

“They said the same about me not seeing you, but I’m here now!” She grins widely. “I suppose I won’t see my friends as often...but that’ll make the time I do spend with them more special!”

Her optimism brings a small smile to my face. “I guess it could be similar to moving to a new town...” I give a sideways glance to the silent mare, “or to a new country.” I turn back to the filly but gesture to Octavia. “What about your teacher?”

Pinchy looks over at the mare, smiling softly. “You understand, right?”

Octavia sits quietly for a moment, her gaze traveling to the case in the corner of the room. “...I suppose...you need a father figure in your life...” She turns to the filly, smiling back at her. “...I guess this will be good for you.” Before Pinchy can leap with joy, the mare holds up a hoof. “I will be coming every so often to check on you, though, and I will ask Rhino whether or not you’ve been a good filly. If you are, then maybe I’ll bring one of your friends when I come over next.”

Pinchy leaps forward and hugs me, happily nuzzling my chest.

Octavia looks to me, smirking slightly. “Congratulations, Rhino. You now have a daughter.”

I hug the little pink filly back as I answer. “So it seems... I can’t actually believe this is happening... and you seem to be taking this better than I expected.”

“I’ve come to terms with it.” She shrugs a bit. “Besides, if we didn’t do this, Berry would likely be sad. And that will not do.”

I look down at my newest responsibility. “No, no it won’t. Hmm, I guess there’s a lot to do now.”

“Like what?” Octavia looks at me in confusion. “Berry’s always been home-schooled by me. Do you not plan on teaching her, yourself?”

“I could always teach her some things I suppose, but I’m not qualified to teach her everything. Plus, the social aspects of school are important as well. That’s not all I meant though. It’s not like she brought everything she owns with her, so we’ll have to get those, we’ll also either have to have her birth and medical records or I’ll have to go ask my Twilight what the process would be to create them from scratch. We’ll have to fix up the downstairs room, and I’ll have to formally adopt her... and then comes the hard part.”

“Hard part?” Pinchy looks up at me, tilting her head to the side. “What do you mean by that, dad?”

“I mean, having to tell to everypony how a little filly that didn’t exist in our dimension is now my daughter... that includes explaining that to your future grandparents.”

“I have grandparents, now? Yay!” She starts bouncing around the room, beaming brightly. “I can’t wait to meet them!”

I give Octavia a sideways glance. “Yeah, this is gonna be interesting.”

The mare giggles softly, gently placing a hoof on my back. “That’s probably an understatement, Rhino.”

Comments

[Jeff Belinger]

still featured, dude i swear you're blowing some staff member XD

[boomikillyou]

A another awesome chapter

[Rhino]

2619676 Well, he doesn't actually know what it means but can make a guess based on context. But, considering she was charging him, there were more important things to worry about.

[Misplaced Modifier]

Yay, Pinchy has a new family! All aboard the adorable express.

-Mis

[darkironpony]

YAY PINCHY HAPPY! SO ADORAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABRU!

[Atomic Vortex]

HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG! *ded*
I'm guessing that we'll be seeing some fun new plot lines!

[Snowstreak]

I thought I'd be safe. Pinchy would go back and I'd recover slowly. But now she's staying.

Cue heart attack.

...

*THUD*

[Blazing Justice]

2687911 True dat
~DJ