Dusty's Day
The entirety of the board of Dusty Tinker’s company were present for this meeting to discuss how to acquire assets that had been lawfully purchased by the company, but were still being held by members of the other party. So far negotiations with the intransigent employee had been unsuccessful and the board were considering their options regarding seizing the property themselves.
Dusty squared off against their obstinate opponent. He squared his shoulders and locked eyes with him. “Look, we paid for it, so we’re going to take it. Your boss accepted our terms, and so should you.”
A silent focused stare was the only response Dusty got out of his adversary.
“Alright, I’m coming in.” Dusty said moving to the gate. The sudden movement and loud racket from their opponent made Dusty reconsider. “Gah! How does Old Roger do this so easy?!”
Translation: Dusty and his two friends, Joey Kwon and Ball Lightning, were trying to figure out how to get a broken riding mower out of Mr.Roger’s fenced off lot while the angry guard dog; Bozo, kept them out.
“...A small shock is all I’m saying.” Ball said, again. The blue coated, magenta-maned pegasus seemed to be stuck on the idea of expressing his cutie mark of a plasma ball.
“We are not electrocuting Bozo! I want Mr. Roger and Bozo to like us so that we can keep buying parts from him. Blasting his dog with lightning is not going to help with that.” Dusty explained.
“I could get sleeping pills from my house and some hamburger.” Joey offered.
Dusty turned to face the short haired, Korean-descended teen. “We are also not drugging him! Jeez guys! Come on, there has got to be a way for us to get that mower, without abusing the dog.”
The boys sat on the bed of their trailer, watching Bozo pace in front of the fence to the unofficial junkyard of Trinity. The trailer was a small flatbed they had welded and nailed together. Dusty mused to himself that they should sand the boards down a little if they were going to sit on it in the future.
The motor cart it was attached to was homemade as well. The skeleton was a dune buggy frame with the floorboards made from random wood they’d found. Bits and pieces of the vehicle were held together by welding spots, bungee cords and nails. The engine itself was a chimera of designs the three boys had cobbled together. Somehow the thing passed inspection and was street legal, even managing to be energy efficient. Painted on the side board was their advertisement: Tinker’s Repair Restoration and Salvage.
Ball ruffled his wings. “I could fly over and distract him.” Dusty glanced at his pegasus friend. He probably could distract Bozo, but Ball wasn’t the most athletic of ponies.
“I don’t think you’d be able to keep him distracted well enough or long enough.” Dusty said, shooting him down.
“Could you fly it over the fence?” Joey asked Ball.
“What? That’s like, what, nearly four hundred pounds? Flying nearly three hundred feet and over an eight foot fence with an uneven load? No, I don’t think so.” Ball declined.
“If Hrufhthy Loki was here she’d know exactly how to do this.” Dusty looked left and right. “Nuts, I was sure that would get her to show up.”
Joey stared at Dusty. “What the heck’s a harufmthy?”
The two ponies both looked at their lanky human friend, they shared a confused look. Suddenly understanding came over them. Dusty took the lead explaining himself. “Sorry Joey, I forgot you’re pretty new to ponies. Hrufhthy is Equish. Since we got so many moms we got words for each kind. There isn’t really an accurate English translation, but umm, Ball want to help me out?”
“He’s basically trying to say ‘silly fun aunt mom’ but literally it means ‘non alpha non birth mother’.”
“Something like that. English is too clunky when it comes to ‘mom’ titles ‘cause it gets confusing and it doesn’t mean the same to everyone.”
Joey continued to give Dusty a blank expression.
“Look I’ll just get you a book out of our library with a tuning crystal, it could teach you the whole language in, like a week. Meanwhile we still don’t have a plan for getting the mower.” Dusty said.
“We could armor plate the cart.” Joey suggested.
“We don’t have the material, and that doesn’t solve the long term problem. Besides, how would we get it on the trailer then?” Dusty took a breath and decided to think out loud a bit. “We can’t get the mower to us, and Bozo is preventing us from getting to the mower. We can’t incapacitate him. We can’t get him out of the lot, then he’d just come after us. Mr.Roger is away so he can’t help us… We may be able to bribe him into liking us. You guys got any money?”
Joey smirked, but still checked his pockets. “I don’t think he takes cash Dusty.”
“I’ve got three ten.” Ball pulled said money out of his saddle bags.
“Seven fifty here.” Joey patted his pocket.
“Alright, that should be enough. Joey give yours to Ball; then he can go down to the gas station and get stuff that the dog might like.”
“You want me to go to the ‘Fuel & Food’ or the ‘Gas, Gulp n Go’?”
“Whichever you think has the right stuff.” Dusty said shoving some of his own money in the pegasus’ bags.
Waving back at them, Ball took off in the direction of the Fuel & Food. Bozo gave a couple warning barks at the passing pegasus before focusing his attention back on the remaining two boys.
Dusty laid down on his back, gazing up at the sky. No pegasus traffic, and just a few clouds wandering across the azure canvas. With the bulk of the city being far away, the world around them felt quiet. He just basked in it for a moment, shrugging off the desire to nap.
Joey meanwhile felt his good mood evaporating. The same thought that had been haunting him since he started hanging out with Dusty refused to let him rest easy. Their friendship was still pretty fresh and he was afraid he might mess it up beyond saving. It didn’t hurt that he knew Dusty was a forgiving kind of guy though. I guess the big question is how forgiving. Joey screwed up his courage and decided to get it over with.
“Dust, I… I’ve got something I got to tell you. Umm, man this is harder than I thought… Gah! Screw it! Dusty, my dad works for Aether Electronics, and he’s using me to spy on your family ‘cause your, uh, cause Princess Alexia consults with B&M Enchantments. I… I’m sorry.”
Dusty looked over at the Chief Tech Officer of his ‘company’. He shifted his forelegs and moved them behind his head. “...Yeah I already knew that.”
“...W-what?!” Joey blurted out, confused again.
“I knew that already,” Dusty repeated, “well I didn’t know about you ‘spying’, but I knew about your dad’s job. I thought you were a pretty neat guy though so I wanted to get to know you. Remember? I was the one that made the first move, not you. Thanks for saying something though. Kinda clears the awkwardness out of hanging with you. And, hey, if nothing else, now I know you’re the kind who comes clean.” Dusty said smiling. “Also no, I’m not trying to use you to pump out AE’s secrets. Overall they’re a bit behind, though they do have some interesting ideas and come at it from a different direction…”
The boys both fell into a bit of silence for a moment. The world filled the quiet—bird song, the gentle breeze through the tall grass, Bozo licking himself. It really was quite relaxing.
Dusty decided to speak up before things got awkward. “I’d like to keep hanging out, you are my friend, Joe. Can what our parents do, ya’know just be what they do? And we do our own thing?”
“...Sounds good to me.” Joey felt himself return a smile much more easily now, like a huge load was taken off his shoulders. Actually, in retrospect it really didn’t seem like that big a deal. What would he have been able to find out anyway? After some silence between the two, an idea came to the teen. “Hey, you know we’re Cultural Preservationists right?”
“Heh, who isn’t?”
“Well, we’re having a full Korean feast thing friday, want to come for dinner?”
The Mion War had left a massive mark on humanity, not the least being the sudden-near or even total loss of many cultures. Some people high up in the world seemed to decide that these bits of humanity’s identity needed to be saved, and so the Cultural Preservation Movement began. In exchange for various incentives provided by the remaining governments, people studied and lived in the style of various civilizations from around the world. Incentives ranged from special licenses, observed holidays and scholarships to straight-up money. Joey’s family were taking full advantage of their heritage from his grandparents.
Dusty seemed to consider it for a moment. “Eh, why not? As long as it’s okay that I only eat vegetarian.”
“You seriously think I’d invite an Earth Pony without that in mind? Just be prepared for the Kimchi, we’ve made a pretty strong batch this time.”
The furry entrepreneur prepared a snappy response only to notice Ball coming back over the roofs of the nearby buildings. Dusty rolled off his back to greet their feathered friend. “So what did you get us?”
“Well I wasn’t to sure what to get, the only thing I could really think of was jerky, but I figured we might need more options than that, so I got beef sticks, a Hot Meal of ‘ribs’, and chocolate.” Ball listed off, dumping his haul on the trailer.
“Chocolate is poisonous to dogs.”
“But he might like it!”
“NO!”
“Hey what’s this?” Joey picked up something Ball didn’t mention.
“I got myself some gum, okay? I wanted something to chew on. Sorry I didn’t think about how it wasn’t just my money. Uh, that alright?”
“Depends, can I have some?”
Dusty picked up the beef stick and ‘ribs’ and brought them to the fence. He tried one and then the other, but the dog wasn’t going for either. That was the only plan we had, now what?
Something flew through the air, over his shoulder and right at the dog, who caught it in his mouth and began to chew furiously on his catch. Dusty whirled around to his two friends.
“What did you do? I said no chocolate!”
Neither of them paid him any attention. “Huh, look at that, he likes bubblegum.” Joey said.
Dusty blinked and whirled again. There Bozo sat chewing, and chewing. The trio just watched the dog go at his pink treat for a few minutes until, finally, he just spat it out. Looking up at the boys, he began to wag his tail, his regular growling face replaced with an easy dog smile.
Ten minutes later, the coveted mower was loaded up and the boys were on their way back to the Royal Mansion garage. With Ball behind the wheel, Joey and Dusty were left in the back seat and passenger seat respectively.
Ever since they gave Bozo the gum, Dusty had been pretty quiet. Finally Joey had enough of his friends pouting. “Dude what’s wrong? Or are you still hung up on Bozo? So he likes gum instead of fake meat, so what?”
Dusty looked over to his friend, and took a moment to try to collect his thoughts. “I don’t know. It’s just that… You ever feel like the world’s just silly? Like some of this stuff that happens to us in our everyday lives would be so much rarer or nonexistent before magic?”
“Hey yeah!” Ball cut into the conversation, “I was out with my parents the other day and we got swept up in a song with, like twenty other ponies, and after they were saying how that would never ‘just happen’ before ponies came along. I just kept thinking how weird that’d be, to live in a world with no sudden musical numbers.”
“Maybe it feels weird cause the world’s kinda, like halfway?” Joey said. “Like magic is new and it’s changing the world bit by bit, but you can still see shadows of how it used to be here and there, or in the way people act because they expect things to happen a certain way that maybe died with the old world?”
“Huh, is it me, or did this just get deep?” Ball said. At that moment they pulled onto a street where all the light poles had banners hanging from them. “Oh yeah! I forgot all about this! It’s the Cultural Preservation Festival this weekend! Oh I can’t wait to go crazy on the food stands! Y’know, it’s times like these when I can’t decide whether it’s the flying or being an omnivore that’s the best part of being a pegasus.”
Dusty looked over the banners proudly declaring the festival, the date catching his eye in particular. “Aw nuts! Joey, I’m sorry but I won’t be able to come over this friday. I forgot, but our whole family is going to some event down south for the weekend. I can’t remember what all we’re doing, something about a World Heritage Cultural site being restored or something. I’m sorry man.”
“It’s ok, hey I’ll save you some kimche, alright?”
Now Ball was interested. “What are you guys talking about?”
Joey paused a moment, then remembered he hadn’t told Ball. “I’m sorry, I forgot to tell you. My family is having a whole Korean feast to kick off the festival on friday. Want to come over?”
“Umm, I don’t know, let me think about it a bit and YES!”
A few more minutes of chatting and driving later, the trio pulled up to the garage of Trinity’s Royal Manor. With the mower unloaded, they prepared to open it up and and bring it back to life.
Dusty gathered his friends together into a circle. “Alright, we fix this mower up, put a sign on it saying how our repair company fixed it up, and we ride it around town to advertise. This thing will practically sell itself when we finish! Alright let’s start with some before pictures and then—”
Knock-Knock was the only forewarning the group had before the door opened. Stepping partly into the garage was Precise Order. Dusty’s half sister by Alexia. The red unicorn adjusted her glasses and black mane smoothly before turning her attention to her brother.
Dusty beat her to the punch however. “What do you want Prissy?”
Precise’s eyes narrowed, and her muzzle threatened to break into a scowl. “My name is Precise thank you. I just came to remind you that tomorrow is Contract Day, so you should get your things together. If you make me deal with a mess like last time, you’ll regret it.”
“You know it’s only as complicated as it is because our parents are humoring you and your obsessive need to follow your namesake, right?”
“Just because I like things to be clearly defined and orderly doesn’t mean that you can just slack off on your responsibilities.” She said, using her magic to adjust an errant wrench on the workbench. She turned to leave but stopped. “By the way, hrufhthy Crimson wanted to see you.” With that she exited the garage, closing the door with a bit more force than necessary.
Dusty sighed. “Alright guys, get the pictures, and I’ll be back soon. Grab a soda or something from the fridge if you like.” He moved to go into the house through the same door Precise used only to find it was locked magicly. “Ugh, you know for someone who tries to seem so grown up Prissy sure can be foalish.”
“Well it doesn’t help you keep calling her something she hates.” Ball spoke up.
“Whatever, I’ll be right back.” With that, Dusty headed out the garage door.
Joey looked to Ball. “He’s not coming back is he?”
“With how mad Precise was? Nooope.”
Dusty trotted up to the front door, but he quickly found that it too wouldn’t open. He was about to head to the backdoor when he heard giggling on the other side of the insubordinate ingress. “Aw nuts.” He muttered to himself, “Hey come on open up.”
More giggling ensued. “Nobody’s home.” A small girl’s voice called out.
“Shhhh! Now he knows we’re here!”
“No he doesn’t ‘cause I said ‘Nobody’s here’. Oww! Typhoon I’m telling!”
Dusty shook his head unable to keep from smiling just a bit. “Typhoon, you shouldn’t hurt others. Foam, nopony likes a tattler. Bloom, please open the door.”
A small gasp came from behind the door. “How’d he know it was us!? Bloom didn’t say anything!” Foam said. “Oww! Typhoon stop it!”
“What do we get for letting you in?” Bloom chipped in breaking her silence.
“I won’t tell our parents you locked me out.”
Some whispering could be made out on the girl’s side. “What else?”
Dusty groaned, was this happening? Bribing three pint sized pegasi into opening the door so he wouldn’t have to walk around the house?
Yes, apparently it was.
“I’ll give you all a ride on the wagon while I pull.” He finally offered.
“The Dune Buggy!” Typhoon countered.
“It’s the wagon or nothing.”
More whispers. “Okay.” The lock clicked and door swung open, the three small foals surrounding him in no time. “Wagon ride, wagon ride, wagon ride!” They all chanted.
The three pegasi fillies were Alexia’s youngest. Bloom Gale was pink with a light orange mane; she was, so far, the smartest of them and generally the one who led them around. Foam Breeze was light blue with a yellow mane, a very sweet little filly. And then there was Typhoon; green with a black mane, she definitely was the surliest of the three. Dusty would often refer to them as such: smart, sweet and surly, like some offshoot of Snow White’s dwarves.. Watching them grow up was going to be interesting.
“Alright, I’ll give you a wagon ride, but first I got to see momma Crimson about something ok? Do any of you know where she is?”
Foam smiled up at him. “Uh huh! Um she was in the kitchen! And when you come back you’ll give us a wagon ride?”
“Yep, I will.”
“Yaaaaay!” All three girls ran off to get their wagon out of the garage.
Coming through the door Dusty looked into the living room. There surrounded by toys was Loki and her youngest, Ash. He was a tiny thing with a grey coat and a slightly darker grey mane. He was also such a stoic little thing, hardly ever making a sound. He was the herd’s youngest and Dusty didn’t think foals talked that early, but still they babbled or something, right? At the moment neither the loving mother nor the infant were very interested in the toys surrounding them though. No, both were currently engaged in an Epic Staring Contest!
Or at least it would be a staring contest if it were between normal people, Dusty thought it was more likely they were using their eyes in some kind of telepathy. Either way he moved along toward the kitchen; one did not simply interrupt whatever it was those two were doing.
In the kitchen Dusty found his Grandma Bella, Aunt Beth, and his Mom working on dinner. Helping them out was Grani, Loki’s eldest, and Sunflower, Crimson’s youngest. Grani was huge. Despite their age difference he was thicker than Dusty and just as tall. His steel-colored coat enforced the impression he was as solid as metal, and his red mane implied that he may just be fire driven as well.
Sunflower on the other hoof was normal, which when placed next to Grani, just made her seem small. Her colorings were, to the unfamiliar, similar to Foam’s, though Dusty couldn’t ever understand why people would mix them up. Sunflower was Cyan while Foam clearly a Deep Sky Blue. Sunflower’s mane was golden; Foam’s was yellow. Of course the fact that both were pegasi didn’t help things, but still, Sunflower was older by a few years, so it shouldn’t be that difficult to tell them apart.
“Hey Momma, you wanted to see me?” Dusty said, stopping just out of the kitchen.
Crimson looked up from her project, a look of thought crossing her features. “No, don’t think so.” A bad feeling grew in Dusty’s stomach. “So how’d getting the mower go?”
Bella perked up from the greens she was chopping. “Mower? What’s my grandson need with a mower? Did you get a job cutting yards? Cause I don’t think you can maintain a business like that around here, not with everyone or their neighbor looking at their lawn as ah-ah-a food supplement!”
Crimson smiled at her mother’s grandmothering. “He’s not cutting lawns Ma. He’s going to fix it up and sell it.”
Bella would not be deterred. “It isn’t right you know, a boy that young working! He should be out playing around with his friends and getting into trouble!”
Crimson laughed at that. “That is what he’s doing.” Bella just went back to her chopping. Muttering to herself about how she knew things were with this young pony generation. Dusty was pretty sure he heard the phrase “itchy frogs” in there too. Crimson turned more toward her son, smiling even broader. “So, how did it go?”
“All things considered, pretty well. Ball and Joey are waiting for me in the garage actually so I’ll just-”
“Oh hey, that reminds me! Are they staying for dinner?”
The pit in Dusty’s gut grew, this was leading somewhere… “Yeah mom, they are, they’re actually spending the night.”
“Oh that’s nice, can’t believe I forgot! Shows what I keep track of. That does remind me though-” Here it comes! “I think Frieda is upstairs with Aurora, can you go see if she’s sticking around for dinner too? I’d ask Violet but I already sent her out on an errand and she hasn’t made it back yet.” And there it was. The trap was sprung, and in that moment Dusty saw the intricate web that led him there, and knew he was doomed.
In all the Royal Herd, there was no one who understood certain intricacies of the family, and how to manipulate them better than Precise Order. She would know who was in the house and when, she would know what they generally wanted and when. She would know what words to say to lay out traps that would devour an entire afternoon that would otherwise be spent with friends working on a project.
“By the way, hrufhthy Crimson wanted to see you.” He should have known there and then something was up. With Precise there were no afterthoughts, no ‘By The Ways’, everything was ordered and accounted for in advance: the magic lock on the garage door to buy a little time; the pegasus triplets so he’d either go to the back door, exposing himself to probably more traps, or bribing them as he had done, with something time consuming later on, all leading him to his Mother, stuck working on dinner in the kitchen. She’d ask for help, either with making dinner or going around the house to do things she couldn’t. Because he knew it wouldn’t end with Frieda, there would be another thing and another thing.
There were most certainly more facets to the trap that he had already bypassed—no, had yet to spring. He could either cut and run now, leaving his mother in the lurch and spring some backup trap, or run the gauntlet and hope to catch a lucky break.
All because he called her Prissy.
Maybe he’d rethink that nickname.
Nah, if she was going to retaliate this much, then it was just too worth it. Didn’t mean it wouldn’t be a pain though.
“Uh, can’t Sunflower do it? I mean, I’ve got company over and she’s probably just texting on her phone.” Dusty said trying to maneuver his way out of his sister’s fiendish snare.
Sunflower looked up from her smart phone and gave Dusty an unamused stare. “I'm not just texting here. Stacy Burner is trying to get her grubby little hands on Bradley, who is obviously crushing on Jennifer. And Janet just posted pics of this gaudy dress. If I don't tell her how embarrassing it looks, she might end up wearing it on Monday, and that would be a, total, disaster! Like oh MY Glob! Oh and I have all the recipes on here, and have been keeping tabs with dad telling him what to get at the store. So there!” She punctuated her statement by sticking her tongue at him.
Crimson looked from her daughter back to her son. “See, impossible.”
Dusty slumped in defeat. “Alright, I’ll go check with Frieda for ya Mom.”
As he started trotting away, the glass door to the back patio opened up and Alexia came inside.., seemingly ending a frustrating phone call. “For the last time, Yakim: NO! I’m not going to be here so I can’t give the commencement speech at the Cultural Festival, so please stop starting petitions for me to do it! Mmhm. Hm. Mhuh. NO! Say the whole thing! I don’t care if it doesn’t roll off your damned tongue. Now say it with me: Demi-Goddess. Yes it is important. Goodbye Yakim.” She groaned with supreme exasperation. “Squirrelly little worshippers, there’s just no satisfying them is there? Hey Beth, where’s Rodney and the kids?”
“On their way, they’ll be here for dinner.” Beth called out from one of the fridges.
“Alrighty. So… I hope you guys didn’t cook the lasagna without me.” Alexia said.
Up the stairs to Aurora’s room—simple. Aw Nuts! I thought that so now something’s going to happen… Dusty stood at the base of the stairs, every step suddenly promising to suck his day with his friends away. Honestly, stairs had never made him feel this nervous before. Yet he climbed.
One hoof moved in front of the other, slowly, automatically. All of Dusty’s focus was firmly on the landing at the top, and what he was positive would be waiting for him. Another trap, some fiendish machination of his younger half-sister. Finally it came; the last step.
Nothing.
The hall was clear. Both ways even.
He let out a breath. He was giving her too much credit, turning her talent into a straight up superpower in his mind. He turned down the hall and made his way to Aurora’s room, opening the door.
There in front of a tall mirror was Aurora, apparently posing. Not too unusual. Her being some kinda half pony half human thing? That… was different.
“Hmm, maybe this much?” She said to herself. “But maybe the nose is too pony? I mean he said it was cute but when w-we finally k-kiss,” She blushed furiously. “Maybe it would be too awkward? Heh, at least he likes my ears like they are. Oh! And clothes! I’ll get to go clothes shopping with Frieda and actually buy something! Well besides a dress, and I guess I’ll have to make wing and tail holes…”
“Uh, hey sis. Frieda here? Momma Crimson wanted to know if she’s staying for dinner. And then there was something else, now what was it? Oh yeah! What the heck are you doing?” Dusty said mildly bemused.
Aurora turned to face Dusty with an indignant scowl. “Hey, how about some courtesy huh? Maybe try knocking? Yeah Frieda was going to have dinner here, and what I’m doing is none of your business!” She said heatedly.
She wasn’t going to say, so Dusty decided to make his own judgements and examined her briefly. She stood on two legs ending in hooves, but she had hands. Her face was mostly pony, though that wasn’t as long. Her horn, wings, and tail were also still present so he guessed magic, flight, and modesty were still in her power. The weird part was the fur. It started at her legs short but there, though it seemed to disappear at some point around her navel. At that point it became apparent that her skin was the same color, continuing on her fur’s snow-white pigment. Thanks to the mirror, Dust saw her mane remained largely unchanged. Since Aurora had her hair draped over her left shoulder, Dusty saw the roots went all the way down to just below her neck.
And then of course there was…
“Why would you go with human breasts too?” he asked with profound confusion. “Becky always says her rack causes her back pain.”
Aurora’s confused look lasted until she looked down and finally seemed to realize this may not be something her brother should see. Then her expression seemed to have trouble deciding between embarrassment, outrage and shock. With one arm she reflexively covered herself, and the other she pointed out the door.
“OUT! GET OUT!” She yelled. Her horn lit up to cancel the spell, returning her to her quadrupedally natural state. Unfortunately her body positioning was not four legged friendly and her recently restored longer equine nose quickly met with the thankfully soft carpet of her floor.
Dusty decided he should take her demands as good advice and proceeded to get the heck out of there, nearly bowling Frieda over on his way. He nearly made it to the stairs.
“Dusty! Oh this is perfect timing!” Oh no, give me Prissy so I can beg for her help just please don’t make me have to deal with- Too late. She was already there.
Wish Well, Precises twin and the biggest time suck that could possibly come his way. And for bonus points she had Pearl and Burning Comet with her.
Ok maybe I will reconsider calling her Prissy.
Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of her. Precise Order! She could save him and she could name her price! This was more than time on the line at this point, no, so much more was now in danger.
He locked eyes with her. He silently begged, he pleaded, he offered her anything he had (within reason) to save him from this.
She smirked. The bottom gave out in his stomach.
He then suddenly realized that he either blacked out for a moment there, or his sisters moved faster than, apparently, light, because he now found himself in their shared room. Wish well stood in front of him, with that impossibly oblivious smile. Oh and apparently she had been talking the whole time.
“- and that’s why you’re just perfect for this!” Wish ended her explanation. The blue unicorn brought herself right up to his face, almost shoving her eyes into his, yet somehow leaving just enough space to fit her smile into his field of view. Her cornflower blue mane blocked out the rest.
He moved his head to the right. Gotta escape! Burning Comet was there. The energetic orange pegasus also shoved her face into his, her wild red mane flowing with her. “Oh brother! It’s so nice of you to help us with this!” How does she always sound so formal while she’s that peppy?
He twisted once more, only for his last clear path out to be once again blocked. Pearl sat stoically, an utterly unamused look on the aptly named unicorn with the purple mane. “Sit down.”
Wish Well squealed. “Oh Dusty we’re going to have so much fun!”
With one last longing look at the door, Dusty saw Precise again, still smirking.
Until the day I die I am sooo going to call you Prissy.
Twenty minutes later Dusty found himself very grateful for the large mound of soft, loose potting soil outside the girls window.
“Ow, that hurt.” He gasped out when he could finally breathe again.
“Okay Dusty we’ll see you at dinner then! Thanks for your help!” Wish Well called out merrily from the window.
“Whoa! Bro, you ok? Righteous face plant!” Dusty turned to see his younger full brother, who flinched on seeing him, “Wish get you with ‘needing help’ again huh?” Effervescent Zephyr asked. “Was it really so bad you had to jump out the window?”
Dusty spit out a bit of dirt. “No, Pearl was practicing her fine magic control again. She was doing fine with the make-up, then Burning got excited while Pearl was concentrating real hard.’ Dusty sat upright again, shaking his head. “Is it all as bad as I think it is EZ?” He asked the light orange, purple maned pegasus sitting on a tuft of cloud.
“Ch’yeah! Here, I’ll hit chya with a blast from my cloud here, but um, maybe you should roll around in that dirt a bit first, y’know kinda scrape it off a bit? I mean I’ve been pumping this thing full of my mana for a bitc-uhh awesome experiment, but I don’t think it’d be enough dude.”
Dusty stared up at his brother. “Why do keep talking like that? Like some stoner surfer dude?”
Ez put on a lop sided grin. “You wanna hassle me ‘bout the way I talk brah, or ya want me to wash that make up and junk off ya?”
“...Blast me.”
Dusty’s choice of words was more accurate than he would have liked. He found himself on the receiving end of what he imagined being hosed by a fire hydrant to be like. Fortunately it didn’t last too long.
EZ glided down gently beside his brother, who was currently gasping for air. “Pretty sweet yeah? Good thing I got three more of those, see I’m compressing them as much as I can and then I’m going to try sky boarding with them!”
“Why? What could that possibly do for flying?” Dusty managed to to say, weakly albeit.
“...I dunno. But it’s gonna be frickin’ sweet finding out! Anyway, looks like we got it all. See ya at dinner bro!” EZ took off once again, flying upside down. Or maybe that was Dusty.
After a moment or two of rest Dusty got up and shook himself off. He was still covered in bits of wet soil and mud, but that’s what the hose was for.
“Wagon Ride, wagon ride, wagon ride!” The enthusiastic cheers of three petit pegasi could be heard.
Aw Nuts.
“Again again!”
“Yeah! But go faster this time!”
“I wanna feel the wind!”
This was Dusty’s ninth circuit around the house, and Earth pony stamina or not, it was science fact that being in close proximity to kids of a certain age of either species drained one of all energy they may have. Also he’d already been through a full day, and then Prissy’s Gauntlet, and then a freaking window! Dusty was at this point, pretty sure he was going to just collapse.
“I *Gasp!* think that’s *Pant* all I got.”
“Awww com’mon! One more ride pretty please?” Foam begged with what he was sure would be puppy eyes. Don’t look don’t look don’t look.
“Hey Dusty!” He couldn’t help but flinch at the sound of his name, yet still he turned and saw his Dad Conrad along with his brothers Noble Cause and Ward. They were Loki’s twins, both brown furred with golden manes though Ward was a pegasus and Noble an Earth Pony. “Wanna give us a hand with this food?” Conrad said shifting his saddle bags for emphasis.
“Ugh, yeah I’m coming.” Dusty called back, untying himself from the wagon. “Sorry girls, Dad’s a callin’.”
“Awwwww” They all whined. Then they remembered they were hungry and their disappointment disappeared as quickly as their little wings could take them. “Dinner, dinner, dinner!”
“You ok Dust? Ya look kinda dirty. And beat up.” Noble Cause asked passing a bag onto Dusty’s back.
“I’ve had a long, eventful afternoon.”
“Heh, I bet you called Precise ‘Prissy’ in front of Ball again didn’t you?” Ward snickered.
Conrad turned to look at his eldest son. “Again? When are you going to learn not to tease a girl in front of a guy she likes?”
The bags and boxes of food were eventually brought in, and set on the table to supplement the food prepared in the kitchen. After what felt like hours, Dusty finally hobbled into the garage.
“Dinner’s ready you guys. Look, sorry I wasn’t here so we could start on tearing down the mower but… uh.” Dusty stopped, when he saw the mower had been mostly disassembled already.
“What? You thought we couldn’t take it apart without you?” Ball said.
Dusty felt his face begin to fall just a bit at the disappointment of not getting to do any of the work. Joey didn’t let it stay that way. “Don’t worry man, we just did the small stuff and kept things organized and catalogued. All the best bits are still waiting for you.”
“Thanks guys, that… That kinda means a lot right now.” Dusty said fondly.
“Woah, Precise musta got you good.” Ball teased.
“You have no idea. Come on let’s eat up.”
A quick brush down for Dusty and some washed hands and hooves later, the three boys were on their way to the dinner table. Technically it was a banquet table, but for the Royal Herd nothing else would fit everyone. Ponies scrambled trying to get their seats next to their favorite dinner partners, those who had similar likes, continuing a conversation, maybe they didn’t like to eat their delicious peas, etc.
The layout of the table was always different, but one thing remained constant: Alexia sitting at the head of the table. Even when she couldn’t make it, which was rare, they left it empty. It was her seat, no matter how she may argue.
Most everyone was settled into their places, the roar of conversation brought down to a murmur as most eyes turned to the head of the table. Alexia, unsurprisingly, occupying the seat of honor. Conrad sat beside her. Loki sat next to the ever stoic Ash, both ready to devour all in their path. Bella sat with Crimson and Sunflower. Beth sat with her husband Rodney and her baby boy johnny, while her daughter Maddie sat with Violet, playing with the teen’s mane. Dusty and his friends sat together on one side of the table, Dusty couldn’t help but notice that Precise was sitting across from Ball. Maybe she does have a crush on him. Next to Precise were two open seats; a quick scan of the table told Dusty the only two missing were Aurora and Frieda.
What could be holding them up? No sooner had he thought it than Dusty heard a hushed conversation from the stairs.
“This is a bad idea! I barely made it down the stairs!”
“Oh come on! Don’t chicken out now. You ran through town like this just last week! This is your totally understanding family. If there is a time and place to test this, it’s here and now! You’d rather do the test run on your date? Trial by friendly fire! Or something like that… Anyway you’re doing this!”
“This is because I accidentally ruined your shoes last time isn’t it?!”
Finally Aurora and Frieda rounded the corner from the foyer and into the dining room. Absolute silence filled the air.
Standing on two hooves was Aurora, back in the same form Dusty had walked in on, fortunately wearing clothes this time; A short skirt and billowy shirt made up her simple outfit. Her face seemed just a few shades short of ‘boiled lobster’ she was blushing so hard.
“Uhm, uh… Hi everyone…” Aurora said meekly.
Alexia blinked a few times. “So that’s what you’ve been up to!” she said with an intrigued grin while tapping her chin. “Well don’t just stand there Aurora! Come on, give us a spin! Let’s see what you managed!”
The tension that seemed to be building in the room disappeared at that, Aurora gave a slow spin and fidgeted with her skirt, smiling the whole time. Then she made her way to her seat next to Precise before her legs had a chance to betray her and give out from the excitement of her success. Frieda sat on her other side. “Told ya.” She said with a victorious smirk.
“Ok, everyone’s here.” Alexia said, fluffing her wings a bit and positioning herself more regally. She had the rooms attention. “Our thanks go out to those who put this food on our table.” She nodded to those that prepared the food. “To those who grew it, who tended to it and nurtured it. To our loved ones for joining us in this meal.” The house’s guests all got a nod from someone. “To those who did so much for us to see that we could enjoy it together. Everyone, be thankful to each other, because we don’t know what the future brings.” A moment of silence filled the air as everyone thought of something they were thankful for. “Alright, eat up!”
The quiet grace that had filled the room was very suddenly and brutally destroyed. Magic fields competed over dishes, mini food fights broke out, and the roar of people trying to be heard over the racket filled everyones ears.
Dusty himself was rather fortunate this evening to be able to grab his food almost immediately, and get to relax right from the start. As he made steady progress on his plate, he couldn’t help but watch as Aurora tried to eat with hands. She had decided to try the fingers themselves at first, because ‘why not’ apparently, but quickly decided hot lasagna was not the best dish to do that with. She now was gripping her fork with her whole fist, and was doing pretty well, if not as graceful as the other hand users, baby Johnny aside. Frieda noticed and started trying to show her transmogrified friend how best to hold the utensils.
Huh, hands… nothing seems to hold her attention for too long though. Wonder how long till she gets bored of this.
Of course I would be chosen to be part of the clean up crew, after all I was just ‘goofing off’ all afternoon.
Joey and Ball had gone on ahead once again, but they were just going to watch something on the tv in the garage, so that made it easier for Dusty to bite down on his impatience. They were finally done clearing the table and washing the dishes. He was just about to head to the garage, when he found himself stopped once more.
By Precise.
“I know I already told you this but since you’ve historically shown yourself unable to remember; Don’t forget! Tomorrow’s Contract Day, so get all your little complaints and requests together so we can actually do something this time? Hmm?”
Dusty could practically feel his eye twitch. Taking a deep breath, he tried to settle himself. “Do you have any paper?”
“Momma Alexia has some in her study.” She supplied helpfully, she turned to walk away. a few steps however she stopped. and sighed. “Remember to knock this time.” And with that cryptic remark she left.
… Aww what kinda trap is there now?!
He sat in front of the door to the study and stared at the handle. There’s paper somewhere else in this house. A hundred places!... So why can’t I think of any? He let out a breath, he was beat, all he could do was hope to get it over with.
He knocked. And then immediately entered.
There in the room were Alexia, Aurora and Frieda. All on two legs. Somehow, in spite of his terrible streak of rotten luck, Dusty had been saved from a sight he’d probably rather not see.
After a moment of silence Alexia started things up again. “Good job remembering to teleport me something to wear Aurora, It slipped my mind entirely. Dusty almost had to learn to wait until he hears it’s okay to enter the hard way.”
“He really should learn a thing or two about door etiquette Mom.” Aurora said, giving Dusty a weird look.
Alexia stood head and shoulders above the two teen girls. She was pretty much a larger version all around of her transformed daughter. She was covered by a billowy White dress—that or a bed sheet; Dusty couldn’t really tell.
She kept flexing her fingers and playing with them. “Wow, I had forgotten what these were like. Heh, takes me back.” She then patted her breasts. “These on the other hand are a bit new. Hahaha!” Alexia laughed wistfully. She twirled in front of the mirror, nearly tripping over herself. After a few nostalgic moments Alexia smirked and shook her head. “Well this was an interesting trip down memory lane, Aurora, but… this isn’t for me, hasn’t been for a long time now. Standard spell cancel?”
“Yeah, but make sure your hands are where you want them, otherwise you’ll probably face plant.”
In a burst of light Alexia returned herself to her normal pony state, and teleported her temporary clothing back to where it came. “Alright, thank you for showing me. So that was the spell I’d been hearing rumors about all week. It’s a bit unrefined, but I’d be more than happy to help with that later.” With that Aurora and her friend left and Alexia focused on Dusty. “You really should learn better door manners.” She said with a grin. “Anyway, how can I help you Dusty?”
“Paper, I just need paper. Also for this day to just end.” Dusty replied almost mournfully.
Alexia pulled a notebook out of a drawer in her desk and passed it to him. “Rough day huh? Heard you called Precise ‘Prissy’ in front of Ball again.” She smiled knowingly.
“And I’ll never see the end of it cause I’m not done yet.” He said gaining some of his determination back.
“Hehehe, good luck.”
With that, Dusty headed back to the garage. After such an event filled day, it was a bit surprising nothing stopped him on the way. He collapsed between his friends watching some Pre-War show on one of the channels dedicated to that stuff. He spent a few minutes listening in and coming up with his proposals for the next day.
“Guys.” He finally broke the silence between them. “Are your families all this crazy?”
“Yep.” Joey replied instantly.
“Different kinds of crazy, but yeah.” Ball added.
“Yours is just bigger.” Joey continued.
Dusty thought on that for a moment. “Good, as long as I’m not the only one. Pass me a soda?”
Joey got up to get the soda, and coming back found Dusty had passed out on them. Exhausted from the busy day, flanked by his friends and full of good food, he never stood a chance.
Here's the family photo if you'd like. I suck at editing photos so it's pretty basic, mostly so you can see what they look like.
Editing credit goes to LAP and to Gambit Prawn. If you like CToH (this universe made by LAP) then you might just enjoy Gambits side story for it. I think it's pretty good and it could do with a bit more love. Be warned though, this story is light hearted, his is darker.
I hope you enjoy this. Take care.
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Knowing that half of females in Alexia`s herd were males before...its creepy. I hope times, when such transformation might be available never come.
That family tree makes my head spin. So many sisters... so many sisters... I pity you Dusty.
Heh, I really, really enjoyed this chapter. It's inspiring me to start compiling some notes to write my entry into this universe. I'd have to run some things past LAP before I actually sat down to write it because it relies on some huge ideas that this story nor the originals hint at. Big enough that I'd need the go ahead before including them if I wanted to be canon compliant with anything in the future. I assume this story is fully compliant? LAP is one of your editors after all.
A few thoughts that jumped out at me:
I was totally expecting Frieda to be in an anthro form as well. It's not commented upon so I assume only Aurora was, but it just seems to me she'd do it to support her friend. Or have Aurora to guilt her into it for the same reason. It would have gotten an interesting reaction from Alexia, I'm sure. And from Dusty I imagine.
Upon hearing of the family, it says something bad about me that I was trying to see how the gender ratio came out as one of my first thoughts and being slightly disappointed it wasn't 3:1 fillies:colts like it was stated. My next thought was that Alexia only had fillies, and Loki only had colts, and Crimson has 2 colts and 1 filly. Those statistics are pretty interesting.
You know what else is interesting? Grani's name. It's the only born pony name we've seen that isn't a straightforward idea. That it is Norse related like Loki is is telling, but Loki gave herself her name.
I know Joey is said to be new to ponies, but I'm surprised the translation spell to learn Equuish wasn't more widespread. It only took around 1-2 years for it to become the defacto Mion language after all.
Overall, very very good. Thank you for this peak into their family life. It may be the only peak we get
I almost missed it, but what's with the comment of 'fake meat'?
yesssss....
5774759
It'd be perfect to round it out. You seem interested in the hard sci-fi side, which our current entries lack.
I actually did the math today. The combination of all fillies for Alexia AND exactly 3 unicorns (20% each) comes out to around 1.5% odds. The probability of 0 Earth fillies being born between Alexia and Crimson is also around 1% but all of that pales in comparison to Loki's 4 straight colts at 0.4% odds. Then again, she's Loki.
I told you they'd ask, Boldish.
5774882
It'd be my first pony story, but there are just so many ideas I have buzzing around and the thought that this universe would never continue means they have to get out somehow.
Don't knock the soft sci-fi side that focus on characters over hard details; that's what made the original work so interesting after all. I would consider myself lucky if I could have my characters with even 75% of the charisma displayed in this chapter.
I'm currently compiling some notes and ideas for how I'd want things to go.
[I decided to edit these out. This really isn't the place for it; this is the place to talk about this story]
I think you are not taking something into consideration. Consider the way Twilight originally described it:
In which case, there is the possibility that Alexis is considered only a Unicorn for purposes of predicting foals.
Alexis + Conrad: Unicorns and Pegasus. Remember that Aurora was originally a Pegasus and Violet a Unicorn
Loki + Conrad: Earth Ponies and Pegasus
Crimson + Conrad: Earth Ponies and Pegasus
That would also explain why there are more Pegasus than any other among the children.
5775203
I'd be lucky if I can obtain 50%, especially since I'm starting with mine at their lowest points.
You'd definitely need to really talk specifics over with LAP, especially since your ides are future-set. I'm actually weak on hard sci-fi myself, so that's why I brought it up. For spin-offs, we have Alyarin's on the lore, Boldish's on the slice of life and mine emphasizing the transformation side of it. We just need the sci-fi focus and someone to write clop and we'll have all our bases covered
You're spinning so many original ideas —which is good — that I can't say too much as a lowly peon. As long as we can maintain the mixture of terran and pony ideals, we'll stay clear of resembling The Conversion Bureau and other similar settings.
On the foal types, I have word of god from our Q & A thread, which might interest those here:
5775646
Actually the time-frame I had in mind was before this story. Around 5-10 years after the last chapter of Bonded By Fire. A lot can happen in that time-frame. This story is such a small glimpse of the bigger picture; there could have been no small amount of stuff that happened between then and now.
Anything beyond this story is LAP's territory as far as I'm concerned, because assuming this story is canonical the Koridost could show up immediately after this. But not before, and that's what I'm counting on.
[edit] Considering LAP just posted his story which takes place 100 years after the previous one, I guess there is a lot of room for stuff now.
5774759
5774882
That is Awesome. I wish you the best. My tip: Once you start to write don't stop or you'll have the hardest time starting again. If you have trouble with one thing, write some notes about what you were doing and move to another project for a bit.
Now if I can take my own advice...
Didn't really think anyone would care, I'm glad you do. Sadly in books and real life, good ideas sometimes come to late. Not a bad idea for later use though, thank you I'll see if I can work it in.
As for the family. So the herd already had 3 kids, I figured they would probably have more and then LAP confirmed it with me before we started work on the garden party. I created 17 kids originally not 13. Population growth would be important, being ponies they may have a leaning toward large numbers of children both psychologically and physically. But after my break, I came back and decided there were just too many, so I cut back some of the less interesting designs I had. I had done some 'soft' math on the ratios, but that all pretty much was destroyed when I started making cuts, and in the end I decided to settle for 'Improbable but not Impossible'.
Glad you like Grani, Sleipnir (and names thusly based) was something I was working with, but I could never get it to appeal to LAP. Oh well I kinda like Grani better at this point though, more obscure (at least to me).
Joey had suspicions regarding the ribs authenticity, nuff said. Ooooh! It's a thing now! Fake meat products gained much popularity with ponies, especially Earth ponies who may be curious for the flavor or texture, but don't want the upset stomach.
As for my story's canonicity, it is to my knowledge fully compliant. However! I began this to be a light-hearted bit of fun, not to lay law down for stuff to come, so my view of this story has always been 'Canon until Contradicted' specifically by LAP. Him editing this last chapter was really just kind of a bonus, both to keeping things in line and for quality overall. Another pair of eyes is pretty invaluable. Should LAP care to use these characters, I've told him he's welcome to them, but at the same time I just went to create a full house to mess with Dusty. I hope to do them some justice in the next chapter too.
Canary you've got some good ideas there, a few are along lines I've had for a one-shot or two myself. Most of those would probably work, but I'd guess #1 wouldn't happen in canon. #5 seems unlikely, but not impossible to spin, actually with the right take on it I can see it work, but really only on a limited number under certain circumstances.
Thank you guys for all the comments, they do mean a lot. Damn I wrote an essay again...
Fun Fact! I got the idea for the Cultural Preservation Movement by watching way to much Bizarre Foods!
Well this was a good read. I love to see more of this story and maybe a chart to show whose kids are who. They're just too many to remember all in one read. Also, I loved the little bit at the dinner table. It reminded me of the movie 'cheaper by the dozen'
5779072 there's a link to the family tree in the Author's notes on the bottom of the chapter, but I'll save you a few seconds by putting it here too.
Followed! More please?
Keep going! ;)
Why do those three triplets bring to mind another franchise? Specifically another set of triplets?
8804086
I dunno. It's been awhile. What triplets does it make you think of?
8804955
Pink and orange hair
Blue and blonde hair
Green and black hair
A friend of mine watched this triplets franchise alot before it was restarted horribly on CN with another franchise similar to it in terms of quality with the word Go in the name
Between you and me most franchises have not aged or been restarted gracefully and I prefer the older more sensible generation of toons