Chapter 13
Andrew made his way to the kitchen, empty breakfast plate in hand. Due to the... poor, dietary decisions of the previous day, he had to ask for seconds to quell his hunger. His body's way of demanding real food. As he passed into the room, he saw Spike washing dishes in a miniature apron. He placed his tray next to sink, thanked the drake for the food, then asked him about his whereabouts last night.
"Me?" the drake asked with a hint of surprise, now moving on to Andrew's plate. "Well, Twilight bought me a few copies of a comic I like, and while Pink's parties are nothing to scoff at, I just wasn't strong enough to peel myself away from a brand new issue of Power Ponies."
Andrew nodded. He could understand the appeal, though he was already slightly biased against parties. They exchanged farewells and he returned to the living room. "Twilight! Are you ready!?" He called out into the upper floor. They were supposed to leave for Rarity's right after breakfast.
"I'll be right down!" She replied.
"Alright, I'll be outside then!" He called back, already on his way out the door. Still no word from Discord; whatever he was doing, it must be one hell of an errand if he still wasn't finished. After exiting the library he leaned on the pink sign to his right. On the sign was a depiction of an open book.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a deck of cards, taken from one of the inner pockets of his backpack. They were the same cards that he used at the talent show. He eyed them for a few moments before taking one of the jokers holding it aloft above his palm and tilted it so that two opposite corners were pointing up and down. He spun it, the card turning into a blur of motion yet remaining straight, He liked how easy playing cards were to manipulate. As part of his act during the talent show, he 'accidentally' dropped the cards onto the floor only to then outstretch his hand and 'scoop up' all the cards at once. To others, it probably looked like each card had a will of its own, swirling upwards in a cloud of red and white trying to find their way back to Andrew's hand. He smiled fondly, recalling how the boos and laughter from the audience turned into a single, unanimous gasp. It only got better from there. Taking a break from juggling for nice cold drink, the balls suspended several feet above him as he took his time quenching his thirst, to causally walking and jumping on a tightrope. The latter gave him a bit of trouble at first, but he solved it by creating a wide "floor" directly on top of the rope. At which point, it was just a matter of making sure it looked like he was stepping on the rope instead of thin air.
Ceasing his reminiscence, he tucked away the deck. Looking away from the past, he instead pondered on the near future. What was this Saturday going to be like? He really hoped it wasn't just going to be hours upon hours of mind numbingly boring politics.
The creak of the door behind him derailed his train of thought. Twilight, now with the same saddlebags as yesterday, was the first to speak.
"Sorry, I wanted to fetch this crystal," she levitated it from her bag, it was a clear rectangular prism, measuring roughly five inches in length and two in width, if he had to guess.
"I thought we weren't going to do any tests today?" He said. After yesterday, Twilight had decided to give Andrew a few days off, thinking it better to allow him more time to acclimate to Ponyville and Equestria proper before delving any further into their research.
"We aren't." She assured. "Well, besides this, if you're up for it of course." She shook the crystal slightly, "It's extremely simple, we can even do it while we walk." She smiled as she began to lead the way to the Carousel Boutique. He shrugged inwardly and followed. "Ok, first I need you to levitate the crystal."
She barely cleared two steps before it was already covered in a thick, hissing cloud of smoke that she now found herself walking through face first. She cut the magical flow from her horn and closed her eyes momentarily without slowing her pace. When she opened them again, the crystal kept in place in front of her as they walked. I really need to get around to analyzing that smoke. She mused.
"Got it, now what?" He asked.
"Now," she said, "let it go." No sooner did the words leave her mouth that the crystal was making it's way toward the ground. This time, she was prepared for the humans prompt response -which she was certain he was doing on purpose- and immediately seized the object in her magic. "Now for the interesting bit. These crystals are meant to store magic, and I wanted to see if you holding it might prevent me from infusing it with mine afterwards." Her horn grew brighter, and so did the crystal, a thin trail of magic connecting the two.
Andrew was almost worried she might run into a tree with how little attention she was paying to where she was heading. When her horn's glow finally ceded, the crystal was no longer clear and transparent, but nearly opaque with a faint purple glow, almost like bright amethyst. Though, its true luminescence was likely being obscured by the morning sun.
"Hmm," she mused "I guess whatever your power is made of, it doesn't appear to leave any lingering effects, or, at the very least, not enough to interfere with raw magic.” She levitated the crystal back to him. "Here, take it. I want to see if your ability can dissolve the magic inside the crystal. If not right away, then perhaps after extended exposure. How long do you think you can hold onto it before having to rest?"
He encased the crystal in his telekinetic hold, the resulting sizzle and smoke surprising neither party at this point. Twilight cut off her magic at the sound. What did she say about giving me a choice in this? He thought bemusedly, though it honestly didn't bother him enough to protest. He held it aloft about a foot in front of him, just to his right and above eye level. Well, I've never actually tried to see how long I could hold something so small. He thought for a few moments then said, "I'm sure I can do this all day if I really wanted to."
"Perfect!" She replied as she took a right turn in the road, Andrew following. "Ok, here we are, Carousel Boutique." She gestured toward the building a few dozen yards in front of them. It was a blue, pink, and dark pink building. While it looked to be tall enough for 3 floors, there were only windows on the first, and at the top. The first floor had a flowing, flowery pattern draping around the windows, while the rest of the building had a repeating diamond pattern. It exuded an air of elegance that contrasted starkly with the quaintness of the surrounding buildings.
When they approached the establishment, Twilight knocked on the door three times. After a brief moment of waiting, it opened, and they were greeted with the sight of the white unicorn mare, a measuring tape was slung around her neck and hanging down to her knees.
"Hey Rares" Twilight greeted with a smile, she looked toward the measuring tape. "I hope we aren't interrupting anything important."
"Twilight! Andrew!" She greeted back with enthusiasm, her voice as refined as the home she resided in, if not more so. "How good of you to make it so early, please do come in, and I assure that you are interrupting nothing that can't be postponed!" She ushered the pair inside, giving the crystal a curious glance before closing the door after them. "Is there anything I can get you? Snacks, something to quench your thirst perhaps?" She was clearly eager to please. They entered the building, Rarity closing the door behind them.
"No thank you," Andrew replied, raising a palm. "I just want to see what we can do about getting some more clothes soon."
"Ah, straight to business then, I can certainly respect that." Rarity said with a nod. "In that case, I will need to take your measurements, follow me please." She led them to another room with various clothed equine mannequins on one side, and several racks filled with enough clothes to fill many wardrobes on the other. When Twilight noticed the seamstress cast another glance at the floating crystal, she took the opportunity to explain the situation, to which white unicorn nodded thoughtfully. "I see." the alabaster mare mused, clearly understanding the scholar's words, whereas they went straight over the human's head.
note to self, Andrew thought, take a look at the 'Magic theory for dummies' book you saw earlier. It would do him no good to stay ignorant to the magical forces he was surrounded by. Besides, fake telekinesis or not, it was magic, and it was real. Who wouldn't want to learn about it if they were in his place.
She turned back toward Andrew and levitated her measuring tape off her neck. She frowned, now taking a closer look at his attire. "Tell me, do you often wear clothing of such, err..." she frowned as if trying to plan her next words carefully, "minimal color?"
Andrew looked down at his clothes. Dark grey jeans, light grey t-shirt, and grey - but essentially black - hoodie, and cheap, grey, brand-less sneakers. True, it was all rather colorless. "I just like dark clothes." He shrugged.
"I... I see," she responded, sounding almost disappointed. She waved a hoof dismissively. "Well, I am sure we can come up with something more varied at a later date. For now, please stand here." She gestured to the space in front of her. "Oh, and please shed your clothing, I need to make sure the measurements are as accurate as possible.
Andrew nodded, first taking off his hoodie, and then his shirt. He wasn't overweight -not even close-, though he also wasn't very muscular. P.E certainly helped to keep him from being scrawny, but he wouldn't consider himself 'fit' beyond being a ok runner. He levitated the discarded clothing over to one of the empty racks on the right side of the room and stood, waiting for Rarity to say something else.
"Umm, Andrew?" She asked tentatively.
"Mhm?" He responded.
"Well, I need to measure more than just your upper body, how else am I going to replicate your..." she gestured to his legs, looking for a word that probably didn't exist in her Equestrian vocabulary.
"Pants." He stated.
"Indeed," she said, "how am I going to make your pants if I can't measure you legs."
"Right..." He flushed slightly as he removed his shoes, socks, then jeans. By the end of it he was left standing in only his boxer briefs.
Rarity tilted her head quizzically. "You... you have another layer of pants... under your pants? Do all humans do this?"
"Do all humans wear these?" He pointed at the hem of his boxers, "well, there are different kinds of underwear, but yeah, there's pretty much always something under your pants regardless of gender.
"But... why?" She questioned. genuinely curious.
"Actually, I already asked him about that, I think I can clear up a few things regarding human clothing." Twilight said, excited at the prospect of dumping her knowledge on her friend. "From what Andrew told me, humans are continuous breeders, whereas most Equestrian species are seasonal. Clothing doubles as protection from the elements in place of their non-existent fur, and to cover up areas that might prove... distracting. Going without clothing is taboo and immodest to them." She looked to the human. "Is there anything else I'm missing?"
"How am I supposed to know, I'm not Google." He stated with a shrug.
"Who's Google?"
Andrew shook his head. "Forget it, it's just a human thing." He knew enough about the bookworm already to know that the last thing he wanted to explain was the concept of a search engine that could lead to nearly all the knowledge mankind could offer.
"Well then," Rarity said as she looked back at the human, readying her measuring tape. "I believe I can work around this, if I must. Can you please stand up straight for me."
He did as he was told.
"Well, I'll leave you two to your work then, I'll be reading in the living room if you need me." Twilight said before leaving the room.
Rarity mumbled an "mhm". She was already entirely focused on her work, She brought the measuring tape around his left ankle, then levitated over a notepad and quill, making a note of her findings. She did the same with the other ankle just to be sure. She then asked him to stand straighter before measuring the distance between between his legs. When she reached his thighs and hip, she made sure to... respect his boundaries...
Fifteen minutes later, having felt like practically every joint and curve of his body had been measured and re-measured multiple times, the unicorn finally stood back to admire her work, which, if the view of the mirror behind her was to be believed, amounted to a notepad with several dozen numbers scribbled about with no semblance of order... some of them were even written upside-down.
After a minute had past with the unicorn humming at her notepad, Andrew spoke. "Can I put my clothes back on, I'm starting to get cold?"
His voice snapped her out of her focused trance. She blinked in surprise and looked at him. "Hm?" She blinked in confusion before her mind caught up with her. "Oh right, of course, by all means. We should be just about done here. All that's left now is coming up with some design choices for your new clothing. A suit is probably going to be a must, what with you being, well, you. You are likely going to be attending quite a number of formal gatherings, this Saturday being just the beginning." She grasped his jeans and hoodie from the rack in her magic and brought them over to herself, eyeing the garments closely. "I still can't get over the fine stitching in these, especially the pants. Are you absolutely certain magic wasn't used in their making?" She asked skeptically.
"One hundred percent." Andrew stated over a loud sizzle resulting from his taking his clothing back. Her magic didn't stand a chance as it instantly evaporated on contact with the human's telekinesis. The resulting smoke spread and cleared quickly as his clothes cut through the mist on the way to his waiting hands. The smokey reaction seemed to intrigue the mare; he could see her looking at the smoke with open mouthed awe, her ears perking at the hissing sound. She was clearly fascinated by it, but thankfully didn't press him on it. Instead, she sat on her haunches and watched him as he clothed himself, oblivious to the mild awkwardness she was causing.
"What is the purpose of wearing socks under your shoes?" She questioned as he was slipping them onto his feet. "Shouldn't the shoes be enough protection against the ground by themselves?"
He paused, glancing at the mare, then at the sock that was halfway up his foot. "They are." He started as he continued to slip on the fabric. "But the socks are to protect our feet from the rough inside of the shoes. If they were made of the same fabric as the socks, they would get dirty easily, and start to stink pretty bad after awhile. It’s much easier to wash socks than an entire shoe." He finished tying his laces and stood. Whatever the historical reason behind the invention of socks was, he didn't know it, but the best he could do was give an educated guess.
"Hmm, I suppose that makes sense." She wrote something on her notepad and flipped a page. "So," she smiled at him, "do you happen to already have some things in mind?"
He grasped his chin in thought. "Not particularly; I plan on being outside a lot, and, much as I like my hoodie, I don't think i'll be able to wear it much during the summer. That would just be asking for sweat. But since I can fly, I need something to help keep me warm when at higher altitudes."
"Hmm," Rarity hummed in thought. Then she gasped audibly "What about a cloak?" She asked with a glint in her eye and a smile on her face, eyeing his form up and down. "It could easily keep you warm, and if you get too hot, you can simply raise it over your shoulders." She smiled, the designs swirling around her head. "I can picture it now, a tall figure strolling through the streets of Manehattan, catching the eyes of every mare and stallion in the vicinity, face obscured by a dark hood, exaggerating the air of mystery he already holds without even trying. The won't be able to help themselves from approaching the figure and asking where he got such fine apparel!" She sighed wistfully before furrowing brows and frowning, "I assume you would want it in black?"
"Or grey." He replied, not wanting to explain to her that ponies would be more likely to avoid him than ask about his attire. "But I've never really worn a cloak before, I think I just want to stick with something more familiar."
"Nonsense darling, variety is the spice of life after all." She readied her notepad and quill. "Now we just need some designs." She continued to eye his body before her eyes locked in on a target and she exclaimed, "Aha!" She pointed at his crotch almost eagerly.
His eyes went wide, taken aback by the bold gesture. "Umm... that's my."
"Nonono!" Rarity corrected with flushed cheeks. "Not... THAT, the zipper!"
"OH!" Andrew exclaimed with a sigh of relief, "What about it?"
She was beaming now. "I have the perfect idea for a cloak, but I'm going to need a few minutes to try something in combination with your telekinesis and that brilliant smoke."
"Wait, so you want to run some tests?"
"A few."
"Oh for the love of-"
A few minutes turned into nearly an hour, but after the most important errand was over with, Andrew and Twilight made their way to their next stop. Sugarcube Corner.
"Wow" Andrew commented, referring to the bakery in front of them. It looked more like an over sized gingerbread house than a proper building, the brown, chocolaty roof lined with what was what appeared to be cream. The very top of the building was shaped like a cupcake, going so far as having three giant lit candles. "Is that actual fire up there?" He asked, pointing towards the top of the building.
"No." Replied the mare. "Those are made from spells infused into crystals, like the one you’re holding. They're meant to draw on the ambient magic around them to fuel themselves, so they can last quite awhile before needing maintenance, depending on the spell. Some stronger spells require occasional charging manually though.
"I'll admit, almost makes me hungry just looking at it." He commented.
"Well why don'tcha have a cupcake then, Drewy?!" A bubbly voice said from his right.
Both their head snapped to look at the pink mare, who was casually sitting down on her haunches next to Andrew, as if she had been with them the entire time.
"When did you-?" Andrew started, but was interrupted as Twilight cut him off.
Twilight chuckled. "Hi Pinkie," she started, then glanced at Andrew, "don't worry, you'll get used to it. Pinkie does a lot of things that don't make sense. Trying to get find out how she does what she does will only raise more questions. I know from experience."
"Yuparoo!" Pinkie agreed, "Why just the other day, I almost broke reali-" She was cut off sharply by a deep, echoing voice.
"Pinkie..."
"Ugh oh." She responded.
Twilight looked around, searching for the source of the voice.
"It's just Discord." Andrew stated.
As if on cue, a purple, circular portal opened up above them, and out floated a less than amused Discord. "Do you have any idea what I have been doing for the past day!?" He yelled at the pink pony.
"Nnnnope" She chirped cheekily, looking up at the draconequus with a smile.
"Fixing your mistake. This is going to take days to repair, and I'll be damned if I have to do this myself. Do you have any idea what you have done!?"
"Eeeeyup." She said. "I was actually just telling Twilight and Drewy abou-" He interrupted her mid-sentence.
"Their mortal minds cannot even begin to comprehend these cosmic forces!"
Pinkie giggled. "Don't be silly Discord," She lifted a hoof and pointed at herself, "I'm mortal."
"That's not the point and you know it!" Discord snapped. "Now are you going to come quietly and assist me, or do I have to drag you along myself!?" He bellowed with a glare.
"Okie dokie lokie." She said with a salute. She sprung in place a few times before hopping into the still open portal.
Discord, a grimace on his face, ignored the confused unicorn and human and stepped inside as well, his form disappearing behind the purple, ethereal surface. A claw reached out from the void, grasped one side of the portal and attempted to close it against the other, only to jam itself in the middle, it jerked in pain before retreating inside, the edge of the portal springing back into place. A pink hoof then appeared and jammed a zipper onto the top of the portal and immediately retreated. A moment later the portal zipped itself shut.
Left behind was a mystified Lavender mare and open mouthed human.
"What. The." Andrew started, but trailed off in thought.
"I... I'm not sure." Twilight replied, shaking her head to clear it. "That was not normal. Not even by Pinkie standards."
"Any idea what they were talking about?" He asked.
"Honestly, I think we're better off not knowing." She ran her hoof through her mane. "Since Pinkie is... busy, do you want to just head over to Sweet Apple Acres?"
"I guess so, how far away is it?"
"It's on the outskirts of town, about a fifteen minute walk from here." she gestured in the farm's general direction. "Why, is there something you'd like to do before then?" She asked.
"No, it's just..." He looked down at her, then into the sky. "How do you feel about flying there?"
She tilted her head, confused. "Pardon?" She didn't have time to inquire further as the next thing she knew, Andrew shot out into into the sky. She was about to call out after him when she felt herself pulled skyward just as quickly as him. She shut her eyes and screamed, when she opened them again she was blasting across town, several dozen feet over the rooftops. She looked ahead to see Andrew, flying with his arms at his sides. She tried to use her magic to keep her saddlebags in place on her back, but that only resulted in a streak of steam trailing behind in her wake. Andrew, it seemed, had already thought of that.
"ANDREW!" She called out over the buffeting wind, "PUT ME DOWN!"
"WHAT!?" Andrew exclaimed over the deafening wind.
Twilight was about to repeat the question when she took a moment to take in the speed at which they were streaking across Ponyville. At this pace, they would reach Sweet Apple Acres in seconds. Telekinesis shouldn't be able to accomplish this, it could move things from one location to another at a decent pace yes, but nothing like this."HOW ARE YOU SO FAST?" She exclaimed over the wind. Her curiosity overpowering her fear that Andrew could likely keep up with the fastest of pegasi, and she wasn't even sure if he was holding himself back for her sake.
"PRACTICE!" He shouted back lazily, he brought her up next to him, and within moments they could see the vast stretches of apple trees and the red barn that could only be AppleJack's home. They slowed down considerably, so as to not overshoot their destination, and began to descend at an angle towards the ground. As they grew closer, she could make out Applejack's orange form galloping towards them from the nearby apple fields.
Andrew gradually touched down toe-first, Twilight stumbling a bit as she tried to regain her bearings.
"Andrew." She stated firmly. "Please never do that again without asking me first."
"I'll think about." He replied just was Applejack approached them, coming to a stop a yard away from the pair.
"Wooooeeee!" The cowpony exclaimed. "I ain't never seen nopony fly that fast since RD's rainboom. Why, 'fer a second I thought that was her when y'all were just a speck in the sky." She chuckled softly, glancing at Twilight, her mane was in shambles, sticking out every which way. "You alright Twi, you look a little frazzled."
"I'm fine Applejack, thank you for asking." She replied as she straightened out her mane with her magic. "I'm just learning to appreciate how nice it feels to be on the ground again." She sighed. "Anyways, I thought you could show Andrew around Sweet Apple Acres."
"Well shoot Twi, it'd be my pleasure." The country mare stated with a raise of her stetson.
"So," the human started as he scanned the surroundings, "how do you actually harvest the apples? It's not like you can just pick them, since you don't have hands." He pointed to his forehead. "You don't have magic either."
"Glad ya asked, sugarcube." She said happily, using her go-to nickname, much to Andrew's confusion. "Here, lemme show ya." She lead the pair to a nearby Apple tree. The tree, as well as several dozen around it, had baskets scattered around the base and under some particularly long branches. She trotted up to the tree and turned around. She looked over her shoulder, pressed her fore hooves firmly into the ground then raised her hind legs, delivering a swift buck to the tree. The strength behind the action was made evident by an audible crack, the tree shaking violently in it's wake. Almost all at once, the tree began to shed its apples, wherein they landed safely within the confines of the many baskets.
Much to the human's surprise, not a single apple landed on the ground. "Wow." He commented, genuinely impressed. On Earth, apples had to be hand-picked, yet a single kick from a pony here could apparently send them all crashing down. The way that the tree shed itself of the bright red fruit was almost satisfyingly smooth, as if from a video game. "That's... actually pretty cool." He commented. Was Applejack insanely strong, or were the trees here just cartoonishly frail?
"Aw shucks," The cowpony blushed, crossing one forehoof over the other. "Thank ya kindly, but I have had my whole life ta practice." She smiled wryly before saying, "wadaya say, wanna give it a shot?"
The human couldn't help but raise a brow at the offer. "Me?" He asked skeptically. Were the trees here actually so feeble that a human could knock the fruit from them with a good punch to the bark? Before Applejack or Twilight could respond, he walked over to the nearest prepared tree.
"Umm, Andrew, are you sure about this?" Twilight asked, concern spreading on her face.
"Sort of, no way could something like what Applejack did happen to Earth trees." He replied. "Looks like trees in Equestria are weaker or something." He shrugged, and with that, placed his left palm against the tree, and bent his right arm back as he prepared to deliver the blow. He concentrated on deactivating the barrier over his hand, otherwise it would instinctively flare to life. He was curious with what he could accomplish with just his normal strength. He inhaled deeply, then thrust his fist forward. The connection with the bark was accompanied by a loud thump. His fist trembled in place at the point of contact.
The tree, oblivious to the assault, refused to so much as flinch.
"Andrew?" Applejack called softly. "Are ya alrigh-"
"-FUCK!"
"Are you sure you're OK?" Twilight asked as she inspected the bandages wrapped around the human's knuckles. The cuts were shallow and the splinters were easily dealt with by way of Andrew's subtle telekinesis. "Maybe we should go to the hospital and get it x-rayed, if only to make sure nothing is broken.
"I'm fine." Andrew insisted. He leaned back on the brown sofa, bending and unbending his fingers experimentally. He was greeted by a throbbing pain that only flared with the movement. "It'll heal in a few days, the worst I'll get is maybe a bit of bruising but I'm pretty used to that."
"What was that?" Twilight asked.
"Never mind," he dismissed with a gesture.
Applejack, next to Twilight, finished closing the first aid kit on the wooden table then turned back to the human with a solemn look on her face. "I'm real sorry Andrew, I probably should have thought things through a bit before asking ya to buck a tree when ya don't even have hooves."
"It's fine," he repeated, "When I saw how easily applejack did her thing, I assumed that the trees here were somehow weaker than those from my world." He rubbed his bandages with a grimace. "Clearly I was wrong. It's probably just your weird magic that let's you do what you do."
"Still," Applejack continued "at least let me treat you to some apple pie."
Andrew suppressed a look of disgust. Dessert was the last thing on his mind after last night. He made a gesture that said 'no thank you'.
"Are ya sure? Sweet Apple Acres make the best darn apple pie in all of Equestria." She frowned, clearly disappointed at his refusal.
"I'm sure," he affirmed as he got up from couch. He noticed they were still looking at him with concern etched on their faces. He rolled his eyes, "I'll be fine." He repeated for what felt like the umpteenth time. Do they make this big of a fuss every time someone gets hurt or did they just think he was as fragile as a squirrel.
"Well... if ya say so." She relented. "Still though, can't just let you two leave here empty-hooved" She quickly went to another room and came back with a woven basket full to the brim with the ripe, red fruit. She held the basket in her mouth and lifted it toward Andrew.
"Ugh, thanks..." He brought his left palm under the handle as Applejack let go, trying his best to ignore the moist surface, she didn't seem bothered by unhygienic act.
"Ain't nothin Andrew," Applejack said with a smile. "We still got plenty left over from last season."
"Right then." He responded. "We're heading to Dash's house next, can you point me to her house?"
"Sure thing." She replied, pointing a forehoof north-east. "Way on the other side of town is RD's cloud house, just north of Fluttershy's. Trust me, ya couldn't miss it if ya wanted to."
"Alright then, guess we'll be going now." He turned to leave, thanking Applejack again for the gift as he did so.
"You go on ahead, I just need a word with Applejack." Twilight said, opening the door for him with her magic.
"Alright, I'll meet you over there then." He replied. closing the door behind himself.
"Sure thin-" She started, but went wide eyed as she processed his words. "Andrew don't fl-!"
She was too late. All she saw was his shadow rushing up the window as he flew away from the ranch.
"Ughh!" Twilight groaned in frustration.
Applejack whistled. "I got a feelin he and Rainbow are gonna get along just fine."
Twilight gave her friend a deadpan look.
"What? You know I'm right!"
Twilight rolled her eyes with a grin.
"This never get's old" Andrew mused as he cut through the sky effortlessly. The thrill of the "first time" would forever be out of his reach, but that didn't mean that flying had to become dull. To his right were the crystal and basket of apples, the latter comfortably shielded from the turbulent wind he was creating.
In no time at all, he caught sight of Rainbow's cloud house in the distance. Words that he thought were simple exaggeration proved be quite literal in meaning as he inspected the nearing cloud home. It was, as Applejack described, literally a home made of clouds. It looked like a large silo situated atop a floating, island of white cotton candy. There were also several roman-styled pillars supporting the sections that stuck of of the center and balconies and... were those rainbow waterfalls?
He was snapped out of his train of thought when he saw a rainbow blur shoot out from the home and fly his way. He slowed himself down before coming to a stop and hovering in place.
Rainbow Dash quickly closed the distance between them and flew around him once before stopping in front of him. "Andrew! How ya doing!?" Her brows knitted in thought. "Wow, you look so weird just floating there without wings."
Andrew couldn't help a small smile, there was something about Rainbow that reminded him of Steve, but he couldn't quite place it. "Yeah, well, back on Earth, you'd be lucky if all those tiny wings of yours could do was make you jump a little higher than normal." He retorted.
Rainbow snorted. "These tiny wings saved your flank from going splat." She stated.
"...Touche." He recalled when a he and his friends were playing catch with a football a few thousand feet above the ground. A rising plane broke through the cloud bank and nearly killed them. Andrew was just barely able to save Steve and break their fall as they hit the ground. That was twice now he had almost gone 'splat'. He would never have imagined he would be the one in need of saving.
"Oh come on now," Rainbow said with a smirk. "Turn that frown upside-down, not like you were awake for it anyways, it can't be that bad."
Andrew composed himself.
"Are those from Applejack's?" The mare asked, pointing toward the basket on his side.
"Uh huh," he said, reaching into the basket and throwing an apple to the pegasus. She caught it between her hooves as he pulled out another for himself. Where else would they be from, he thought.
"Thanks." she said, biting into the fruit with an audible crunch. "So," she said after swallowing her mouthful. "Whaddya plan on doing?"
Andrew shrugged. "Beats me, Twilight thinks I'm supposed to get to know you guys but I don't really know what you're into besides flying." He threw another apple at her as she discarded the core of the first to the ground far below. That was fast, he thought as he eyed the falling core.
"Weell," Rainbow said, rubbing her chin in thought. "How do you feel about pranks?"
Pranks? Andrew thought. He loved pranks, he was the one that pitched the idea to his friends when he suggested they take their use of their powers 'out of the backyard'. From there came an entire day of hi-jinks and shenanigans as they used their powers for the greater good. The greater good at the time being 'shits and giggles', ranging from scaring kids with flying teddy bears to taking gum out of a guy's mouth. Actually, now that he thought about it, Matt was able to grab that guy's gum while he was chewing even though he couldn't even see it. He himself did something similar when he 'lassoed' Dwayne's teeth out of his mouth, and even greater still was his feat with the rocky field yesterday. He really needed to practice more with his powers. He needed to find out how far he could take it in all aspects. Was there a limit? He had only ever gotten stronger, even to his 'last' breath'. Maybe there wasn't a limit? Maybe if he just kept pushing himself more and more he would-.
"There we go, show me them gums!" Rainbow exclaimed as she took another bite from her apple, interrupting his train of thought. "So, I take it you do like pranks?" She asked with a smirk, the food in her mouth doing little do impede her speech.
"You could say that." Andrew said with a shrug. "But maybe some other time, I still need to get my hands on some books or something to help me get a better idea of where exactly I am. I don't really want to just walk around only knowing I'm in some place called Equestria."
Rainbow huffed. "Oh boy, Twilight is going to love hearing that, she's the biggest bookworm you'll ever meet. Where even is she anyways? I figured you two would come over using that hot air balloon of hers. And what's up with that crystal?"
"Twilight wanted me to spend the day holding it in the air, something about holding a magical charge."
"Riiight..." Rainbow said.
"Yeah, as for her, I left her back at Applejack's. She didn't like that I flew her over there, but I didn't feel like walking across town again so I told her to meet me here."
The pegasus mare chuckled at his words. "Twilight? flying? Now that I gotta see." She rolled her eyes then gestured to her cloud house behind her. "Wanna head inside?"
Andrew nodded skeptically. "Umm, sure. Is that house actually built on top of clouds though? Like, actual clouds?"
"Well duh." Rainbow answered, as if the question was silly in nature. She turned and flew toward the house, Andrew following next to her.
In a few moments they reached the front porch of the pegasus's home, where Rainbow touched down softly on the cloud floor.
Andrew remained a few feet above the puffy ground, looking apprehensive. "I'm pretty sure I won't be able to walk on that." He said, proving himself right by reaching down and running the palm of his hand along the surface of the cloud. It evaporated where he touched it, a mixture of water vapor and magical smoke byproduct running up along his palm and into the surrounding air, and a few water droplets falling through the floor. His hand came away soaked from the ordeal.
Dash pursed her lips at the demonstration. "Yeah, that might be a problem," she said. "Just... try to be careful not to touch the clouds. The inside should be fine though, since it's all solid."
"Alright." Andrew said. "How exactly is it that a bunch of clouds can even hold this up?" He leaned back, taking in the looming tower above him. Several of the columns surrounding the building seemed to be holding up another cloud that made up the upper floors. So, the outside is all cloud, and the inside is solid? He wondered silently. Seriously, how does that work?
Dash opened her mouth as if to speak, but then closed it. She furrowed her brows and rubbed her chin with an forehoof.
"You make the weather and you don't even know how clouds work!?"
She rolled her eyes. "Whatever, I'm no architect." She opened the door and entered, then gestured for him to follow. "Hurry up before I change my mind."
"And that'll be the last time I share food with you." He quipped as he passed through the door and touched down on the blue marble floor.
"Pfft, yeah right." She said as she made her way to another room. "Do you happen to like apple cider!?"
"And that's how my sonic rainboom pretty much gave all of us our cutie marks." Dash said as she took a bite out of yet another apple. She was lying on a blue couch with Andrew resting on his own directly across from her. His head was resting on one of the armrests while his knees bent over the the other. A trash can between them was slowly filling with apple cores.
"That's... sooo cooool" The human said with a flushed face. The crystal that was once hovering in the air now at a constant wobble. He took another swig of his drink, emptying the contents of the bottle down his gullet before placing the spent container on the floor with the other eight. "That thing, like connected you guys for life. My cousin would probably say something about that being -hic- some crazy destiny thing or something."
"Thanks, but... Andrew? That's... a LOT of drinks." Dash stated, looking from Andrew to the ever-increasing row of bottles on the floor. He was helping himself to the contents of the mini fridge she had placed in the living room. "I don't know how much humans can take, but a Pony would be out cold after their fifth drink. Should I be worried?" She took a small sip from her own drink, it being her second of the night. She wasn't even halfway done with it, and would probably call it quits once she finished it.
Andrew laughed with uncharacteristic gusto. "Ponies pass out when they drink too much apple juice?" He hiccuped again.
Rainbow shot him a look that said "Are you serious?" When she received no reply but the same goofy smile he had been wearing for awhile now she said, "Andrew, you do know this is hard cider, right?"
Andrew narrowed his eyes in thought, like he was trying to work out a complicated math problem in his head. He looked at his bottle with concentration that would make even Twilight blush.
Rainbow was about to say something when a knock on the door got her attention. "Is that you Twilight!? Come on in!" She yelled, too lazy to get up from her comfortable position.
The door opened and in stepped Twilight. "Hi Rainbow, sorry I'm a little late but somepony decided they would be better off..." Her words died in her throat as she eyed the scene. Her eyes drifted from the almost empty basket of apples, to the more than half dozen bottles of cider next to Andrew's couch.
"Hard cider?" Andrew finally said, oblivious to the new guest in the room. "This can't be hard cider, it isn't even frozen."
With that, he finished his ninth drink, and a moment later the wobbling crystal dropped to the floor with a clink as the human passed out.
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Keep these updates comin'. Shiiiiit, I can't wait to read the next chapter that comes out. I just hope it comes out soon.
10 points from gryffindor. I'll let you earn 20 points for a speedy delivery of the next chapter.
Happy new year! Let's hope 2017 is gonna be as crazy and unlikely as 2016 was.
Nice chapter
7833202 I wish the same!
7833914 This is true, but we can't expect Andrew to know/care enough about veganism to even entertain the idea. Also for future reference, If I don't know something, and that something isn't quite common knowledge, then Andrew won't know it either. I don't want to give my protagonist encyclopedic knowledge of anything and everything as the situation demands.
7833982 yup :/ life is weird
That's gonna hurt in the morning.
... Let's hope he never lands in Cloudsdale.
'magical forced' should be 'magical forces'.
My new years resolution was to write at least 500 words per day (of this story).
So far so good.
HAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAHA!!! Indeed, it isnt frozen! xD
HAHAHAHAHAHA!