So This Is Normal Now?
The morning after the Summer Sun Celebration, I was ready for things to get back to normal. Of course, I should've known by now that living in Ponyville meant life was anything but normal.
It was breakfast time, Applejack was in the kitchen with Granny Smith putting the finishing touches on a stack of apple cinnamon pancakes. The doggy door flew open as Winona came in carrying the morning paper. The border collie ran up to Big Macintosh and set the paper down next to his chair
"Good girl Winona," Big Macintosh complimented her as he reached down to pick it up. Winona gazed up at him, her tail wagging with excitement as Mac pulled off the rubber band. She knew what always came after retrieving the morning paper. "
Big Macintosh's eyes widened as he stared at the front page. "Hey Applejack, you're on the front page!"
"Whut wus that?" Applejack came out from the kitchen carrying a platter of pancakes in her mouth.
"A'h said you're on the front...." Big Mac began before was cut off by an excited bark from Winona
"Alright, girl, A'h hear ya." He sighed as he stood up and trotted into the kitchen to get a dog treat, Winona happily bounding behind him.
Applejack glanced down at the newspaper as she set the platter down on the table. The headline read Heroic Heroines Save Equestria. Eternal Night Thwarted By Elements of Harmony.
The picture on the front showed Applejack and the other element bearers standing next to a proud Princess Celestia and a sheepish-looking Princess Luna. I could relate to how she felt.
"A'h still can't believe you and your friends saved all of Equestria." Apple Bloom said.
"Aw shucks, it was a team effort." Applejack humbly admitted. "A'h couldn't have done it without 'em."
The article went on to mention the other mares' names as well as the elements they each represented. Applejack was the Element of Honesty. Yeah, that seemed about right, my big sister couldn't lie her way out of a wet potato sack. The two Pegasi Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were the Elements of Kindness and Loyalty respectfully. Pinkie Pie, The local party planner who often remembered other ponies' birthdays even before they did was the Element of Laughter. A unicorn named Rarity was the Element of Generosity and Twilight Sparkle according to the article was the most important Element of all, Magic.
My heart fluttered a bit at the sight of the lavender unicorn. The article mentioned she had taken over the position of Librarian at the Golden Oaks Library. I made a note to check out some books the next time I was there. My thoughts of lovesickness were interrupted however when my X-Ray vision spotted a small article on the bottom of the third page.
UFO Spotted Over Ponyville.
Yesterday's celebrations were somewhat interrupted by reports of what eyewitnesses described as a red comet. According to eyewitness accounts, the object passed over Ponyville at 1:38 pm before disappearing. "It just came out of nowhere!" says Ponyville resident Lyra Heartstrings who was sitting on a bench in the park when she saw it. A local Pegasus, Rumble had this to say. "At first I thought it was some kind of fireball or something. We all cleared the sky pretty quickly.
This morning the Mayor's office released a statement. "We understand our citizen's concerns regarding public safety in the wake of the incident at Town Hall last night. We ask ponies they remain calm and avoid giving in to the temptation to panic. These sightings are most likely the result of mass hysteria leftover from last night's events. (Continued on page 4)
For the rest of breakfast, I kept quiet, making a mental note to myself to not fly over Ponyville anytime soon.
The sun was shining bright as I walked over to the barn. Its rays warming my coat and reenergizing my body. The orchard was filled with the sounds of birds singing as they flew in the air. It almost seemed like they were tempting me to join them. 'Maybe later.' I thought to myself, right now though I had somewhere I had to be.
The still silence greeted me as I walked through the barn door. The spaceship was resting in its usual place. I quietly closed the door behind me and bolted the latch shut.
"Kerax?" I called out walking over to the ship.
"Ah good morning young master, I trust you slept well?" The artificial voice asked from under the tarp.
"Like a pegasus on a cloud," I replied pulling the tarp off the ship's surface.
"I've never heard that expression before, I assume it means yes?"
"You could say that," I said tossing the tarp to the side. "How's it coming along?"
The cockpit hatch rose revealing the holograms of Loran and Jav-El's memories.
"It's been slow going I'm sorry to say. So far I've only managed to repair a few hundred billion neurons of memory."
"A few hundred billion? My face lit up with excitement. "That's great, how many are there in total?"
"Altogether about one hundred trillion each." Was his answer.
"Two hundred trillion?" I gasped, my jaw dropping in shock as I realized I had vastly underestimated the scale of this endeavor. "How long is that going to take?"
"Let's see, by my last calculations, I estimate it should be done in about five hundred zetyaro."
"How long is that in days?"
"Days Young master?"
"You know the time it takes the sun to rise and set?"
"Ah, I see how many woluo are in one of these 'days'?"
I explained to Kerax that there were twenty-four hours in a day, sixty minutes in one hour, and sixty seconds in one minute. He then lectured me on the time units of the Koltonian calendar. I won't bore you with the entire lecture. All you need to know is the ratio of time units from Koltonian to Equestrian is
1.37 years per amzet
0.99 seconds per thrib
1.65 minutes per dendar
2.74 hours per wolu
1.14 days per zetyar
Which meant it would take Kerax approximately five hundred and seventy Equis days to finish.
"Well, thanks, Kerax," I said when it was finally done. "I really appreciate you doing all this for me."
"Think nothing of it, young master, I was in service to your father his entire life. He and your mother, they never treated me as just a machine, they considered me part of the family. I couldn't very well leave them scattered about like this."
It felt strange hearing these words coming from a machine. But Kerax had always been helpful to me. I figured if my parents were able to see past that, then the least I could do was try.
"Well, then I guess I consider you family too Kerax."
"Really? Oh, thank you, young master, You have no how good it is to hear you say that." The elation in his electronic voice brought a warm smile to my muzzle.
"I think I already do."
I decided it best to leave Kerax to his work and see if there were any chores I could help out with. I didn't get far from the barn when my superhearing honed in on a familiar voice.
"Good morning Twilight,"
"Good morning Applejack,"
"Twilight?"
"Y'all ready to try ye'r hooves at apple-bucking?"
"Well, I'm always up for learning about new things."
My telescopic vision went into action following the direction of the sound with my X-ray vision taking care of any trees that were in the way. I saw Applejack leading Twilight and Spike past the front gate. A tingly feeling came over my stomach as I looked into the lavender unicorn's eyes. They were like deep ponds covered with floating lilac petals.
"She came back." A sudden feeling of panic overtook me. "What do I do? What do say to her? Do I congratulate her on saving Equestria? Ask her about Princess Celestia. Is my mane straight? Are my hooves clean? Do I have any dirt spots on my coat? What do I do, what do I do? Think Comet think, I mean for Celestia's sake you can read at Big Macintosh's level. You shouldn't have this sort of trouble talking to a mare." But I was drawing a blank, I had a faster developing, faster thinking, faster-reacting brain and all I could come up with at that moment were brain farts.
"Okay calm down take deep breaths but not too deep that you blow something away," I told myself. "You can do this Apple Comet, just remember she is only a mare, she is only a mare," I repeated the mantra in between slow deep breaths. It seemed to be working, I could hear my heart slowing down. This was good, "Alright I can do this."
I headed back toward the farmhouse at a brisk canter. Just coming back from a brisk stroll through the orchard when I happened to bump into them. I didn't want to give away the fact that I knew they would be there in advance
By the time I got there, they had gone inside. My X-ray vision showed they were in the tack storeroom. Applejack was busy fitting Twilight with a basket harness.
"Now just hold still, this will only take a moment," Applejack said as she slid one of the straps under the unicorn's barrel.
It made sense, today was the beginning of Applebuck season. Twilight grimaced as Applejack adjusted the straps on her harness.
"Yeowch! Too tight!" It was evident she wasn't used to wearing work attire.
"Sorry,"
I slowed my pace down to a trot as I worked my way over to the double doors. I took one last deep breath, put on my best energetic smile, and waited as the doors slowly opened.
"Hey Applejack!" I called out to my sister with a friendly wave. "What's going on?"
"Oh hey, Apple Comet," My sister replied. "Twilight and Spike were just stopping by to help with the harvest."
"Really? That's great!" I said, "Hey Twilight, I saw you and Applejack on the front page of the news this morning. Twilight blushed not used to being the center of attention.
"Oh, you saw that huh?" She said with an awkward smile. I felt my heart ricochet inside my ribcage. She was even more beautiful when she was nervous.
"Um...yeah...you looked...great standing next to...Princess Celestia." Smooth Kom-El, real smooth.
"Sorry if I seem a little nervous," She admitted. "I'm not used to being the center of attention."
"No that's okay, I understand," I said. "So is it true that you're moving here to Ponyville?"
"Yep, sure am, you're looking at Ponyville's new head librarian." She said smiling at me as if hearing herself say those words made her as happy as I was.
"That's great!" I said, "I love to read." Twilight's smile grew wider.
"Well, you're more than welcome to come down to the library with me later if you want?" She said before turning to Applejack. "As long as it's okay with you."
"Fine by me," Applejack said, "provided he gets his chores done and is back by dinner."
"Ha is that all?" I said confidently, "Bring 'em on, I'll have them done in no time."
"In that case, why don't you take Spike with you?" Twilight suggested.
"Wait, what?" The purple dragon spoke up.
"It'll be a chance for you two to get to know each other better while Applejack and I do the same," Twilight explained to him. "I'm sure between the two of you, those chores will get done twice as fast."
"Eugh, so this is your idea of getting things done in no time huh?" Spike asked sarcastically as he set down the two pails of slop he was carrying.
"Well not exactly," I answered dumping my pail's contents into the pig's trough. Truth be told I had been planning to power through my list of chores with my super speed so I could spend more time with Twilight. But the addition of Spike presented an obvious complication in that plan. I could've just said no to her but I doubt that would've gone over very well. Like it or not it looked like we were stuck together for the time being. May as well get to know each other a little better.
"So Spike, you're a dragon right?" I asked as he handed one of his pails over to me.
"Um yeah?"
"So, how'd you end up with Twilight?"
"Oh that, it's a long story."
"Well it's not like I've got somewhere I have to be," 'Anymore' I added to myself.
"Well, it all started when I was just an egg...
Spike explained how Twilight had hatched him from an egg when she was just a filly as part of her entrance exam to Princess Celestia's school. Not only did she pass the exam, but the Princess was so impressed that she made Twilight her personal student.
...and the two of us have been inseparable ever since." Spike finished his story with a bow. I had to admit, that hearing about how Twilight's magic surge went out of control reminded me of my own struggle learning to control my powers.
"Wow, ha ha ha ha, so she really turned her parents into cactus?"
"Well, actually a cactus and an agave, but that's beside the point," Spike answered. "So what about you?"
"What about me?" I asked setting down my now empty pail.
"Well, it's just I told you all about Twilight and me, and I was wondering if you'd tell me something about you."
I turned around to face him slowly. "What do you want to know?" I asked him.
The young drake looked at me and said "You seem so much different than the rest of your family. N-Not that that's bad or anything," He stammered nervously. "I'm just saying..."
"You want to why?" I finished the sentence for him. "It's okay, Spike, I understand," I sighed. "The truth is I was abandoned as a foal. I never really knew my Mom and Dad. The Apples found me on their doorstep one night and took me in. That's pretty much it."
"Whoa dude, I'm sorry to hear that." Spike scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I never knew who my parents were either, it's always just been me, Twilight, and Princess Celestia. Oh and Twilight's family whenever they'd drop by."
"What is Twilight's family like? I asked him.
"Well her Mom and Dad are kinda what you'd expect. Just two normal unicorns, then there's her brother Shining Armor who believe it or not is the Captain of the Royal Guard."
"Twilight's brother is Captain of the Royal Guard?" My eyes bulged out in shock.
"Yeah, the whole family was there at his appointment ceremony, They were all so proud of him."
My mind was now officially blown. How the parents of two exceptional children could be considered normal was beyond me.
"Hey, are you okay?" Spike asked as he noticed my left eye twitching uncontrollably.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
Despite never having worked on a farm before, Spike turned out to be a big help. He was a fast learner and took on new tasks eagerly. His anatomy also came in handy in many unexpected ways. For one thing, his claws made pulling weeds out of Granny's vegetable garden a snap.
By noon we had managed to finish off the list. So we decided to see how Applejack and Twilight were doing.
"Hey, Twilight!" Spike called out as we approached.
"Hey Spike, how are you two getting along?" She asked him.
"Great!" He exclaimed excitedly, "We finished all our chores,"
"That's great news," Twilight said, I'm glad to see you two are becoming friends."
"Hear, hear," Applejack added, Why don't you boys head on inside and wash up, while Twilight and I finish moving these golden delicious to the barn? After lunch when Big Mac is done plowing pfft we'll all go down to Ponyville pfft together!" Applejack burst into a fit of laughter.
Spike and I looked at each other.
"What's so funny about that?" he asked before letting out an unexpected belch of fire.
"Brrraaaap!"
To my surprise, out of the fire came a scroll,
"It's a letter from the Princess," Twilight exclaimed as Spike unrolled it.
"Hear ye, hear ye," He began reading in an overly dramatic tone. "Her Grand Royal Highness Princess Celestia of Equestria is pleased to announce the Grand Galloping Gala to be held in the magnificent city of Canterlot on the 21st day of yadda yadda yadda cordially extends an invitation to Twilight Sparkle plus one guest."
The Grand Galloping Gala?" Both mares exclaimed. "The Grand Galloping Gala! Woo-Hoo!"
"What's the Grand Galloping Gala?" I asked as Spike let out another belch revealing two tickets.
"The Grand Galloping Gala is the most important social function in all of Equestria," Twilight explained. "Anypony who's anypony will be there."
"Well then call me nopony," Spike added. "I don't want any of that girly frou-frou nonsense."
"Aw c'mon Spike," Twilight implored. "A dance would be nice,"
"It would be more than nice," Applejack said. She went on to explain how she'd always wanted to set up a bakery stand at the Gala to bring more business to Sweet Apple Acres. "Ah'd give my hind leg to go to that gala." Gee, thanks for the unpleasant image there Sis.
Before Twilight could finish offering her, a light blue Pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail crashed in front of us and immediately asked about the gala. If I hadn't seen and heard her coming in advance, She probably would've scared me into the stratosphere.
"Rainbow Dash?" Applejack asked. "You told me you were too busy to help me harvest apples." As my sister accused her of spying, the weather mare dusted herself off and told them about how the Wonderbolts would be there and how she wanted to impress them enough for them to let her join them. I tuned her out after about ten seconds. As somepony who spent most of their waking life trying to blend in, I just couldn't relate to what she was saying.
And things just got crazier from there, Applejack and Rainbow Dash continued to argue over who had the better reason to go. It got to the point where the two of them were going to hoof-wrestle over it.
"Enough!" I shouted. Everypony stopped and looked at me. "Look it's obvious that both of you want to go to the Gala, but this arguing is getting us nowhere. Now I'm sure Twilight will make up her mind about who she goes with when she's ready, but until she does you'll just have to wait." Applejack and Rainbow Dash just stood there blinking, as if to ask where in Equestria did that outburst come from?
The silence was broken by the grumbling of Twilight's stomach.
"Well gee thanks Apple Comet," She said awkwardly. "Why don't we go into town for some lunch and then we can stop by the library?"
"Fine by me," I said.
Unfortunately for the three of us, that was not to be the end of Twilight's ticket woes. Right as we were walking outside Sugarcube Corner, my hearing picked up the sound of hooves galloping towards the front door.
"You might want to step back," I warned.
Twilight stopped and turned her head to face me. "Why?" She asked simply.
'BAM!'
The top half of the door flung open as a pink blur came flying out causing Twilight to rear up sending Spike tumbling to the ground.
"That's why," I said.
"Hey, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie said as she stood up. "Whatcha doing?" Her eyes sparkled as she noticed the tickets lying on the ground next to Spike. "Are those two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala?" Much to the annoyance of my super-hearing, Pinkie Pie spontaneously broke into a random song. I swear somehow she seems to have more stamina than me. As I fine-tuned my hearing for the second time that day, I picked the dainty hoofsteps of another of Twilight's friends. And this one shook me to my very core.
*Gasp!* "Are these what I think they are?" My blood ran cold as memories from my distant past came rushing to the surface.
“I DON’T KNOW WHO ARE OR WHY YOU DID THIS! BUT WHOEVER YOU ARE NO MATTER WHERE YOU HIDE I WILL FIND YOU AND WHEN I DO I SWEAR VENGEANCE WILL BE MINE!!!!!!!”
The furious voice from my memories echoed in my head as Rarity fawned over the tickets. I didn't hear what she was saying, I was too paralyzed with fear.
"Hey, are you okay?" Pinkie's Pie's face asked as it suddenly appeared in front of me.
"Gah!" I shouted as I fell over backward.
"Oops tee-hee sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that. Here have a cupcake," She said pulling one seemingly out of thin air and setting it in my hooves.
*Gasp* "Oh Angel these are perfect," 'Faust help me this was anything but perfect.' I thought as I looked over to see the last Element of Harmony talking to a white rabbit holding one of the tickets.
"Uh listen, girls," Twilight spoke up. "I haven't decided who I'm going to give the tickets to."
"You haven't?" Rarity and Pinkie Pie said in disbelief at the same time.
"Um, excuse me Twilight," Fluttershy began, I would just like to ask if it would be alright if you haven't given it to someone else..."
Fluttershy explained that she wanted to go to the Gala because there was a garden filled with all kinds of rare animals that she wanted to see.
"Gee Fluttershy, it sounds beautiful?" Before Twilight could say more, another voice rang out.
"Wait just a minute," Everyone looked up to see Rainbow Dash standing on the roof beam of a house.
"Rainbow Dash, were you following me?" Twilight asked sounding increasingly frustrated.
As Rainbow pleaded her case another familiar voice said "Wait just another minute,"
"Oh no," I facehoofed as Applejack walked up.
"Applejack have you been following us too?" I asked finally summoning the nerve to get up off of my back.
"Nope A'h was following this one to make sure she didn't try any funny business," She answered pointing to Rainbow Dash. She then leaned in close and whispered in my ear. "By any chance did ya talk to Twilight about what A'h said?"
"Alright that's it," I said gently swatting her hoof away. "I've heard enough of this! I know the grand galloping gala means a lot to you all, but crowding around Twilight isn't going to help her decide. If I were in her place I'd have half a mind to rip those tickets up in front of all of you." Actually, I was tempted to crumple them into a ball and throw them to the moon.
The five of them gasped in shock,
"Apple Comet!" Applejack scolded. "How could you say such things? Don't you care about our family's livelihood?"
"I do care about our family Applejack," I protested. "But this isn't about family, it's about friendship and right now none of you are acting like Twilight's friends."
The five of them folded their ears and lowered their heads.
*Sigh* "Aw shucks li'l brother," Applejack said ashamedly, "Your right."
"I guess we were so busy thinking about what we wanted, that we never stopped to consider Twilight's feelings." Fluttershy quietly admitted.
"We should've known better than to act like a bunch of party poopers," Pinkie Pie said.
"I haven't quite perfected my moves for the Wonderbolts yet anyway." Rainbow Dash said sheepishly.
"It was wrong of us to act so selfishly," Rarity added, her voice sending another chill through my body.
Twilight smiled sweetly at her friend's sincerity. "Aw, I forgive you." She said as six out of nine of us willingly joined in a group hug. The other three, however...
"You don't think this will become a regular thing do you?" I asked Spike.
The dragon rolled his eyes and said, "I hope not." Meanwhile, Angel squirmed desperately trying to free himself.
I decided to wait till tomorrow to visit the library, there's only so much insanity I could take in one day. I would later learn from Twilight how wise a move that had been.
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Poor Comet he is going to be having such trouble dealing with his first crush. I wonder how long it will take his sister to catch on about it?
9763397
Probably pretty quickly. After all, big sisters tend to be quick to spot when their younger siblings have a crush on somebody. After all, Twilight spotted Spike's crush on Rarity pretty quickly (ironically much more quickly than she's probably going to spot Comet's crush on HER).
Again, wonderful job on this latest chapter. Loved seeing Comet's reaction to the story of her big sister, Twilight and the others defeating Nightmare Moon in the papers as well as Comet's chats with Kerax AND Spike (particularly Comet's reaction to finding out that Twilight's big brother is the Captain of the Royal Guard in the latter case). And, yeah, I ALSO really liked Comet's reaction to hearing Rarity's voice again AND how he basically shamed the rest of the Mane Six for how they were putting too much pressure on Twilight concerning that ticket.
That's about 1 year plus change.