Chapter 6: Eat, Drink, and be Mare-y
While Twilight Sparkle had some concerns regarding Rarity's and Marshall's display of "sight beyond sight," on top of her own interest in the matter, she didn't think that it warranted an immediate examination. So, she reassured them that there was likely nothing to worry about, and that they should enjoy the rest of the party. Of course, should anything new crop up, especially if it was worthy of concern, they should seek her out and apprise her of the situation.
Despite Marshall's misgivings about the party, he considered Twilight Sparkle's words to be good news for one very specific reason: the food. Now that the introductions to Rarity's other friends were over, and he was no longer at the mercy of Pinkie Pie's whims, he could investigate the array of treats being offered, whose tantalizing scents he had been too distracted to respond to until now. The only problem was that there were so many things to choose from, many of which he couldn't even begin to put a name to, and he was willing to bet that his stomach wasn't big enough to sample everything that was available.
Fortunately, Applejack noticed his indecision and decided to help him get started. She led him over to a table from which an overpowering aroma of apples wafted, and that wasn't a surprise since the apple theme was also quite apparent visually. After proudly admitting that everything on the table had been made and provided by her, she recommended starting with the basics, whereupon he got to witness how an Earth Pony put a slice of apple pie on a plate with their mouth and hooves.
While he'd found the operation interesting, he wondered if he should be worried about where he put his mouth in the future, since he'd been taught at an early age to not put his mouth on anything where another's mouth had been, and that lesson had stuck with him quite firmly. There was also the matter of using one's hooves on anything that would also encounter the mouth afterward, but he could reason how that might not be a concern for a pony, and tried to dismiss thoughts of connecting hooves to what his feelings would have been if he had been using human feet instead.
After Applejack returned the pie server and hoisted the pie-laden plate on an upward-turned hoof, she stated, "Here ya go, sugarcube; try a bite an' tell me what ya think."
Noticing that there wasn't a utensil present on the plate, Marshall stared at the offered slice of apple pie just long enough for it to become awkward before he raised his gaze to its bearer and — with some embarrassment — asked, "Um, how should I eat it?"
Applejack opened her mouth to reply, but she paused and blinked her eyes when the actual nature of the question sunk in. With a chuckle, she lightheartedly said, "I wouldn't worry too much about manners or etiquette, if that's what yer askin'."
As if to illustrate her point, Marshall spotted Pinkie Pie behind Applejack, where she began to raid a platter on another table, with her face up close and personal with its contents, until the platter was quite literally licked clean of said contents. In classic cartoon fashion, she proceeded to clean her face with her tongue before merrily bounding away without a care in the world.
His attention was brought back to Applejack when she gave him a half-lidded stare and wryly said, "I take it that Pinkie Pie just made a spectacle of herself?"
Marshall regarded her with some surprise and asked, "How could you tell?"
"I had a feelin'," Applejack replied, with an amused smile, before she made a slight gesture with the plate that was still set on her hoof, in order to draw attention back to it. "So, how's about it?"
After considering the slice of apple pie for another second, Marshall opted to eat it in a way that he was reasonably sure was pretty normal for a pony, by bringing his mouth to the food instead of the other way around. He figured that he could worry about exploring his choice of eating method later, once he had more time to observe how ponies ate their food, since he preferred to be inconspicuous as opposed to standing out or doing something that might otherwise garner unwanted attention.
He used his magic-borne telekinesis to move the plate closer before leaning in and taking a bite out of the apple pie. His eyes widened in astonishment: he hadn't expected it to taste that good. He didn't know if it was his new taste buds, the quality of the apple pie, or a combination thereof, but he had never tasted such a delicious specimen before. The apple pie was so delicious, in fact, that he'd lost enough of his concentration to lose his hold on the plate.
Applejack caught it without any problem and facetiously said, "I'll accept that as a compliment."
Marshall was a bit embarrassed despite the positive reaction, and because of it, so he quietly retrieved the plate so he could continue to enjoy the apple pie, only this time being more mindful of his hold on the aforementioned plate. Soon enough, however, Applejack engaged him in conversation, which he politely obliged. He wasn't normally so reserved, but he was really out of his element, surrounded by — and experiencing — so many new things, and he really wanted it all to work out well.
Applejack was easy to talk to, thankfully, so he eventually relaxed and opened up to her, between samplings of some of the other treats that were of the apple persuasion. For the most part, they talked about everyday things that they could both relate to, like what they did for a living, or what they liked to do when they weren't doing that. One of the more interesting topics concerned cutie marks, as well as how a pony acquired one: that led to Applejack sharing her own experience, which reminded him of Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
Other ponies had gathered around and seemed eager to ask their own questions, so Applejack eventually excused herself. For a time, he ended up fielding questions instead of asking his own, but he could understand why and tolerated it. While some of the questions were innocuous, others were rather troublesome — particularly those that touched upon humanity as a whole. Most of the time it wasn't the questions themselves that were the problem, but the answers, since he needed time to construct a premise and background information in order to deliver the proper perspective to go along with a number of them.
Overall, he hadn't painted a flattering picture of humanity, but he hadn't seen any point in lying, or focusing too much on the good aspects. It was kind of strange, really, seeing as he'd never really thought about and established an opinion about his own species, yet something about it had crystallized over the course of his relatively-short life, just waiting to be dug up. While his opinion wasn't outright dislike, there was plenty to be embarrassed about when relating it to another race. In the end, it was probably a good thing that the questions usually didn't probe the more sensitive and/or damning topics, although learning how divided humanity was had seemed like a pretty terrible state of affairs to the ponies.
He hadn't known that Twilight Sparkle had been nearby, taking notes, until she had asked her first question. While she hoped to document information about his species in a more thorough, exacting and official capacity at some point, that didn't mean that she would pass up an opportunity to learn something at present, especially since the impromptu preliminary could aid in framing some of her future inquiries. That was fine with him, and it didn't hurt that her questions aimed to get a general sense of humanity's progress, since that afforded him enough room to save the more unsavory bits for a better time.
Eventually, and without warning, a pair of forelegs circled around his barrel, just behind his own forelegs, and he yelped with surprise when he was lifted into the air. "Come on," he heard the distinctive voice of Rainbow Dash declare, "we've got the perfect dance for ya!"
Before he knew it, he was whisked over to what appeared to be a conga line and got deposited right behind Rarity, so close that he was partially on top of her, and it was mostly out of reflex that he set his forehooves upon her haunches. He immediately felt a pair of hooves settle onto his own haunches, and found Rainbow Dash in a similar position when he turned to look behind himself, albeit with a cheeky grin on her face. He opened his mouth to say something, without really knowing exactly what it was that he wanted to say, when Rarity moved forward, which prompted him to follow suit instead of getting stretched out awkwardly, or causing a scene by breaking the line.
"Sorry about that, darling," Rarity apologized, which helped to draw Marshall's attention back to the fore, in addition to the need to watch where he was going, "but it didn't appear as if you would be able to disentangle yourself from that situation."
"You can thank me later," Rainbow Dash jauntily interjected.
"I hope you don't mind," Rarity continued, as she turned her head to the side and regarded Marshall over her shoulder. "It's just that, if you're only going to be here for a few hours, I figured that your time might be better spent if you had a greater variety of experiences to take back with you when you return to your world, rather than spending most of it catering to the curiosities of others."
Ordinarily, Marshall might have appreciated such thoughtfulness, but said thoughtfulness had landed him — quite literally — in a rather awkward and uncomfortable situation. It wasn't the dancing part that was getting to him, even though it was certainly an awkward enough affair for him: it was how quickly and easily the ponies had invited him to an activity that involved the kind of touching that it did, and it was weird to also be on the receiving end of it as well. He had nothing against it in and of itself, but it went against the pace that he was comfortable with, and the conduct that his parents had instilled in him. Basically, he wasn't the type to place his hands anywhere around a lady's midsection on a first date, much less a platonic first meeting.
Those weren't the only strange things that his mind had to deal with, either. There was also the matter of him recognizing Rarity and Rainbow Dash as members of the opposite sex, even though he only had eyes for the human aesthetic. He wasn't sure if he should follow the adage, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do," despite being a pony in Ponyville himself, but he certainly wasn't going to take advantage of the fact that he was in a female body, which he still didn't want to think too much about. It took an effort just to manage the change in body and setting, in addition to the fact that magic and transdimensional travel were real, and it wouldn't do him any good — for the time being, at least — to figure out what kind of allowances in behavior he could make as a female on top of that, in light of his self-image not being what one might consider to be feminine in nature.
"Actually," he heard Twilight Sparkle say, and a quick glance behind him revealed that she had followed him and Rainbow Dash to the conga line, having joined right behind the aforementioned pegasus, "Marshall is going to be visiting for an indefinite amount of time."
"Whoa, really?" Rainbow Dash voiced her interest in the matter.
Since Twilight Sparkle had been the pony with the plan, Marshall kept silent and let her handle what could have been a rhetorical question, since Rarity's cocked brow was what actually necessitated a response. Rarity's gaze must have unsettled Twilight Sparkle somewhat, because some of the nervousness that was sparked by it leaked into her voice as she said, "Yeah. We, uh, talked and made the arrangement along the way here."
Rarity responded to that with a slight frown and asked, "While I have no problem with Marshall returning, exactly how often will he be visiting?"
"Oh, you won't have to worry about going back to the cave," came Twilight Sparkle's reassuring reply, who had been able to read in between the lines of what Rarity had said. "Marshall will be able to move his consciousness between his body and this one. You see—"
"Aw, man..." Rainbow Dash groaned quite vocally, who turned her head enough to the side so Twilight Sparkle could see the displeased expression on her face. "Do you have to do that here, now?"
Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes and patiently said, "It's not going to kill you to hear the explanation, Rainbow Dash."
"That's because it's not funny," Rainbow Dash slyly quipped.
"Which means she could get bored to death," Pinkie Pie "helpfully" added while she happened to be prancing by, as if her timing hadn't been planned at all. "La, la-la, la-la..."
Marshall had to see Twilight Sparkle's reaction to the pair of jokes that had just been delivered, with Rainbow Dash interpreting "kill" in a way that hadn't been intended, then Pinkie Pie taking that to contradict Twilight Sparkle's assertion. He had to clamp his lips together tightly when he saw the put-out expression that was on her face, in an attempt to not show his amusement or make more noise than the snort that he had initially failed to contain. Twilight Sparkle seemed to take it all in stride, though, since she eventually smiled a little and shook her head.
After a reserved giggle, Rarity got things back on track when she brought up a relevant concern. "So, Twilight, have you already decided where Marshall will be staying?"
"Well," Twilight Sparkle began, "since I have plenty of room at the castle, I figured he could 'rest' there while he's in his own body."
"Your castle does have an abundant amount of free space," Rarity conceded, before casually adding, "Still, should he desire to, he is welcome to stay at my home as well."
"Mine, too!" Rainbow Dash declared. Seeing the odd looks that she got from Rarity and Twilight Sparkle when she glanced from one to the other, she defensively asked, "What?"
"It was just unexpected, is all," Rarity tactfully replied.
Rainbow Dash frowned, and probably would have crossed her forelegs if she hadn't been participating in the dance. "Why wouldn't I be interested? This is an alien we're talking about, and you two don't seem to have a problem with it."
"Fine, fine," Twilight Sparkle said appeasingly, since she didn't really have an issue with it.
The aforementioned alien, who had effectively dropped off of the others' radar, spoke up and modestly opined, "I don't think I'm all that interesting, though."
While Marshall didn't make a habit of selling himself short, his words had been laden with multiple meanings and purposes. Even though he thought they were true, when taken at face value, from his perspective the ponies were the ones who were more interesting. On top of that, he wasn't so keen on having Rainbow Dash's attention, so he was hoping to put a wet blanket on her interest. It wasn't that he didn't like her, but she seemed to be the type of... pony that he would rather ease into a relationship with, to get accustomed to them and their pace, or to keep at arm's length — and that included Pinkie Pie, too.
Before Twilight Sparkle or Rarity could ask him a question regarding what he had said, or argue against it, Rainbow Dash bluntly said, "Yeah, you're probably right." At the piercing stares that she got from her friends, she hastily added, "compared to me, at least," before she got a chance to get to the point of what she wanted to say. "But, you probably know something interesting, right? Like, maybe a totally awesome game that I've never heard of?"
"I don't know," Marshall temporized, since Rainbow Dash hadn't specified the kind of game that she was interested in, which made his mind swim among the multitude of possibilities. "What are you interested in? We — humans, I mean — have a lot of games, and we're making new ones all of the time. I couldn't even begin to tell you all of the types that there are, let alone the names of the games themselves."
Rainbow Dash's ears folded back as this obstacle presented itself, and her enthusiasm was curbed a bit. "Er..." Then, she perked back up, spread her wings and suggested, "Okay, how about something where I can put these," she flapped her wings a few times for emphasis, "bad boys to use?"
"Well, that certainly narrows it down," Marshall thought to himself. However, while it came as a relief, since he couldn't think of many activities that would rely on the ability to fly, now he was worried about disappointing Rainbow Dash. After all, the activities that he had been able to think of seemed like the kind that pegasi probably would have thought up to do themselves already; that, and he imagined that pegasi were more nimble than human aircraft as well, from what he had seen of their flying ability thus far, so they may not even find any of the human activities interesting either way.
He was about to tell Rainbow Dash that he couldn't think of anything, but he paused when an idea occurred to him. While it wasn't something that humans could do, save if technology ever made it possible in the future, he figured that something would be better than nothing. "Actually, I might know a game that pegasi could play." Before Rainbow Dash could get too excited at the prospect, he added, "Unfortunately, I don't remember all of the details, so I'll look it up when I get home and tell you about it the next time I visit."
After a bit of grumbling from a disappointed Rainbow Dash, they continued to make light conversation as they danced. While Marshall put some effort toward getting into the spirit of things, like the other ponies in the conga line, dancing just wasn't his thing. It was by no means a terrible experience, of course: he just felt strange about it in general, and out of place. Still, he didn't want to disappoint or upset anyone, so he stuck with it until the dance ended.
When the conga line broke up, he found himself near a table with treats that he had yet to partake of, as well as a punch bowl, so he made a beeline for it without first seeing what his closest dance partners might be up to. It wasn't often that he could enjoy an appreciable amount of sweets, and it didn't help that his restraint was often tested by his sweet tooth, so he really wanted to indulge himself while he could, since his time in Equestria — for however long it lasted — would be the only opportunity to do so without consequence.
Some time later, while he was drinking some punch to wash down the chocolate truffles, chocolate chip muffin, checkerboard cookies and red velvet cupcake that he had recently enjoyed, he noticed Fluttershy when he looked over the rim of his cup. She was standing next to the same table as he was, near the opposite corner from where he stood, which was about two of his body lengths away, daintily eating a slice of cake from a plate that had been set near the table's edge. He noticed that she was already aware of his presence, because she spared him a furtive glance yet tried to not look in his direction otherwise.
He considered her for a moment, wondering if he should strike up a conversation with her or not, especially while the other ponies weren't interacting with him as much as they had at the beginning of the party. It wasn't just because she was a friend of Rarity's, but because he didn't like others being uncomfortable around him, since he could empathize with that. Also, his past experiences with broadcasting such feelings had made him good at hiding them, so he figured that a distraction wouldn't hurt, since how she felt was quite apparent.
"Fluttershy," he addressed her, in order to get her attention. "Would you feel more comfortable if I went somewhere else?" Which he would, if Fluttershy asked, but the nature of the question was actually an attempt to get around whatever obstacle existed between them.
Fluttershy's eyes widened a bit, and she quickly — yet still softly — said, "Oh, no, that won't be necessary." She ducked her head a bit, and her gaze began to wander away from Marshall's, only making eye contact with him occasionally. "It's just, um... Well, you see, it's, uh..."
Marshall raised one of his forelegs and leveled it toward Fluttershy in order to request that she cease what she was doing, since she was liable to continue with the false starts until she gave up, at which point she might be too discouraged or embarrassed, if not both, to communicate with him any further. In as soothing of a voice as he could muster, since he wasn't accustomed to drawing people out of their shell, he said, "Relax, okay? Unless you intend to insult me, I'll be fine with whatever you have to say."
"...Are you sure?" Fluttershy asked, who looked up at him with her uncovered eye, in a rather coy manner, while fidgeting a bit against the floor with one of her forehooves.
Thinking that the problem was her confidence, rather than the subject matter, Marshall nodded his head and said, "Of course."
That reassurance seemed to do the trick, because Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief and visibly relaxed before saying, "Well, I hope this isn't too personal, but some of my animal friends have had a similar, um, issue, so I was wondering how you felt about being the wrong gender." Her expression became one of concern. "It's not too upsetting, is it?"
Marshall stared at her blankly for a moment, since he hadn't expected that question, especially since it concerned a subject that he had purposefully been putting aside for later. However, on top of proving that he was "fine" with the question, he didn't want to dampen the timid pony's spirit, so he decided that he could — at the very least — touch upon the subject.
He began by being frank, saying, "Well, to be honest, I was trying to not think about that right now." Seeing Flutterfly's face fall, along with her ears, he quickly continued. "But, it's not upsetting me, no. Aside from my you-know-what being gone, the only other difference I've noticed is my voice, which is strange but no big deal. So far, it's the change in species that I've been aware of the most."
Appearing to be emboldened by his receptivity, Fluttershy became more animated as she said, "Oh my, yes. Twilight said that humans stand upright and walk on two legs, and that they have wriggly phalanges on the extremities of their arms, which they depend on for interacting with most things, so I can only imagine that being a pony must be very strange to you."
Marshall blinked his eyes a few times in mild surprise, in response to seeing Fluttershy open up like that, but he still managed to nod his head in a timely manner and say, "Yeah, but it hasn't been bad. It probably would have been a different story if I had more trouble walking, though; or, if I wasn't a unicorn, 'cause telekinesis is pretty handy."
From there he was able to ease them into casual conversation, away from the serious topics of before. Once Fluttershy had found her comfort zone, she was easy to talk to and pleasant company. When he got her to talk about herself, he learned that she took care of animals. While she wasn't a veterinarian, she wasn't that far off from being one, and did a number of things that they didn't do besides. He also learned that she could communicate with animals, which — he figured — would explain how she would know about the gender confusion that some of them had experienced.
Fluttershy became self-conscious and shied away a bit when he complimented her ability to communicate with animals, and expressed an interest in being able to do that himself. While he didn't press the issue, he didn't backpedal either, and made sure that she knew where he stood. Sure, the recent discovery of the existence of magic was way more interesting, but he wasn't going to forget his non-magic roots, where having the ability to communicate with animals was probably among the most realistic things that one could hope to have, if technology ever advanced far enough to make it happen.
As nice as it was to talk with Fluttershy, though, there were other ponies vying for his time, other goodies to search out and devour, as well as other activities to be introduced to. The activities, like bobbing for apples and trying to guess what ponies could bring to a hypothetical party, were alright. He also got to talk to Applejack some more, as well as Pinkie Pie, and by the end of his encounter with the latter he may have deluded himself into thinking that he understood a bit of the method behind her madness. Then, of course, there was the food... Which was probably one of the better highlights of his life, with that being more a testament of how good the food was than however lackluster his life had been up until that point in time.
When all was said and done, he'd had a pretty decent time at the party; and, by "done," that referred to the moment when Twilight Sparkle had approached and informed him that Rarity had slipped out of the party, undoubtedly to get back to work. While she hadn't done more than give him the option to follow her and provide aid, he kind of felt obligated to do so, between the allowance of making return visits to her world — and all that entailed — and being fairly reliable about priorities, especially within a context where his actions and/or behavior would likely be judged by others.
So, after Twilight Sparkle gave Pinkie Pie a heads-up about the situation, who was disappointed but understanding, he spared a table of mostly-unsampled treats a look of longing before he followed Twilight Sparkle out of Sugarcube Corner, who began to lead him to where Rarity both worked and lived.
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6964324 Actually it's featured right now.
I would just like to point out one small mistake: In the story, Rainbow Dash offers Marshall a stay at her house, but no-one mentions how Marshall couldn't stay in her house, due to it being constructed out of clouds, and only certain species can walk on clouds (griffons, pegasi, alicorns, and possibly winged dragons and breezies. Oh, and birds).
6968407 yea i saw it too on the front page. Sadly after reading the chapter it wasnt their any more
. But a great chapter anyways! I dont know why but ive been finding myself enjoying slice of life stories lately (as in the past year
) would like to expand on my thoughts. But typing on a phone is real taxing.
I like the story tis... intriguing.
I'm not sure how far ahead you have planned for this story but. I have an idea just for some plot twists or something a rather. I think that after a while of switching bodies his body or rather rarity's mirror body could get a little merged or changed to merge with twilight's color pattern or for more dramatic effect wings. forgive me if I am wrong. I haven't read back for awhile but twilight uses her magic to transfer him, or maybe he gets a little magic in his normal body or something but these are just ideas and nothing more
6968407
6968420
It was only there for an instant? Thank goodness. I think this story isn't ripe enough for that kind of exposure. I really dodged a bullet, there.
6968413
Don't worry, I've got it covered. And if the first explanation doesn't work (it's not explicitly canon), I've got a backup that's canon.
6968424
I've pretty much gotten all of the major plot points mapped out. I don't want to spoil anything, so what I'll say is that some of those ideas — or something like them — won't be irrelevant down the road.
Very smooth of you, Twilight.
Very smooth of you, Applejack.
I just had a thought. While human, he should've looked up "Weird Al" Yankovic's song "Tacky" on YouTube while Rarity was watching. Her reaction would've been priceless!
Interesting premise for a story. Looking forward to where it goes.
7003197
I intend to work on this until it's finished. I just tend to work slow, is all.
7003527
I'm afraid that's not purple prose. I'm surprised that anyone would say so: not only because this is the first time anyone has, but because what I'm usually told is that my writing is dry, which is pretty much the opposite. I could be wrong, though, depending on exactly what you're referring to. I might be so accustomed to thinking of my writing as being dry that I have mental blinders to any incidents of purple prose.