Chaotic Harmony: Do Over

by shirotora

Chapter 48: Third First Date

Author's Note:

This was a pretty fun chapter to write. I would have posted it earlier, but things have been difficult and I honestly forgot about it.

Luckily, some good news came my way. I'm going to start training to be a manager at my job, so when my boss is promoted (which will probably be soon and the company is growing fast) I'll take over her position. That means not only better hours and pay, but a better possibility for future promotions. Heck, my boss has only been doing her job for a few months and they're already talking about promoting her.

Jynx and I watched as the train doors slid open and ponies started disembarking. As usual, there weren't many, but we only needed three. Well, two and a half, really.

"Dada!" I heard a happy squeal as my youngest son came into view, tied into the carrier on Kitakaze's back.

"Razor!" I cried as I ran over and smothered him in a hug.

"Can you let us get off the train first?" Kita complained.

"Sorry, mom," I apologized, stepping back, but not before unfastening the straps holding Razor in place so I can hold him. "Did you miss me?"

"Uh hu," Razor replied.

"I'm sorry, fuzzball. I won't do it again, I promise," I assured him, holding him tight.

"You better not," said dad. "I'd prefer it if I only had to be worried sick about one daughter at a time, thanks. Speaking of which, how is she?"

"As well as can be expected," Jynx said. "There's a therapist she's been talking to, but she's still pretty broken about it."

"I can not imagine such a fate," mom said.

"I can," Jynx said.

Sometimes I actually forget she lost her horn. She gets along so well without it.

"That's why she's going to need you," mom said.

"She has Scootaloo, too," I said. "She's gone through almost the same thing."

Mom gave me a questioning look. "That orange filly that idolizes her? She has her wings, though."

"I don't know all the details, but she was involved in an incident that damaged her mana pathways. That's why she's small for her age and can't fly."

"My goodness," mom gasped. "But she's always so confident."

"Yeah, she earned that," I said. "She worked hard and overcame her limitation, and now she can ride her scooter like no one else."

"You sound fond of her," mom said.

Jynx gave me a playful elbow. "I'd think so. They have a date this evening."

Mom gave me a smirk. "Oh? Glad to see you putting yourself out there more. Though I wasn't aware she was already fourteen."

I grimaced. "She isn't, yet. Not for about a month. It's probably going to be a terran date."

Mom asked, "That's just a regular date but without the sex, right? What's the fun in that?"

I blushed. "It's plenty fun. Ah'm just still a bit uncomfortable with her age, is all."

"Humans mature slower than ponies, mom," Jynx said. "They aren't considered adults until they're eighteen. And then they're just thrown into the deep end of it."

"So you're freaked out by a number?" Dad asked.

"Not so much that. It's just that even for a pony, she's still underage, consent forms or not," I stated. "Sure, the age difference, size difference, and all that matters, but if she was at least of age, I could probably push past all that."

"Yes, well, see that you do," mom said, sternly. "A mare has needs. More so than human mares, from what I've heard."

"Come on, now," Jynx said, coming to my rescue like the hero she is. "We can encourage him, but let's not go too far and pressure him. I trust he'll know what to do when the time comes. Now, why don’t we get you settled. The Flower sisters have a room for rent and they're close to the hospital. I've already made arrangements."

"I wish we could stay with you guys," dad said. "But I guess it would be too crowded."

"All because that abazure had to blow up your girlfriend's house," mom said.

It took a lot to get mom to cuss at someone, but I'd say that one earned it.

"Any plans for getting her a new place?" Dad asked.

"We're probably goin' to clear the roots and build a new place where her old one was," I said.

"Build her a bigger place, at least," mom insisted. "That library was far too small for what she needs. It was a library, war room, royal office, laboratory, and party hall. I know she doesn't want a palace, but too bad. She needs one, or at least something comparable."

"Maybe you can talk to her about it," Jynx offered.

The Flower sister's house was one of the biggest in town, with eight bedrooms. It was left to them by their parents after they and their other ten siblings moved away or died. They rented out the rest of the rooms, usually during spring when ponies went on vacation, or in winter to Canterlot folks.

They showed us to where mom and dad would be staying, Lily giving me the stink eye. She still wasn't convinced I wasn't a changeling.

After we got them settled, we started for the hospital.

"You should probably go on and get ready for your date," Jynx said.

I sighed. Not because I wasn't looking forward to it, but because that meant I had to give up my little fuzzball. "Yeah. Alright buddy, go with mama."

I gave Razor a kiss on the forehead and set him on Jynx's back. Then, as a quick little gift I put a little bit of silver fire on his paw, of course willing it to not burn anything. He stared at it waving his paw around and giggling.

"Be good for momma, auntie, and grandma. You can torment grandpa, though," I said.

"I'll remember that," dad said with a chuckle.

"Bye mom," I said, giving her a peck on the cheek. "Bye dad."

"Have fun on your date and tell her we said 'hi'," mom said.

"Come by tomorrow for dinner," I said with a wave as I left.

---

I had just enough time to go home, and get cleaned up before heading to the road to Sweet Apple Acres to meet Scootaloo.

I actually had no idea where we were going. I told Scoots she could choose the venue and she was keeping it secret. I had a couple ideas where we were going to go, though. I was going to find out soon, as Scootaloo was already waiting for me when I arrived.

"Sup, Buzz Butt," I greeted.

"Just waiting for a big pussy, you know how it is," she replied with a smirk. "You ready?"

"Ah'm here, ain't Ah?" I replied. "So, where we goin'?"

"Somewhere new," she replied. "It only just opened a week ago."

That had me intrigued. Ponyville had been growing, but I hadn't seen any new buildings. It had me doubly so when she started leading me further out of town, down a new road running parallel to the Apple farm.

We didn't go that far before I saw our destination. A large area full of ramps, rails, dips, half pipes, and more.

"We got a skate park?" I asked, impressed.

"Enough ponies have been asking for one that Mayor Mare finally approved it," Scootaloo said. "Plus, having properly made ramps and rails reduces injury and property damage, so it's a good investment."

"So, Ah take it you're gonna be teaching me to skate?"I asked.

"Bingo. No boyfriend of mine is going to be lame," Scoots teased.

"Lame? Ah'm a freaking herald. Ah came back from the dead," I said.

Scootaloo shrugged. "And? So did Derpy. Twice."

"Wait... seriously?"

"Come on," she said, waving me on as she ran toward the park.

I followed, watching a few ponies making use of the park. There were about nine of them, probably young adults or nearly so.

"Yo, Skidmark!" Scootaloo called.

"Hey hey, Little Dash," a surfer-dude pony waved us over. "Your gear's over here."

As we approached, Scootaloo introduced us. "Shiro, this is Sandbar. Skid Mark, this is Shiro."

"Cool to finally meet you," Sandbar greeted.

"Same." I shook his hoof. "So... Skid Mark?"

Sandbar laughed. "Oh, yeah. When we first met, I fell off my board at the top of the half pipe and slid all the way down. It was super embarrassing, but pretty funny in hindsight."

"And with that in mind..." Scootaloo said as she passed me a helmet and pads.

I accepted them and started putting them on.

"We aren't going to be trying any tricks just yet," Scootaloo said. "First lesson is staying on the board. You're a cat, so it shouldn't be too hard for you."

And so my lessons began. It started simple, with standing and pushing myself along on the board. Like she said, being a cat gave me an advantage and I was comfortable on the board in less than two minutes.

"Alright, Ah think Ah got it, now," I said. "What's next?"

"Next, the basics of tricks, how to control the board."

The next hour was dedicated to teaching me how to do simple stuff like hopping, grinding, and spinning midair. Once again being a cat helped and after that hour, I was confident enough for something a little more... interesting.

"So, who wants to try somethin' different?" I asked. "Ah'll have to usurp the whole park for about half an hour, but Ah think you guys'll like it."

Sandbar was the first to reply. "As long as it doesn't mess anything up, I'm cool."

Rumble nodded. "Yeah you got me curious, now."

The others I didn't know all agreed.

"Come on, Scoots. This'll be right up your alley," I said.

I led her to the half pipe and climbed to the top.

As she joined me, she asked, "What are you doing?"

"Ah figured this would be a good time to try out a trick Ah learned while Ah was gone," I said.

I drew upon the divine magic within me, but instead of weaving it into a spell, I funneled it into my chaos magic. I gave it a simple, open command; make it fun for everyone.

Then, I snapped my fingers.

Scootaloo looked at me confused. "Uh... couldn't you already snap?"

I just grinned at her and said. "Piece of advice, be ready for anything." And I gestured for her to start skating.

She shrugged, hopped onto her scooter, and took off down the half pipe. However, before she reached the other side, a pad with a bright green arrow popped up at the very edge of the ramp.

Scootaloo, in an impressive display of reaction speed, recognized it, comprehended what it was, and braced for it. Once she hit the pad, she shot up into the air like a bottle rocket.

She let out a "Woohoo!" as she corkscrewed and flipped into the air.

Just as she started her decent, one of the rails pulled itself up from the gound and rose up to meet her.

Scootaloo landed gracefully, balancing on her front axle. After the rail looped around, she hopped and spun, landing on her rear axle, grinding backwards, and making me realize I didn't know what any of these tricks were called.

Finally, the rail curved upward before ending, giving Scoots just enough hight to pull a backflip before landing before a cheering audience.

"That was awesome!" Scootaloo shouted. "You're turn."

I was a little surprised by that. "Mah turn? You sure?"

"It's your magic, right? It won't let you get hurt."

She had a point. I shrugged, got on my biard and tilted over the lip of the half pipe.

As I did I channeled lightning magic through my legs and into my board, infusing it with electricity. The magical electric charge accelerated the board quickly as I started back up the half pipe only to find the 'half' part had been lost at some point. Instead of being flung into the air, I kept going.

Round and around the now full pipe I went, my lightning magic accelerating me faster and faster. I tried to cut it off, but it wouldn't stop.

I started moving faster than the trail of lightning could dissipate, building more and more lightning magic on top of itself, sending me accelerating faster and faster. It got to the point where I could have almost sworn I could see my own after image through the blindingly bright lightning that now filled the loop.

Then, without warning, I descended one last time to find no more pipe, only a straight road. Not that I could actually notice anything, as it all went by in a blur and a bright flash of light.

I was flung a goot six blocks before I slammed into a large stack of empty boxes that I was pretty sure weren't there a few seconds ago.

Even with the cushioning, though, it hurt. I slowly managed to crawl out of the boxes, find my still smoking board and start making my way back to the park.

It took a minute to get back to the park, but I managed to find Scootaloo and the others still looking at the half pipe.

"Well, that was a hell of a thing," I said.

Everyone's heads whipped toward me, looks of shock on their faces.

"What the heck?" Scoots asked, perplexed. "How are you... but you're still..."

I looked toward the half pipe... or rather the full pipe, again...

"What the hell?!"

I stared in shock as I, as in me but not me, spun around the pipe, cloaked in lightning. Brighter and brighter, the lightning filled the pipe until it looked more like a generator or something.

Then, part of the bottom dropped into the ground and I, as in the other me, shot out. There was a bright flash of light followed by twin streaks of fire that shot out on what was once my trajectory, yet the other me was nowhere to be seen.

I turned to the others. "Twilight can never know of this."

They agreed without question.

---

"So, what exactly was that you did? To the skate park, I mean?" Scootaloo asked as we took a seat on a bench overlooking said skate park, two bags from Hay Burger between us.

I answered as I started dividing up the food. "It's somethin' Loki taught me. When you use divine magic to fuel chaos magic, it permeates the area and can create a kind of 'zone of chaos'."

"Wait, Loki taught you? I thought you were Thor’s herald," she asked.

"Ah am, but he wasn't the only one that taught me stuff."

"Really?! Who else taught you? What did they teach you? Can you teach me?"

"Woah, woah, calm down, Twilight Junior," I said, getting a glare from her. "I can't really teach most of it, as most of it requires divine magic. I can teach you most of what Athena taught me."

"The Athena?!" Scootaloo stared wide eyed. "She's the coolest god that ever was! She taught you stuff?!"

I chuckled. "That's right. Mostly combat tactics. A lot of her lessons were actually more like classroom stuff. A lot of theory. But we practiced the theory, too. Thor mostly taught me how to actually fight and use his power. Loki taught me how to use divine magic, as well as some neat tricks with chaos magic. I learned a bit from others, too.

"Speaking of learning, though, I heard you're going to keep on with school. Any idea what you're planning on doing?"

"Avionics," Scootaloo said. "I decided that a long time ago. I swore I would fly, one way or another. Then Rainbow told me about her great grandmother and how she was a pilot. She flew places no human mare ever did, and even wound up in the history books."

I chuckled. "And became even more famous when she disappeared."

"I'm glad she did. Otherwise Rainbow wouldn't be Rainbow, and she wouldn't have inspired me to find my own wings." Scootaloo got a far off look. "I swore I wouldn't give up, that I would live, find happiness, love as hard as I could, and become the best me I could be. And I intend to keep that promise. I owe my dad that much, at least."

I was caught off guard by that. She didn't often talk about her dad. All I really know was that he was the town's Ranger before me and he died on the job. I didn't know the details, and had too much sense to ask.

"Ah think he would be proud of you," I said. "You've become an amazing mare."

Scootaloo smiled, softly. "Yeah. I think he would be, too."

Comments

[BestinDworld]

wait dashie's ancestor is Amelia Earheart?

[shirotora]

11593107
It was mentioned in a previous chapter. Dash mentioned her "great granny Earheart". That was one of the first things I thought of when I thought of the whole terran thing. If she was related to any human in history, it would have either been her or Chuck Yeager, and only one of them disappeared.

[Comet_Chaser]

He back to the future'd himself, that's actually fuckin hilarious lol

[ShadowSpectrumSwordtails]

11593141
You know, I actually have an idea on how Scootaloo can fly, if she’s rigged up with the right equipment, her own wings themselves can be used as the engine. As a result, the rig she’s using can be the bare minimum of materials needs to fly. Think like with Aang the Avatar and his glider. Her wings provide the power, the glider which she can have strapped to her back if she wanted can help her to get the lift. It’s simple, elegant and effective. What do ya think?

[shirotora]

11594917
The problem isn't the size of her wings. Her mana pathways were damaged. That's also why she's still small while her friends are pretty much full grown.

[shirotora]

11594404
Yeah, like I said, chaos magic is ridiculously powerful when you let it run wild. Just don't expect it to ever happen again. Or maybe it will. Who knows. Chaos gonna chaos

[ShadowSpectrumSwordtails]

11595068
I didn’t say it was because her wings weren’t big enough. Even with her damaged pathways, she’s still able to move pretty fast on that scooter of hers. Now imagine her putting a set of wings on it. She’s already thinking about following in Airhearts footsteps, why not start with making her scooter into a sort flying machine? With buzzing wings providing all the speed she could ever need. I know it’s not because of her wings size. I’m saying that if she’s going to try flying another way, she might as well try with what’s she’s already got and try modifying her scooter so she can fly with it.

[shirotora]

11595448
She just doesn't have the force to lift herself, even with wings. I would assume she's already tried several methods of flying, with and without her scooter. The CMC canonically tried hang gliding, after all.

I already have a plan on where I'm taking this with her. I won't say what, but I think you'll be satisfied with it. It'll be some time before the story progresses that far, though.

Though, you did just inspire a nice piece of conversation that might show up in the next chapter, so thank you for that.

[ShadowSpectrumSwordtails]

11595698
You’re welcome, though remember. In season four episode flight to the finish, Scootaloo was able to get enough thrust to lift herself on the ground in a hover. She has enough power to hover at least. I just thought, with all that buzzing she could kick up enough wind under some extra wings to at least glide. Though I guess not, oh well. I’m looking forward to seeing whatever it is you do have in mind.

[shirotora]

11596322
Keep in mind, I'm approaching this as if the show was mearly inspired by the real place. Think of it as if the shows writers had dreams about Equestria and wrote what they saw, then the show runners made adjustments to better appeal to their target demographic. So, the show is more of a "based on a true story" kinda thing.

[ShadowSpectrumSwordtails]

11596727
That’s true, oh well. Like I said, I look forward to whatever ya’ll do have in mind.