Take Your Pony To Work

by Ximer

Final Chaaaa- Oops a Teal has occured

Off days had to be the best days of the week. Even though Hue only had two of them, I was fortunate enough to get three, having an odd work schedule and such. This left me to my own devices for one day of the week, with no one to spend time with. I was by myself, save the deer that decided to grace the lawn occasionally. They provided little in the way of conversation though, and only stuck around for a few minutes before wondering off into the woods. Thankfully, I had convinced Hue not to hunt this year and wouldn’t lose any of my “friends.”

That being said, my real friends lived in the city, which was too far to reach with magic. As bored as I was, it was no surprise that Hue’s PlayStation Four soon fell under my curious stare. I had seen him play thousands of times, mostly online, as he himself hated playing alone as well. He had his own group, and he would let their voices come through the T.V. so that I didn’t feel left out of the conversation.

With a shrug, I powered it on and let the disc that was already inside play, Final Fantasy Fourteen. He loved this game, and was perhaps borderline addicted to it. Thankfully, after being a part of his mind for so long, I knew the ins and outs of his information, and logged on as Hue easily enough. His password was sweet too, as I had a little input in it and he had never changed it.

As I logged in, I couldn’t help but take note of how…bland Hue’s character looked. While I had never been one to judge his taste, I struggled to play as the tall, poorly made clone of my human. I was relieved to find that Hue had a remedy to his awful taste in gaming appearances in the form of a potion, which I found amusing, and followed the instructions that eventually led me to the editing screen.

It was an odd moment for me; being a character myself I couldn’t help but notice the odd development within me as I went through the options. I had never been given the power to create or change anything on this level. I tried my best to suppress the feeling of power as I scrolled through the female options of the various races of the game.

While there were no options related for anything resembling my own kind, I settled on the dragon like appearance of one race and began making the smaller changes to her, such as skin, eye, and hair color as well as scales. I settled on a light blue skin color, with dark blue hair and black horns. Two red shimmering eyes stared back at me through the screen, a friendly smile and button nose set below them.

“So cute,” I giggled as I saved the changes to Hue’s character.

I smiled victoriously as I moved faster, now that Hue’s character was a bit more streamline and lightweight. Thankfully, his character’s name wasn’t too masculine and worked for a female character as well. The new look also garnered the attention of a few lonely nerds who Hue identified as “neck beards” when he was online.

As fun as slaying monsters and fighting Primals turned out to be, I quickly grew bored with the repetitive button pressing. Each class had a certain flow of buttons to it, and after playing with all of them I really couldn’t settle on any of the combat classes. This boredom is what led to me using up a good portion of Hue’s resources in crafting, not that he would mind since it would get him in game money in the long run.

I eventually logged out, putting in a disk that was titled GTA Five. I had watched Hue play this game a few times and it hadn’t really interested me. Now that I was behind the controls, however, I found myself smiling as I broke into my first car. The fact that I could do almost anything in this game excited me, and before long I was committing several felonies and avoiding the police, in the game of course.

Hue had a lot of vehicles to choose from, including a tank at his disposal. I couldn’t help but laugh as I pancaked both humans and cars alike in the wake of my terrible, terrible magical unicorn wrath. My magic seemingly worked of its own accord as it located my human’s secret stash of CDs. One being a Disney classic set, which held the desired song that came to mind as I continued my rampage through the streets.

Soon, I was singing along to Hell Fire, my mind locked in the game, until finally my tank became little more than a fireball with the words “Wasted” appearing on screen. As if a switch had been flipped, I looked around confused as to what had been occurring around me.

“What happened?” I asked aloud as the sounds of sirens and screams faded.

My character was placed outside of what looked like a hospital with no means of transportation. I was about to give up until I discovered the phone and called for a ride, at Hue’s expense, unfortunately. It was for a good cause though, and soon I was at a pier, trying to park a few of Hue’s virtual cars on a boat.

I had clearly lost track of time, as the fidgeting of the door knob announced Hue’s return. I was a bit stunned that I had spent almost an entire day on a game. I could no longer criticize gamers for just sitting down and wasting a day indoors now, having done so myself.

“You’re playing Grand Theft Auto?” Hue asked. No hello, or how was your day, jus straight to the elephant in the room.

“Um, yes?” I smiled sheepishly.

“Oh, well that’s cool,” Hue said. “As long as you didn’t go absolutely crazy on my file.”

The game camera briefly shifted to reveal several expensive cars beneath the water’s surface. They were my failed attempts at trying to get a car onto a boat, which was difficult to do with or without hands. Thankfully Hue’s back was turned long enough for me to get out of the water.

“N-nope, nothing like that,” I replied.

“Good to see you having a little fun at least,” Hue commented. “Not all stressed out about Teal.”

“I actually haven’t seen her,” I said after recounting our last encounter.

While not encountering the mare wasn’t entirely a bad thing, being unable to keep tabs on such a pony wasn’t a good thing. For some reason, I felt…responsible, as if I had to talk to her and keep up with her. After learning of her unfortunate past, that feeling was only strengthened. It had been a few weeks since I had last seen, or heard her questionable advice.

“I see,” Hue shrugged. “Strange mares aside, I think it’s time to break out the keyboard again.”

“Have a bit of inspiration?” I asked excitedly.

“Mostly a bunch of small ideas, but sometimes those come together to form a bigger picture,” Hue replied. “Whether it’s good or bad is up for debate.”

“So is it fanfiction, or the other project you’ve pecked away at?” I poked his side, abandoning my game.

“Still fanfiction,” Hue said. “Oddly enough, Hasbro has actually redoubled their efforts in the show now that you guys have appeared, wanting to appeal to a new crowd I suppose.”

“Hasbro aside, what was your idea?” I leaned up against my human, batting my eyelashes.

“One was an Avenger type story, since the ground work has already been laid for that,” Hue chuckled, stroking my mane, while ensuring to get a few ear scratches in. “Plenty of bad guys to choose from or make up.”

“As long as I get to be Miss Stark,” I said with the snootiest voice I could muster.

“Loosely based on that series,” Hue clarified as he pulled his hand away. “I might even use an old throwback from the first story I wanted to make, or just make a new HiE entirely. I mean, why not right?”

“Yeah, but those have kind of been done to death, haven’t they?” I pointed out before being scooped up off my hooves with a surprised squeak.

“You came from one of those “done to death” stories, remember,” Hue teased. “On a side note, I would think you’d be used to being swept off your hooves by now, figuratively and literally.”

“I am,” I smiled as I lazily squirmed in his arms. “I kind of like being carried, to be honest. You have to admit I’m more adorable when I pretend I’m not expecting it.”

“One has to wonder if you ponies are related to house cats in some way,” Hue rolled his eyes.

Even as Hue sat me back down and went about his business I continued to watch him. I didn’t care if he wasn’t the greatest or brightest human; all that mattered was that he was mine. Whether I was an accident or not, I was glad I had been a part of his life.

---

The En-opps, a Teal has occurred… 01001001 00100000 01110111 01101111 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01101100 01100101 01110100 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01100101 01101110 01100100

---

I woke up the next morning with a strange feeling, as if I had forgotten about something important. As I came to my senses, I could feel a vacant warm spot beside me, meaning that Hue had already started his morning routine.

Not wanting to be left behind, I quickly got out of bed and proceeded to go about my own routine as well, getting what I could out of the way while I waited on the shower. Despite my best efforts to occupy my mind I was still unable to shake the feeling that something wasn’t right.

Each step I took, each room I entered, everything I did felt wrong somehow. Something in my mind was telling me that continuing was wrong, but that didn’t make sense. Even the words I recorded in the diary Hue bought for me felt as if they shouldn’t exist now. I found myself poking my own foreleg, to ensure I was still a solid being.

“You okay, Harmony?” Hue asked with a concerned look on his face.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I lied. “I guess I’m just feeling a little uh…I guess disoriented is the best word for it.”

“Heh, not pregnant are you?” Hue chuckled, seemingly unfazed by whatever it was in the air that was making me feel this way.

“I doubt it’s morning sickness,” I scoffed. “Don’t you feel it?”

Hue stood stock still, as if trying to sense what I did. I could tell by his puzzled expression that he couldn’t, and that he was immune to whatever this was. My human confirmed this with a sad shake of his head.

“Sorry Harmony, I don’t feel anything, but then again I’m not the one with magic,” Hue said. “Maybe that’s why you feel off, something might be wrong with you horn?”

Before I could respond, Hue gave the tip of my horn a gentle peck, sending shivers down my spine. While I highly doubted the method of “kissing it better” would make the feeling go away for good, it did serve to put me in a good mood.

With the negative feeling gone, I was able to finish getting ready and psych myself up for work. It wasn’t until Hue and I parted ways that the feeling of uncertainty returned, as if it had been waiting for Hue to leave. I wanted to turn and run back to him, but I had already walked inside, and his car was no longer visible. Even the inside of the building offered no protect from this sensation.

While I wouldn’t consider myself a clever pony by any means, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out something was off with Arusha with just a glance. The poor mare seemed to be out of it, far worse than I was, as she feebly worked the coffee maker.

Something else seemed off about her as well, not to mention the entire building. I could feel my muzzle scrunch in frustration as I struggled to comprehend what I was feeling. It was something obvious to my psyche, but so subtle that I couldn’t detect it by sight.

“Greetings, Harmony,” Arusha said tiredly.

“Arusha, are you feeling okay?” I asked.

“Never better…” Arusha replied as her ears drooped. “Is what I wish I could say. It’s as if the life of today has just been drained.”

“Yeah, I noticed that too,” I commented as the earth pony allowed me to prepare my own cup of coffee.

After taking a sip of what I expected to be a revitalizing morning boost, I quickly spat it back out into the cup. It wasn’t the heat or lack of sugar, but the lack of taste entirely that disgusted me. Even the flow of liquid felt wrong, but my mind could only pick up the lack of taste.

I swiftly tried to eat a doughnut, but the result was the same. It was like putting a pillow in one’s mouth, dry and tasteless. I looked over at Arusha who I could tell was struggling to keep down her coffee. Even if it hadn’t been the best taste in the world, which I would know a thing or two about, it still would have been better than nothing at all.

“You know, you really shouldn’t get food you’re not going to finish,” Teal said with a mouthful of doughnut. “It’s really disgusting.”

“Teal what are…is that the doughnut I just-never mind, what’s going on?” I asked, slightly disgusted with the mare.

“It’s it great? I finally got it right, and it’s all thanks to you,” Teal smiled. “A world that can’t end, that will never end.”

“A world that will never end…what are you talking about?” I pointed an accusing hoof at her as Arusha joined me.

“This is my story Harmony, and I really couldn’t let you end it so soon,” Teal shrugged. “So I might have stepped in and gave this story a gentle nudge in the right direction.”

Despite her cryptic explanation, I was still hung up on what she had said previously. She wanted a world that wouldn’t end, but that didn’t make sense. Sure, Earth might be consumed by the sun one day or something crazy like that, but it wouldn’t just abruptly grind to a halt like-

“You didn’t…” I mumbled.

“Ah, the mare finally caught on,” Teal clopped her fore hooves together with glee. “It took a while, but I just couldn’t let things end like they normally do.”

“This time…you’ve done this before…that world,” My eyes were glued to the mare. “Did you lie?”

“Of course not silly, I just stopped a story from ending,” Teal smiled. “I already told you, that world withered away because there was no creativity. As magical as we are, ponies are just too predictable.”

“That’s why you brought all the characters the humans made here!” I exclaimed as her true motives were finally coming out of the shadows. “You didn’t want us, you wanted the humans!”

“Smart girl,” Teal grinned. “They can’t be predicted, their creativity is endless. One could even argue that it’s magical, since it gave life to all of you to begin with.”

“You can’t hope to get away with this, once they realize who you are and what you’ve done-“ Arusha started to say.

“They’ll what?” Teal snapped. “Arrest me? Throw me in a padded room? You flatter me, but I can do just about anything I want now. Besides, why would you want this to end?”

“Because you and I both know what happens if something isn’t allowed to come full circle,” I tried to reason with Teal. “I don’t want that.”

“I clearly remember you wanting your human, consider this the trade off,” Teal shrugged. “You get to keep living on agelessly with Hue with only one negative draw back, you can’t taste food, oh the horror.”

“Who knows if it will stop there?” Arusha huffed.

“I do, because I say it will,” Teal rolled her eyes. “I think you both need to chill for a while, maybe a good time skip is in order. Then you’ll see there’s nothing to worry about…you’ll all see this time.”

“Wait, you can’t just-“

---

“-make time…pass?” I looked around confused as I found myself back in my home.

From the window, I could see that it was dark outside now, giving credibility to Teal’s claim. How she had been able to make both time, and the space around me shift was something I couldn’t quite wrap my head around. With just a simple suggestion, Teal had displayed godlike power.

“Harmony?” I heard Hue call out from our room.

For a few brief moments, a burden was lifted from my back. Hue was still here, and she hadn’t taken him away. To that end I was grateful and rushed to meet him, ready to tell him about how time had just passed and everything had just shifted about all because Teal wanted it to.

“Hue thank goodness, you’re still here,” I sighed.

“Yeah…we just got home, and you wanted to get set up on Facebook,” Hue raised an eyebrow at me. “Are you feeling okay?”

“No, I mean yes, but that’s not what’s wrong,” I stumbled over my words. “Teal sent me here against my will.”

“So is Teal your boss now?” Hue chuckled.

“I’m being serious, I just remember talking to her and now I’m home,” I said as I started to pace. “I should still be at work.”

“Well you only have to wait until six a.m. tomorrow,” Hue mused.

“Hue I’m serious!” I shouted, gaining his attention.

“Okay, okay, calm down,” Hue held up his hands defensively. “Let’s not get crazy, I mean, it’s not like she hurt you right?”

“Well, no but-“ I started to argue my case until Hue cut me off.

“Then I don’t see what the problem is,” Hue shrugged, obviously doubting my claim. “I think your tea will help you calm down a bit and then we can discuss this more, I don’t think it was a time skip. You may have just had some unicorn problem.”

As Hue stood up against the light my eyes widened in horror. Whether it was a trick on my eyes, or my mess of a mental state, I could see Hue’s skin color had faded a bit. It had gone from the rich, healthy tan to a softer pale color. My human had exited the room before I could say anything to address it.

I quickly followed him, but was confused when I couldn’t seem to detect the same color loss from before. It was as if there had never been a difference, but I was certain I had seen something off about Hue.

“What’s wrong?” Hue asked, turning around at the frantic sound of my hooves clacking against the floor.

“I…” I started to say, only to reconsider after it sank in that Hue wouldn’t believe me if I told him. In fact, he may call me crazy. “…nothing.”

I let Hue continue on his original path towards the kitchen with a sigh. Was I truly losing my mind? Hue talked and acted as if I had behaved normally for the duration of the day, a day that I couldn’t recall at all. Truthfully, I really wanted to do exactly what Teal said and just go through life with my human, but all of this felt wrong now.

“What should I do?” I asked aloud as I hung my head.

---

No amount of debating my circumstances had helped reason with Hue. He still doubted that I had just lost track of time and could only remember talking to Teal last. Had I possessed a way to contact Arusha, I would have at least had a witness. Perhaps she would agree with me. Then Hue might believe me and we could do something.

As optimistic a thought as that was, Teal had pointed out that there really wasn’t much that could be done. No one or pony would believe me, even with Arusha to confirm my story. Calling her out on making all of the ponies real would only make her a hero to the others, why she hadn’t already revealed herself was another mystery altogether. Perhaps it was yet another elaborate link in the chain to get what she wanted; a perfect, never ending world.

As I lay awake with Hue’s arm around me, the uneasy feeling kept sleep just out of reach until exhaustion started to run its course. I didn’t fight it as the world around me melted away, replaced by swiftly by a bright, stained glass circle in a dark void.

I stood on it, unwilling to move for fear of breaking it, until after a few experimental taps revealed that it was quite sturdy. This dream had been different from all of the others I had experienced so far, but I was still expecting Teal to emerge from the circle.

“Teal, this isn’t funny anymore!” I shouted, my voice echoing into the darkness.

“There was no humor intended,” replied a new voice.

The voice carried an odd aura of authority, but was gentle and caring. Before I had time to ponder the voice’s owner, the sound of hooves clacking across the stained glass echoed throughout the darkness and produced the image of an alicorn, a pony that I had yet to see on Earth. The flowing mane and tail, as well as the shorter stature left little doubt as to who had come to occupy my dreams.

“P-princess Luna?” I stammered in disbelief.

“Be at ease, you’re safe from Teal’s gaze as long as I hold you in my dream world,” Luna said. “It’s taken a great effort to reach you, Harmony.”

“How is this possible?” I asked.

“Equestria and Earth are intertwined,” Luna explained. “One cannot exist without the other, which is why I sought you out after Teal expressed such interest in you.”

“What makes me special?” I laughed nervously. “I’m just a unicorn trying to keep a job in a coffee shop.”

Luna opened her mouth as if ready to reply, but stopped as if she had reconsidered what her response would be. “You wanted to be real, you wanted to make your own path, despite what your cutie mark revealed your destiny to be. While it may seem insignificant, so long as you retain your individuality, Teal cannot have complete control as she claims.”

“How do you know Teal?” I asked.

“She was a skilled unicorn, quite gifted in magic,” Luna said. “But something happened to her that caused her to turn violent, unpredictable, and eventually drastic measures were taken. Even her cutie mark changed shape entirely. World after world has grown cold and quiet wherever she goes.”

“Now that she’s here, you’re out of time and options,” I concluded. “How is she able to do this?”

“We can’t say for certain, but we believe that whatever happened to Teal is not of Equestrian origin,” Luna said. “We believe something came from the world you and your fellow ponies now dwell in.”

“Teal talked about having a human, that doesn’t make sense,” I looked down in thought. “Why would she tell me she had one if she came from Equestria?”

“If what we theorize is true, then the mare you spoke with did not lie, but confirm our suspicions,” Luna replied. “Which would explain the drastic behavior changes.”

“Is there some way to stop her?” I asked.

“Only Teal can truly undo what she has set into motion,” Luna said. “But if you could somehow reopen the portal to Equestria, we should be able to overwhelm her. My sister and I have concluded this to be the best chance at stopping her.”

“You’re asking me to reunite two worlds, I can think of a thousand different ponies that are better suited for that,” I commented. “I mean, what happens if I fail?”

“Then this world, and ours, will turn to dust,” Luna’s response sent chills down my spine as I recalled what I had seen with Teal. “Not even the humans can stop what has been set in motion.”

If I were to disappear that would be one thing, but I couldn’t live with myself knowing that Hue was in danger as well. Teal truly believed she was helping somehow, and if it took a bit of mare hoofing to show her the light, then I would certainly do it for him, and for all the others.

“So much for the simple Slice of Life stuff,” I sighed. “Where do I even start?”

Without warning, Luna braced her horn against my own. No sooner had she done so, various images passed before my eyes. Years, days, months, all seemed irrelevant through Luna’s point of view. Finally, a strange cave came into view, as well as a metal sign that read Woolpit.

“Woolpit…” I said aloud as Luna backed away from me.

“I wish I could stay longer, but my influence across the void is fading,” Luna sighed. “You have to move quickly once you’re awake; it won’t take long for things to grow out of hoof. Already the Tree of Harmony has started to fade in color in our world.”

“Luna, I can’t do this alone, I’m just one pony,” I said as the glass beneath us began to crack.

“You already have a friend that believes in you, and as long as you have that you’re never alone,” Luna said as she faded entirely.

I sat up quickly in our bed as my dream came to an end. Luna’s words were still ringing through my ears, and the thought of something more serious than the disappearance of taste gave me the energy to leap out of bed. While I knew I had a mission, Hue was ignorant to what Luna had warned me about.

“Harmony, what are you doing?” Hue groaned.

“No time to explain,” I replied.

“Bullshit, anything causing a miniature horse to jump out of bed at four in the morning requires one,” Hue said as he struggled out of bed behind me.

“Okay then, I need to get to Woolpit,” I sighed as I pulled out a bag from Hue’s closet.

“Fuck!” Hue exclaimed as he tripped in the darkness of our room. “Wait, Woolpit, as in Woolpit England?”

“I guess, all I know is that Woolpit appeared in my dream Luna showed me,” I said. “It’s where the portal is located.”

“Okay, Harmony, this has gone on long enough,” Hue huffed. “There’s no conspiracy, no imminent threat, and no reason for you to go to Woolpit which is halfway across the planet.”

“I have to stop Teal!” I shouted, the lights flickering on as my magic discharged accidentally. “Before she wipes out everything.”

“Teal can’t hurt you,” Hue said. “Nothing is going to happen.”

“I’ve seen what happens, and I’m going with or without your help!” I snapped, only to cover my mouth afterwards.

Hue said nothing as I silently made my way towards the door. I had no real plan, no method of transport, and only a dream as instruction. From Hue’s point of view, it was justifiable to assume I had finally gone off the deep end.

“Please don’t do this,” Hue begged.

“You still don’t believe me,” I looked up at him. “I always believed you.”

“Harmony, it’s just hard to wrap my mind around this very spontaneous trip without some kind of evidence that it’s not a wild goose chase.” Hue said.

I was about to reply when a knock sounded at our door, putting both of us on guard. Hue’s expression shifted to one of panic as he approached the door and grabbed the bat that was hidden in the umbrella basket. He put his hand on the knob, but was unable to turn it out of fear.

“Harmony, can you hear me?” came a very familiar voice.

“Arusha?” I said aloud and focused on the door knob, shifting the simple mechanisms within to be met by my friend.

Hue lowered the bat, sliding it back into the basket as the mare brought me into a hug. I looked up at my human, who gave me a knowing nod. Arusha had no idea where I lived, or means of transportation to my knowledge, but somehow she had found her way to my house and something seemed to be troubling her.

Author's Note:

Comments

[Uros]

And thus the crazy starts \o3o/

[Alondro]

7087998 Hue...

Clearly this was deliberately not spelled 'Hugh' to prevent this from being a reference:

img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120218232519/memoryalpha/en/images/4/40/Hugh-Drone.jpg

I'm on to you...

[jaime_lion]

Should I post what the binary translates to?

[FredMSloniker]

I'm reminded of the story 'Redshirts', in which the protagonists come to realize that a TV show from an alternate universe (Classic Star Trek with the serial numbers filed off) is somehow forcing their reality in line with it and trying to stop this before they get killed by exploding consoles or rubber-masked aliens or some other contrived, only-there-for-cheap-drama death. The twist at the end is that the main character realizes that he is, in fact, in a story about such a situation and has a brief conversation with an author avatar before the story ends.

[ScrambledCrackers]

The plot thickens...

[Ximer]

7137719
If you want you can. In spoilers would be preferable if you do

[Ximer]

7137441

Hue is a play on Human. I do enjoy that particular borg episode though still, I don't usually do or name things without a greater purpose in mind.

[Alondro]

7139036 I shall create a pony named 'Steve'. Steve the pony will have a cutie mark of a Rolodex. He'll be employed as the day manager of a fishing tackle shop.

Destiny passed him by when it was handing out names and Cutie Marks....

And yet, immune to fate, his is the greatest power of all... (epic meta fic...)

[Misty Horse]

7139036

I couldn't help but consider 'Hue' as a play on words when his lack of colouring was mentioned...

[Rikki]

---

The En-opps, a Teal has occurred… 01001001 00100000 01110111 01101111 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01101100 01100101 01110100 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01100101 01101110 01100100

I wont let it end, huh?
Also, can I count this as a reference to DDLC?

---

[Teraunce]

Well that's some error.