Replay

by Scootaloose

Complications

Complications

I walked down the stairs and to the kitchen to have breakfast, Spike following right behind me. Twilight was already at the kitchen table looking at a piece of paper, taking a sip from a glass of water.

"I'll get started with breakfast, Twi", said Spike, who walked over to the counter and grabbed some ingredients to whatever he was going to make.

"Okay, Spike.", said Twilight, then she took her concentration off the piece of paper and looked up to me. "I believe a problem has turned up, Johnny", flipping the paper around and showing me its contents. It was a poster for a missing pony. It had the picture of a white stallion pegasus with a black mane and tail, with dark brown eyes.

"Okay then, what's the problem?" I asked. "I never saw this pony before, Twilight."

"That's because it's you, Johnny", said Twilight flatly. "If that's your real name".

"Okay Twilight. if you want to tell me something, say it quickly because this is freaking me out a bit", I said. Angst filling up inside me.

"You don't have to hide anything from me, Carbon Streak.", she said.

"Twilight, trust me. I have no idea what the heck you are talking about now, honest!", I said. I had a theory or two about what might've happened for this to come up, and neither of them sounded good at all. I started sweating cold, which wasn't helping in any way.

She paused to think for a second and continued. "Alright, let's think about this for a second. I got two possible situations for this: Either you ran away from Manehattan for Celestia-knows why --which is irrelevant right now--, or the story about your "death"--" which she used her front hooves to make imaginary quotation marks "--is actually true and you really did possess this pony's body three days ago."

"I am definitely going for that second theory", I said, trying to keep calm.

"And I'm not sure if I should trust you on that. Sorry", she said flatly once more.

"Just one question, when did this poster show up?", I asked.

"This morning, right before I walked up to your bedroom with Spike. But I only took a look at it afterwards."

"So you came up with those theories in one minute?"

"Yes..."

"You're pretty smart, Twilight. But I'm still sticking to my death story being true and that I was from another species and all that."

Twilight sighed, thought for a second and spoke once more."There is only one way to find out for good, then. We need to head to Canterlot and sort everything out with Princess Celestia."

"And can she read my mind or something?"

"Uh... no. Why did you think that?", she asked confused.

"Nothing special, forget about it..." I said quickly. Dammit Derpy!

"But we can't head to Canterlot until this afternoon, when the train passes through Ponyville. So you will have to try really hard not to attract attention to yourself until then, because obviously these posters will be all over town. And ninety nine point nine percent of all ponies here saw you during Pinkie's party last night. That might be a problem..." she said.

"Wait. So Johnny is actually a runaway pony?", said Spike walking back with a tray with waffles. "Well that's something we don't see everyday around here..."

"It's just a possibility, Spike. For now Johnny/Carbon will have to keep a low profile until this afternoon when we go see the Princesses.", said Twilight to Spike. She turned to me and continued, "I got an idea of how we can keep you out of trouble until then. Let's discuss it while we eat and hurry, because Applejack will start working around the orchard in less than an hour."

---

"So what colour do you want to have?" she asked. We were facing a mirror in her bedroom. Her horn glowing and ready to set off at any moment. Now that I finally looked at myself in the mirror after my arrival, I really did look like the pony in the poster.

"I think I am going to regret this very soon..." I mumbled.

"We don't have all day, pick one colour. If you want you can pick two or three, just choose!", she said annoyed.

"Fine. I'll go for Black and green..." I said. Twilight's nodded, her horn glowed even brighter and a beam fired at me, engulfing me in a white light. I got blinded for a good five seconds, and still had trouble adjusting my sight for another few seconds, so I shut my eyes for the moment.

"Hmm... not bad...", said Spike. "goes well with the cutie mark..."

"Since when do you know anything about this kind of stuff, Spike?", asked Twilight. "I never heard you talk about fashion before."

"I've spent enough time around Rarity's boutique to learn these things..." he said quietly.

"Riiight...", she said. "you can open your eyes now. It wasn't that bright...". I assumed she directed that to me.

"That's because it wasn't you who got engulfed in light..." I said, opening my eyes and facing the mirror to take a look at my new mane and tail.

[AN: Here's what he should look like if you're wondering. I took a RD vector and edited the colours. Took me 5 minutes to do it, so it's not that great >.>]

"You're right. I actually look a lot better now!" I said to Spike.

"This illusion spell doesn't last all day. It will probably wear out by the time we get on the train. By then you should be fine." Twilight said. "Unless you want to keep it like that then you can just get your mane dyed once we sort this out."

"Then why didn't I get it dyed now instead of later??"

"Because if you went outside right now everypony would recognize you from the poster!", she said annoyed, "are you even paying attention???"

"I woke up less than an hour ago, calm down!"

She sighed and looked down before talking, "Very well... head to the orchard and go do your work with Applejack. Then come back here so we can pack some stuff before heading to Canterlot."

"Just a thought. But shouldn't I wear something to cover up my face?" I asked warily. "You can't possibly imagine that no one will recognize me even after giving my mane a new colour, right?"

"He's got a point, Twi." said Spike. "He still looks the same, but now he has the looks to get attention from all the mares around here..." he smirked. "give him a pair of sunglasses or something."

"Good idea Spike", she agreed, then walked up to her bedroom and came back with a pair of sports glasses. "these should do for now."

"I'm not the athletic type... it wouldn't fit me at all..."

"You're a Pegasus. You are all naturally athletic, no matter what..." she said, "and that's not the point, you have to cover your face to avoid unwanted attention! Now go! Applejack is probably waiting for you already!"

"Okay! I'm going!" I said while she shoved me out her bedroom and out of the library. She closed the door and I heard her ask Spike something about writing a letter.

"Man... I don't think I've ever seen a girl get so annoyed at me since my roommate Ashley back in undergrad...", I mumbled as I flew towards Sweet Apple Acres.

---

I flew across Ponyville a bit higher and faster than usual so nopony could catch a glance at me long enough to recognize me, at the expense of nearly crashing into the Town Hall. I saw Sweet Apple Acres a few seconds later and started my descent, and I saw Applejack waiting by the entrance to the orchard, lying down by an apple tree, with her Stetson hat covering most of her face. She pulled it back when I landed in front of her and looked at me, somewhat confused by my new look.

"Uh... that you, Johnny?", she asked while tilting her head.

"Yeah, got a little makeover this morning." I explained.

"And what for? You looked just dandy without that green hair", she said, "not that you don't look just as good..."

"Huh, I guess Spike was right about this..." I said.

"'Bout what?"

"I think I really will get the attention from all the mares around here with this new look." I said, which made Applejack raise a brow at me. "Too bad I can't do that right now. I believe you read that poster sent everywhere this morning?"

"Wait, are you sayin' that pony is you?" she asked. "What in tarnation did you do Johnny?? Partied too hard after Pinkie's party?" she joked.

"Not really. Twilight is a bit suspicious about this and now she thinks I'm a runaway pony from Manehattan, hiding under a new name and all that..."

Applejack stared at me for a few seconds, probably processing what I just said. "Well... Ah'm pretty good at sniffin' out liars, and besides, ye don't even have an accent for somepony who came from those parts! It's completely different!"

"Well she didn't think about that, and now we're heading to Canterlot this afternoon to figure this out. Talk to the Princesses and all that jazz..."

"Well, no matter wut happens, you can be sure that ah believe you.", she put a hoof over my neck. "Like ah said, ah'm good at sniffin' out liars.", and with that she sniffed my neck and backed away a step or two. That was enough to creep me out and make me blush, not sure what to think of that. "Aaaand yer not a liar." she added.

[Cue awkward silence]

"Don't think of it in that way, though..."

"Too late..." I said quietly.

"Well dagnabbit, let's git to work then. Lotsa trees to buck today!"

Comments

[dusher4]

Love this story! UPDATE MORE FREQUENTLY!

[Scootaloose]

1487985 If university allows... >.>

[Sweet Tale]

Nice development! Looking forward to more!

[Phantom240]

Daww I hate these short chapters. I get all excited, and it's over in minutes.

LOL I just realized how easily that could be misinterpreted. Oh well.

[Scootaloose]

1488295 At first I thought you were talking about the ending bit of the chapter, but after a few seconds of processing...

[leafz pegasus]

PONY POSSESSION NO JUTSU!

[The Watcher 509]

1489039 Quick!Call Kabuto And His Snake Tail.(I Haven't Watched The Recent Episodes)