Broken Family, Healed Family

by Amos Anon

Chapter 8: A New Direction (Edited June 15th, 2021)

"According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way that a pony should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The pony, of course, flies anyways. Because ponies don't care what humans think is impossible."

---

Why did no one ever tell me how much freedom flight granted to a pony? I pulled a barrel roll, wind rushing through my mane. I grinned, enjoying the feeling of my heart pumping adrenaline into my muscles. If someone had told me that the feeling of flight for a pony was similar to motorcycling for a human earlier on, I would’ve learnt how to do this much sooner! I dropped into a dive, folding my wings against my sides to decrease the wind resistance.

“Woohoo!” I glanced over to see my brother-in-law diving alongside me, a huge smile plastered on his face. My own grin widened, and I snapped my wings out, pulling out of the dive to avoid crashing into the pond below me. I trailed a hoof through the water as I skimmed over the surface, a stream of water rising into the air behind me. I pumped my wings a few times, muscles straining against gravity as I began to rise up into the air once more. A bug smacked me in the face, and I wiped it off with my hoof.

As I levelled out at altitude, Hawk pulling up beside me, I took a moment to consider the letter that Coloratura had left for me before she went on tour. Do I take her up on her offer or not? Honestly, I was leaning toward taking it. After all, how often did an opportunity like this come along? And yet... What about my family? Would they be okay with me leaving for months at a time? True, things had settled down over the last month since our arrival in Equestria; The foals had begun school at the Ponyville schoolhouse at Twilight’s insistence, and they had all settled in there. They seemed to be doing well in their studies, and had begun to make friends; Blaze especially seemed to take a shine to the Crusaders.

Upon seeing Applejack’s ‘repair job’ at the Ponyville spa, Dad and Percy had insisted on inspecting everything around the farm that Applejack had ‘fixed’ over the years, and were both shocked at the state of disrepair on many of the watering and feeding systems around the farm. Otto insisted on going around the farm with Percy, and had spent the better part of the last month removing all the duct tape and bubble gum from various apparatuses, repairing them properly.

Ixisten had taken up playing the piano once more, even offering to tune the one at the Apple family homestead, which in turn prompted other ponies from town to offer him a job tuning their pianos as well, which turned into ponies from the surrounding areas and Canterlot asking for his services now, as well. He, along with Eren and Maelstrom, had taken up magical tutelage under Starswirl and Twilight.

I did not envy them.

When not caring for Ente, Tumak and Panara spent their time helping Granny Smith around the house with the cooking and cleaning. They somehow always managed to prepare meals for all of us, which I felt a little guilty about, but Granny Smith had insisted that she, Applejack, Big Mac, and Applebloom were happy to have us around.

Karra had taken up a job at the Ponyville spa helping the two owners, Aloe and Lotus Blossom, with the many treatments offered there.

Yep. Pretty much everyone had found a place here in Equestria.

Everyone but myself. Oh, sure, I helped around the farm as much as I could, but I found myself not needed more and more often, and with more and more free time on my hooves, which I spent either flying with Rainbow Dash or Hawk, practicing my singing, or brooding. I hadn’t told anyone about Coloratura’s offer yet, opting to keep it to myself until I’d made my decision, but it was getting harder and harder to stay silent on the matter.

The two of us circled over the farm, and then set off toward town, riding the updrafts to conserve energy.

“Hey Moto, is everything okay? You’ve been awfully quiet.”

I glanced over at Hawk, who was peering at me quizzically.

“Sorry, Hawk. I have a lot on my mind right now.”

He frowned, and flew in closer. “I'll bet. You’re pulling a pretty serious face there. You wanna talk about it?”

“... I honestly don’t know, man. I’m trying to decide what to do with my future here in Equestria... I just don’t seem to fit in here at the farm.”

Hawk paused for a moment, considering this. He suddenly barked out a laugh, and smirked. “You’re not the only one. You remember what my job was back on Earth?”

“Yeah, you worked in a turkey butchering plant... Oh... Oh dear. Did you tell anyone?”

“Oh, Yeah. Imagine the conversation I had with Applejack when she asked me what I did before we came here. That... was awkward.”

“I’ll bet.” We both chuckled, and then flew together in silence for a while, circling around the tallest spire of Twilight’s castle. “Hey... I just had a thought.”

“Hmm?”

“Why does the Apple family keep pigs?”

“.. That’s actually a good question. What is it that pigs produce again?”

“Meat.”

“... I’m confused.”

“You and me both, brother. You and me both.”

---

“Good news everyone!” Starswirl gestured to the mirror behind him. “We have successfully recalibrated the portal so as to provide means of interdimensional travel once again!”

“Uh... Translation?”

Starlight rolled her eyes. “The portal has been fixed. Canterlot High is now accessible.”

“Oh.”

Twilight pranced in place, a giddy grin plastered on her muzzle. “Isn’t it great? Now your family can go to a world where you’ll be more comfortable!”

A few crickets chirped as the room fell silent.

...Oh dear me. I completely forgot about the Equestria Girls world. I glanced over at my father, whose mouth was hanging open. “Hey Dad... Dad?”

Otto turned to me, his expression unreadable. “Moto... what are they talking about?”

Uh oh. “Dad... the portal that we came through a month ago wasn’t originally set to our world. It was set to another one.”

“Yes. Twilight already explained that to me. The mirror is supposed to bring anyone to a place called ‘Canterlot High’. I don’t see how that has anything to do with us... unless there’s something that you neglected to tell us...?” He openly glared at me, and I placed a hoof over my eyes, mentally kicking myself.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to keep it from all of you. I just... never even considered that world. I completely forgot about it...”

“Moto...” Panara frowned at me in confusion. “What’s going on? What’s so special about this ‘Canterlot High’ Place?”

I sighed, and looked pleadingly at Twilight for help. She looked back at me in confusion, and motioned for me to go on.

“Alright... Where do I start... Okay, well, you all know I was a brony back on Earth, right?" They all nodded, and I continued. “Well, there were a few spinoff movies of the main show where the main character, er, Twilight, was sent to another world. This world was... basically an animated version of Earth, but it’s set up like a parallel world to Equestria.”

“Wait wait wait... so you’re basically saying that the world that Canterlot High is set in is like a humanized version of Equestria?”

“Pretty much.”

“Man, I need a drink.”

Percy sat down, and rubbed his forehead with both hooves.

I was beginning to wish I had a mug of cider myself when Otto spoke up.

“This world... Is it modern?” I nodded the affirmative. “... And the people there are shaped like humans...?”

“More or less. The legs are longer, but...”

“...I’m going to need some time to think on this.” He glanced up at the rest of the family, his face troubled. “We all are.”

Right then and there, I felt like the worst person ever. Not only did I fail in my duty to my family, I had completely neglected to even consider other possibilities besides settling down at Sweet Apple Acres.

I was so excited to show my family the wonders of Equestria; I was so happy to see everyone finally settling down into a life here that I never even thought that maybe not everyone else was happy about it. I sighed shakily, on the verge of tears. I’m such a selfish jerk.

I buried my face in my hooves as the rest of the family, along with Starlight and Starswirl filed out of the room. They were probably angry at me, and rightly so. It was my job to be telling my family about these sorts of things. I had one duty, one single task, and I failed. I couldn’t even be of help on the farm. I was... useless.

I felt a hoof on my shoulder, and looked up to see Karra with a look of sadness on her muzzle. She pulled me in for a hug, and I began to cry.

“I’m so sorry. I completely forgot... I was just so excited... I’m so selfish!”

“Hey. You’re not the only one to blame.”

I felt another set of hooves encircle me, and I recognized them as Twilight’s.

“She’s right, Moto. If anything, I’m just as much to blame as you. I should’ve told the whole story when I mentioned Canterlot High to your dad.”

“But... they’re all angry at me...”

“I don’t think so, Moto. Well, okay, maybe they are a little, but I think they’re more confused than anything. They suddenly had this giant decision dropped on them by me, and that fault lies on my shoulders alone. I should’ve approached this with more tact.”

“I know I’m not angry at you, Moto. Yeah, I wish I’d known about all of this sooner, but you’ve helped us all so much already that it’s only natural that you would’ve forgot about a few things.”

I swallowed. “But, Dad...”

“I’ll talk to Dad. I don’t think he’s angry at you, Moto. I think he’s just confused and conflicted about what to do now. I don’t think he meant to hurt you.”

Twilight pulled out of the hug, and sighed. “I should probably write a letter to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna about all of this. Maybe they could share some insights to your family to help them make this decision.”

I swallowed. “That’s a good idea. Thank you Twilight. I don’t think I ever thanked you for all you’ve done for us over this past month.”

She waved me off, blushing slightly. “I merely took responsibility for mine and Starswirl’s mistake.”

Karra pulled out of our hug, and turned to Twilight. “Without that mistake, Twilight, we would’ve all died in a nuclear blast. You’ve done more for us than you think.”

Twilight stuttered, trying to come up with a good rebuttal, but eventually just accepted the thanks for what it was. She turned, and made to leave the room, but not before turning to me.

“By the way, Moto. Coloratura sent me a letter a few days ago. She says she’s currently in Vanhoover, and sends her regards to you and your family. Have you made your decision on her proposition yet?”

I shook my head. “I was pretty sure I was going to take it, but now with the portal being fixed...”

Twilight raised a hoof, cutting me off. “Don’t worry about it. Take your time with this decision. Maybe talk to your family about it?”

I smiled, and nodded as she trotted out of the room.

After the lavendar alicorn had disappeared from sight, Karra turned to me with a quizzical expression. “Proposition?”

Crud. Well, I guess the cat’s out of the bag now. I turned to Karra, and sighed. “I need you to keep what I’m about to say a secret... at least until I feel comfortable with telling the rest of our family. For now, this stays between you and me.”

“Okay.”

I blinked. Didn’t really expect her to agree so easily. “Okay. Well, before Rara left a while back, she left me a note.” Karra lifted an eyebrow, a mischievous look in her eye. “Don’t be getting any ideas. It wasn’t THAT kind of letter.” I rolled my eyes. “Anyways, she offered me a position as a backup singer with her agent. I have until she’s finished her current tour to make my decision.”

Karra’s jaw dropped. “She’s offering you a job?”

I scratched the back of my head. “Well... Yeah, I guess.”

“Moto, that’s amazing! That can’t be something that happens commonly! Even here!”

“Yeah. I know. But.. Karra, what about our family? If we all decide to go to that other world, then if I take that job, then we’ll all be in completely separate worlds. I don’t know if I’m prepared to face that eventuality.”

Karra place a hoof under her chin in thought. “Well then, maybe you should make your decision after we all decide on whether or not we’ll be staying here in Equestria. I’m not going to try to convince you one way or the other, Moto. This is your decision, and your decision alone to make. In the meantime, I need to talk to Eren; It seems we have a decision to make, too. Speaking of... where’d he go?”

As Karra left the room to search for her husband, I sat alone staring up at the portal. All of this started with a complete coincidence... or was it a coincidence? I stood, and trotted up to the mirror. A device for travel between worlds. Made from a mirror, a bunch of wires, and an enchanted journal. Tch! It’s so ridiculous I would laugh if it weren’t true. I stared at my reflection, my nearly white fur standing out in stark contrast to my chestnut and chocolate swept-back mane. I noticed my blue eyes, still red-rimmed from my crying earlier. I wasn’t too bad-looking if I did say so myself, minus the goatee. Gonna have to get rid of that. It worked on Earth, but it kinda looks silly on me now. I raised a hoof, and touched the surface of the mirror, watching as ripples spread across the surface, distorting my reflection.

The ripples eventually smoothed out, my reflection returning to its undistorted state, and I turned, lifting my wings to better reveal my Cutie Mark. My reflection smiled back at me as I thought about what that symbol meant to me. A year ago I was working on a farm, desperately struggling to survive in a wartorn world. What would I have done without MLP and my family? I shudder to think.

Was my hesitation to take this position really out of a desire to help my family?... Or was it because I was afraid of losing them? Am I really so helpless that I need them to be there for me every moment of every day?

That was easy to answer. In fact, It gave me an idea.

It’s time for me to stop running away from my trauma... It’s time for ALL of us to stop running from it. I think I’m going to need Luna for this...

Author's Note:

(Updated June 15th, 2021)
Imagine my surprise when I found out that this chapter needed very little. I adjusted a few things here and there, but left the dialogue largely untouched. I still don't know why the Apples keep pigs. Like, why?

Anyways, I am Motodrop... and I have nothing witty or unique to say this time... so deal with it.

Comments

[ramdom_player201]

Pigs can digest almost anything, and they make good fertiliser.

By the way, nice story so far.