The Tenth Day
The train's horn blew in the cold, morning air just as the vehicle lurched forward. The sun had yet to rise, but the horizon was beginning to glow in anticipation of its arrival. Car after car exited the station filled with lumber and stone, while others were piled high with secured crates and trunks. Only two cars on the train held passengers: the first two.
“I’m... not coming,” Palm Breeze had said. Primrose was confused and saddened, but she had tried to hide it. “I need to move on. I need to be a new pony. I’ll come and visit, I promise!”
Primrose was going to make sure that her friend was going to keep that promise. She was resting her head on Trine’s chest as they rode the bumpy train towards their new home in Fair Haven. Her head was still a little fuzzy from the night before, as were her recollections of the night itself. She had found out later that the drink that everypony thought was simply fruit punch, was in fact an alcoholic drink preferred by the nobility in Canterlot. When Trine had found this out, he fell into a silent depression. The blue mare dared not stick her nose into it unless Trine wished to talk to her about it.
Sunshine and Spotlight, on the other hand, were out cold. They simply picked their seats on the train and went straight to sleep. The ride was supposed to be several hours long, and even leaving before dawn it was going to take them most of the day to reach their destination. They were officially “out” as of last night as a couple when they started kissing each other without any discretion. The drinks may have been involved, but in the aftermath of the event, they decided hiding it wasn’t necessary.
Primrose looked up at Trine. He had his metal leg hanging out of the window and was watching the castle fly past as they exited Canterlot. He was quiet and had closed everypony out since Firecracker told them what the drink the night before was. Primrose was a little upset that they were served alcohol, and maybe some things that she remembered happen the night before may not have happened.
Thinking back on those things she and Trine did with each other... fueled by love or alcohol, it didn’t matter. What they shared last night is going to stay with her forever, and she couldn’t be happier.
Firecracker was seated with Peach Cobbler, who was looking a lot more at peace than she had the day before. When Primrose was out with her and Palm Breeze, some of her mannerisms felt forced. But today, she had an air of calm around her. Her smiles felt natural and easy for her to slip into. Firecracker seemed happier with the change as well.
Autumn Gale and Skysong sat together on a seat in the front of the car. Skysong’s brown coat and cream colored mane were moving in the rushing wind; her eyes were closed and she had a smile on her face. She was enjoying it. Autumn Gale’s orange mane sat reasonably still compared to Skysong’s. Their matching brown coats seemed to blend together as if they were two parts of the same pony.
Quake was listening to his little sister Sugarberry rattle off all sorts of different things that she wanted to have at their new home. Some of the things Primrose heard in addition to the pool she asked for the night before included: a slide, a firepony’s pole, a jungle gym, a swing set, a giant tub of ice cream, a trampoline, a canoe, and a set of roller skates. Quake simply nodded and smiled. The little filly was delightfully ignorant of what they had left behind, and would be able to grow up in an ideal setting.
Pink Lemonade and Anvil were seated in the back of the train car. Prim craned her neck back to see them; Anvil was leaning in close to his cousin and his mouth was moving. Pink Lemonade was certainly listening; her ears were facing him, even though she was looking out the window as the green scenery passed the train by. She turned around and said something to him, and for the first time that Primrose could recall, he smiled. What they were talking about was lost to her under the roar of the wind and the rumble of the engine.
Peppermint sat by herself on the seat opposite of Pink Lemonade and Anvil by herself. She was silently resting like most of the other riders.
A few other ponies who were interested in moving to the new town were on board the other train car along with some others who were to act as movers for the new residents. Primrose only caught a few glances of them as they were boarding, but she was sure she was going to get to know those ponies in time.
Primrose looked back up at Trine once more. He was still staring out the window, closed off from the rest of the world. The dark blue mare snuggled up against him and closed her eyes.
---
A loud whistle signaled their arrival at the Fair Haven Train Station. Nopony was on the platform to greet them, the last residents had left a few weeks ago to move to another town that held more work and markets. The station itself was still in good condition; the platform was wooden and raised about three feet from the tracks to match the height of the train. There were some parts of it that were covered in dirt and were starting to rot, but all in all it seemed in reasonable condition.
Trine was one of the last to leave the train. He looked across the small platform at the brick building that acted as the actual ‘station’. The glass was murky and the room inside was dark. One of the big mover ponies pushed the door open and flicked on some of the lights inside, a few others following him inside shortly after.
“So...” Sunshine began as the group gathered outside of their train car. “What now?”
“Well, I suppose we just choose which homes to take for ourselves,” Skysong responded.
The town of Fair Haven was small; it covered about a square mile of grassland nearby the Whitetail Woods, which was visible just nearby. The other direction was mostly covered in grassy fields and hills, leading to a chain of mountains at the horizon. The main area surrounding the train station was a town square; in the middle was an out of service fountain maybe thirty feet across with a flat basin for ponies to cool off in during the summer. Along the three roads leading away from the station were several buildings. One was an old bakery, another was a hardware store, and the largest was less of a building, but more of an open air market.
Most of the windows were as dark and murky as the ones at the station, and the buildings themselves were in the early stages of disrepair. Some windows had broken, some doors were on their hinges and exposing the inside of the building to the elements, while others just needed some cleaning and touching up to regain their initial splendor.
“I call the bakery!!!” Peach Cobbler squealed as she galloped off towards the old three story building. Firecracker chased after her, but couldn’t match the speed fueled by her excitement. Skysong and Autumn Gale flew off together to snatch a home of their own. Sunshine and Spotlight hung around with Prim and Trine while everypony else begun their claiming spree.
Trine slowly walked down the stairs to the grassy street of the town and surveyed their options. “Hey, Trine?’ Sunshine asked.
“Yeah?”
“Can you and I have a bit of a chat? Over here.”
Trine followed the blue pegasus to the dried fountain. “What’s going on? You’ve been completely... out of it. What’s up?”
Trine frowned. “It’s nothing.”
“Ponyfeathers it’s nothing! I know you. You’ve been looking forward to this for Celestia knows how long, and now you look like you’re standing at a funeral. Come on. You can tell me.” Trine opened his mouth, but hesitated. Sunshine was staring intently at him; pressuring him.
“It’s... last night. The drinks. I did things... Things that I probably wouldn’t have done if I had been clear headed. I... My dad was like that. He drank every night. I don’t want to do something that I’ll regret because of a stupid drink...”
Sunshine wrapped his neck around his friend in a hug. “Trine, you’re not your dad, and you never will be. It was an accident with those drinks. And you don’t have to drink any of it ever again if you don’t want to, you know.” Trine still felt guilty about what he did, even with all of Sunshine’s encouraging words. “Try not to think too much about it right now. Let’s go find some homes, okay?” He followed the pegasus back to Primrose and Spotlight, and down the road away from the train tracks.
The houses shrank the further they went from the center of town, and after around seven homes on both sides of the street, the road opened to the grasslands that seemed to go on forever. Looking back, Trine surveyed the buildings open to them. One of them caught his eye: a two story house about four buildings away from the center of town. To his knowledge, nopony had claimed it. As he trotted up to it, Sunshine and Spotlight approached the house next to the right of theirs.
Trine pushed the front door open as Primrose wandered around to the back. The inside was dark and dusty; there were spider webs spun in the corners of the rooms. There were no decorations or furnishings to speak of other than simple walls, a nice wooden floor, and some basic light fixtures. Spying the switch on the wall next to him, Trine turned the lights to the house on. The bulb flickered to life.
The living room was spacious, and with a little bit of effort, it could be very eye-catching. The kitchen was bare and empty, but still had some cabinets and drawers. There were spaces for a refrigerator and oven, but those had been removed when the previous owners left. The upstairs was a bit nicer; a master bedroom and two bedrooms were similarly unfurnished as the lower level, but there were bed frames that hadn’t been taken out.
Trine looked out the back window and saw Primrose rummaging through a small shed. The view from the window was beautiful as he looked out into the distance. A few homes stood nearby, but beyond them were rolling hills and the forest. He opened the window and let the refreshing afternoon air blow into the house, riling up all of the settled dust.
“Ah... ACHOO!” Trine rubbed his nose with his metal leg. When the cold metal touched his nose, he quickly righted himself and used his real leg. More and more he was forgetting that his new leg was metal and not ideal for some uses.
“You okay up there?” Primrose asked, popping her head out from the shed.
“Yeah.. I’m fine,” Trine answered. He left the room and walked down the stairs and exited through a door in the kitchen into the backyard. Primrose had found some seeds in the shed and was already planting them in a patch of dirt in an old, overgrown garden. She fetched a water pail and began running some water over the dry soil, letting it soak in.
“Trine?” she said as he approached her. She placed the water pail down and turned to face him. “What’s wrong?”
“What do you mean? I’m fine.” His lie was so bad he didn’t believe it himself. Primrose gave him a pressing glare. “Fine. I...” he began. It was unusually hard to articulate what was wrong; so many things were bothering him, and trying to boil it down to a single sentence was trying. “I wish last night didn’t happen.”
Prim’s eyes went wide with shock. “Why? I thought last night...” she said, seeming to shy away from him. “I loved everything about last night...”
“How could you enjoy it? I had no control over what I was doing!” Trine said, his heart racing. “Those drinks... I can’t believe I let myself drink them...” He dropped to his knees as tears began forming in his eyes. “What if... What if I hurt you? Or did something you didn’t want me to do to you? Oh Celestia...”
Primrose knelt by Trine and lifted his chin up with her hooves and kissed him deeply. “Trine... Everything you did to me last night was amazing, and would give anything to have you do it again.” Her cheeks began to blush when he realized what she was meaning.
“I... oh my...”
Primrose nodded. “It was good, I assure you. I would just like to remember it better the next time we’re together.” She stood back up and began to water her seeds.
---
It was much later in the day when the movers departed. They left several crates within each of the houses everypony chose to stay in, as well as a request form for anything else they need when they were to return next, which they assured would be frequently with the conversion movement starting to pick up. Peach Cobbler offered them all muffins and cookies she cooked in her new bakery for their hard work; they graciously accepted and boarded the train for Canterlot.
With the entirety of the small town left to themselves, the orphans and displaced workers of the Blowing Rock Conversion Bureau had a picnic. They set up blankets on the east edge of town, in the grassy fields that seemed to go on forever. The sun was starting to dip closer and closer toward the canopy of Whitetail Woods, but everypony was too busy to notice.
“Quake!” Autumn Gale shouted as he kicked the soccer ball toward the blue earth pony. The ball soared toward him, but he had enough time to ready his buck. His hooves impacted the ball, sending it hundreds of feet across the field, vanishing into an area of tall grass. Autumn flew over the area and searched for the ball.
“I guess... I score?” Quake asked half-jokingly.
“I’d say so!” Autumn gale said, the ball cradled in his legs as he fluttered back over.
Trine bit into the cinnamon muffin Peach Cobbler had made for him and everypony else; her new bakery had been stocked with an oven and refrigerator left by the previous owners as well as all sorts of cooking and baking tools. According to Firecracker, the look on her face was something he hadn’t seen since the bureau. Some of the crates also stored enough food and produce until the next delivery, and Peach wasted no time in warming the oven up.
Primrose nuzzled Trine’s mane; she had already begun growing some vegetables in her small garden along with some small colorful flowers to bring some quick life to the area. “I’m hoping to grow plenty more and move them all over town,” she had said when Trine asked.
Trine enjoyed the social intimacy he and everypony else shared with each other; they were all friends and had been through so much together, and they were going to be friends forever because of it.
Looking back, it was amazing to him. In just ten simple days, they had gone from orphans and outcasts in Spotlight’s case, to ponies of Equestria settling a dead town and bringing life back to it. The effect was surprisingly immediate as soon as somepony came out through those double doors just learning how to walk on hooves for the first time. Quake was the first; everyone was interested in what happened to him, but that’s all that it was, Trine believed. Not many of them had actually cared about him until after he got converted.
At least his sister did. Sugarberry was one of the only ponies who had a deep personal connection with Quake, so much so that she would have rather gotten converted with him than grow up with actual parents. She was now running around in the tall grass and giggling without a care in the world.
Autumn Gale and Skysong had come next; Autumn because of his arm getting hurt during some games outside in the grassy fields near the bureau. Skysong, who had been restricted to a wheelchair her entire life, was finally granted the freedom she had always desired as a pegasus. The connection between the two had been acted on almost immediately after they had gotten converted. While it was unfair to attribute it solely on the conversion, it made it easier for them to get to know each other as pegasi learning how to fly.
And then it was Trine who had gotten converted. The experience that had illuminated the dark truth of what his father had done to him in the past to try and get a few extra bucks. In a dark but funny bit of karma, it was exactly what the heads of Telios Chemical did to his and everypony else’s parents. But the experience of the conversion itself was both unsettling and humbling. Seeing the Princesses address him specifically and aid him in opening himself to the people and ponies close to him did help him.
Primrose was the next to get converted. The heartbreak of losing Andrew that morning was eating away at her; it was plain to see at the time. And Trine had too soon to open his heart to her while she was still hurting. The pain of rejection ate at him for days, until the attack when his feelings for her had thrown him between her and a vengeful Andrew. He lost his magic, his horn, and his leg, but he had gained the mare of his dreams.
Sunshine was next, and he had a much easier time of it than any of the others before him. His conversion was quick and he took to using his hooves faster than anypony before. His flying, on the other hand, not so much. But that didn’t keep him down at all. He was always a happy and cheerful person on the outside, and from that point on, he felt accepted for who he was, regardless of his taste in stallions.
Palm Breeze, Peppermint, Spotlight, Anvil, and Pink Lemonade were the last to get converted, but had little time to adjust before being sent to the island after the lives of so many had perished in their place.
So much had changed in these last few days... Trine chuckled just thinking about how his life had played out before his trip to the bureau. Sitting at home and watching TV when he wasn’t at school. He had only one friend to speak of, and he was quiet, shy, and always felt out of place. But now all of those had been reversed: he was outgoing, friendly, and he hasn’t felt so close to so many in his entire life. And he was sure almost everypony here shared his feeling.
Trine surveyed the group and noticed a big, grey pony lumbering over towards them. “Hey guys,” Anvil said, walking over to the group with his cousin Pink Lemonade behind him. He glanced back to her and bit his lip, only to see Lemonade wave her hoof in the air. “If you guys need any help getting anything built from those crates... just ask.” A smile bloomed on his cousin’s muzzle.
“I’d love some help tomorrow, big guy. You free then?” Sunshine asked the sooty pony. He nodded once, and smiled; the smile seemed a bit forced and awkward, as if he hadn’t genuinely smiled before.
Trine looked down to Primrose, who seemed to be drifting in and out of sleep. “Getting tired?” he asked. Her response was a long yawn and few blinks of her heavy eyelids. “I guess so,” he chuckled. The sky was darkening from an azure blue to a darker violet as the moon peeked over the mountains across the fields to the east.
“I have no idea why I’m so tired,” Primrose said before yawning again.
“You were in the garden for a few hours earlier.”
“Oh.”
Trine stood up after nudging her head off of his side. He walked over to Sunshine and Spotlight, both of whom were busy finishing off their muffins. “Prim and I are gonna turn in for the night. Maybe tomorrow we can go through the rest of these houses and see if anypony left anything behind.”
“Sounds like an adventure,” Sunshine said.
“I think we’ve had enough adventures for a lifetime,” Spotlight said back to him.
“There’s about twenty other buildings around town that nopony went into today. Maybe we can repurpose some of them for storage for the time being,” Trine suggested.
“I’ll talk to Anvil and Quake about it in a bit. They’d be the best for carrying things,” Sunshine said.
Trine bid goodnight to everypony else and helped Primrose back to their home. The only working light was the one upstairs in their room, which made ascending the staircase an interesting endeavour. After bumping into several things and knocking even more over, they made it to their own room, which had been furnished and decorated in a very plain way by the mover ponies.
A quilt was laid out on the bed, one that was decorated with all sorts of colors and patterns. Primrose snuggled in underneath it as Trine tucked her in. He closed the door to their room and turned out the light. He hit the switch that unlocked his metal leg from his stump and left it by the edge of the bed he was going to sleep on. He wiggled under the covers and gave Primrose a gentle kiss on the cheek before turning back over.
He began to close his eyes, but there was one thing he wanted- no, needed to try.
There was a small latch on the window that locked it down, but that latch was unhooked.
Trine closed his eyes and tried to survey his mind for that familiar bubble of energy that he felt when practicing in the bureau. Everywhere he looked, he felt nothing. Emptiness. Only a void greeted his searching. He poked and prodded different parts of that void with his consciousness, but felt no resistance, no pressure... nothing.
His heart sunk. He felt his forehead with his one good hoof. What was left of his horn was a flat, hard surface obscured by his mane. When he first touched his horn after his conversion, he would feel shivers and little shocks along his spine. But now, he still felt nothing.
It really is all gone...
Sleep was beginning to shroud his mind. He turned over and buried his muzzle into Primrose’s sweet-smelling mane. An image in his head appeared of the latch swinging closed, with a satisfying-
click.
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Love the cliffhanger end, and happy to see this story finally come to a close. A nice ride through the imagination. Can't wait to see what you deliver next!
*LE GASP* Magic ! I'm sad that it's the end, but I'm happy that I get a cameo in the next story!!1! *Fangirl scream*
Also, SECOND !
Ok I have to ask. Last I remember Jade was lurking about getting onto Firecracker and all of a sudden she bloody disappears.
1012487 “Thank you very much,” Firecracker said before the messenger left the room. “Before you go… can you tell me where Jasmine is? Pink coat-“ he began.
“She left in the middle of the night, sir. We did not ask her where she was headed.”
That's an excerpt from The Ninth Day (Daytime).
Why do all good things come to an end?
Fantastic story, Windchaser.
You did a wonderful job.
Oh, but this was such a wonderful story. And that little 'click' of hope at the end, marvelous.
You made me care about your characters, feel for them, and delight in the successes, and sorrow for their troubles. I like these people, these ponies. I can daydream about their further lives, about the little moments that matter, that are not always appropriate for an adventurous story.
You made your characters and world live for me, and that is magic.
Thank you for telling this story to us. I am grateful to have read it.
This was a really good story but now I am sad that its done but what a good ending it was.
Bravo, Windchaser. Brava Bravissimo.
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Dammit, I didn't want this story to end D:
It was so beautiful and shipping and happy and sad and EVERYTHING EVER and not it's all goneandI'mhavingasmallbreakdown
Love the ending though <3
Bravo, very well-written and brilliant story. Loved every minute of it. I'd have loved in hind-site a bit more on the attempted murder of Jay by his father and the reasoning behind it, whether it was an act of desperation for money for survival or greed... it isn't made clear... the ambiguity is though in itself very well done but that is the only criticism of the whole piece that I can come up with. Marvelous work, keep it up at this rate and quality and you may be able to make this your day-job!
1012770 Thanks but that didn't really answer my question. I mean she up and leaves no reason suddenly as if the plot was trying to shove her under the rug so it could end.
Dat click.
Most of the time I would call that a cop out, but you ruined Trine's life so many times over it was increibly satisfying to get that one click. Smile achieved, warm fuzzies activated. Bravo good sir.
I can't put my feelings for this story into words, so I'll just say yes.
...and to ask the inevitable and slightly viable question: sequel?
I know this is a lot to ask but, could you make a sequel?
Every time I read one of your stories, I simply amble around my house mumbling 'You magnificent bastard...'
You are truly brilliant. A great wordsmith. You can make grown men weep, or cry with joy. with a few simple words. You are a genius.
Sorry if I sound demanding, but a sequel is ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIALLY INDISPENSABLE!
Also, have a moustache for the great story.
Good show, my good sir.
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Loved it. This warrants excessive use of
and 
Here goes ...
great job... there should be a section on this site where great work resides for everyone to view and this is is one of them. now i hope you have a nice day.
I'm sad to give a negative review, especially with so many positive ones (and from Chatoyance, no less).
But I couldn't finish this fic.
It wasn't a problem with the writing or Bureau setting. Rather, it was certain, er, matters of gender, which conspired to make me dislike the setup and the protagonist. I'll go into detail below, but firstly, while I know sexism is a contentious topic, please don't take this as a flame.
I got about halfway through, I think, so I don't know how the plot resolved, but what made me stop reading was the treatment of female characters. Two of the prominent female characters are shown as nasty for displaying unwanted sexual attraction to males, one of whom is in a relationship and one of whom simply isn't interested. But by contrast to this, the main character, Jay, has unrequited sexual attraction to a female character who has a relationship she's happy with, and everyone around him supports Jay in this and some even seem to blame her for not returning his affections. This was justified by the boyfriend being unreliable, but we never saw any proof of this until the last minute, just Jay and his friends claiming so. And so this felt like a double standard. When stallions have crushes it's cute. When mares have crushes they become predatory, manipulative and undignified.
Jay hits some stereotypical behaviours that, though romantic by some lights, can be seen equally as creepy. For example, hanging around his crush pretending to be her friend when it's clear he only wants to be something more. And doing her favours unasked, like making her the drawing glove, then trashing it to punish her (though she didn't know it existed at that point) for what boiled down to deepening her commitment to her existing boyfriend. In other words, he gives up on the 'favour' because it won't get him what he wants: to his mind, albeit maybe not consciously, it isn't a gift. It is a lure, and she can't have it if she doesn't give him what he wants. Again, it's more likely a lack of social empathy than consciously disregarding her feelings, but it didn't make me like Jay. But it wasn't just his attitude that grated on me: if anyone had told him he was acting immaturely, or even if the narration had pointed it out instead of seeming to be on his side, I would have found it tolerable (all characters have flaws and this would be an opportunity for him to overcome his).
However, what made me really queasy was reaching the part where the boyfriend is taken out of the picture, and Jay's only thought is "hurrah, my chance". He never stops to think, until he's hit over the head with it, that she will probably be upset about this. He never considers her feelings at all. He just sees her as immediate fair game. I think it's around this part that I stopped reading. Jay had lost all relatability for me.
Now, it's possible that Jay may have some sense knocked into him for his case of the creepers later in the story, but the way the characters and even the third-person narration tacitly and/or openly seemed to support his attitude made me doubt that he would be given that push to grow out of his adolescent views, so I didn't stick around to find out. Sorry I couldn't finish reading to give a review with a full overview, but I'm afraid I just felt too uncomfortable.
I've read a lot of TCB stories, and this one is my favourite. Would love to read a sequel to this.