S1 E5: A Helping Hoof
It was a calm and cloudy morning, and across much of Ponyville, young fillies and colts were getting ready to head out and start yet another day of learning and play with their classmates.
Recently however, this daily morning routine had expanded to include those of a non-equine variety. Specifically, the children of Monsters who had settled down in Ponyville after the Princesses welcomed the Monsters of the Underground into Equestria.
It was a tough challenge, integrating into the school system of an entirely different society. And for some, it was even harder. But that wouldn’t stop many of those bright and eager minds from giving every day their very best.
One such kid was in fact, finishing the most important part of the morning routine- double checking that he had everything he needed.
“Alright Mom, Dad! I’m heading out for school!”
MK waved his tail back towards his parents, who waved their tails and arms respectively as they wished him well. Grabbing hold of the door with his tail, he turned the knob and headed on out into the streets of Ponyville. It didn’t take long to join the scattered line of other foals and monster children making their way towards Ponyville Elementary.
“MK!”
MK turned and was nearly tackled by three excited fillies as they wrapped their hooves around him, earning a yelp and a slight blush even as he positively beamed at them.
“Hey girls! What’s got you so excited today?”
Sweetie Belle was the first to pull back. “Well, you know all about how we’re always trying to crusade for our Cutie Marks?”
He nodded. MK was familiar with that and the whole thing about Cutie Marks and how important most ponies found them to be.
“Yeah, I know. Got an idea I take it?”
Apple Bloom nodded her head. “Yeah, we got a really good one, though we’re not entirely sure how we’re gonna do it.”
“It involves you!” Scootaloo interjected, earning a raised eyebrow from MK and looks from the other two crusaders. “What? We didn’t say we were going to keep this a secret or anything.”
They had MK’s attention now… well, more than they had already. A way to get their Cutie Marks that involved him? Just what were these three up to?
“Sooo…” He began, looking from one to the other. “What’s this idea of yours that involves me?”
The three looked between themselves, (and glared a bit at Scootaloo who just stuck her tongue out at them) Sweetie and Apple Bloom turned to MK, with Apple Bloom saying, “Well, we kind of got the idea both from Mettaton, and some of those anime books that Alphys went and made copies of.”
Sweetie Belle nods. “We’ve seen how much trouble you have at times in class using only your tail and mouth. And while your very good with both, we figured maybe we could try to come up with a way to help you out!”
“So we came up with the idea of BUILDING you arms!” Scootaloo finished with a dramatic flourish of her hooves, standing up on her hind hooves for a moment, then landed back on all four as she added, “Or claw talon things like a Griffon or a Dragon like Spike.”
MK got excited at hearing that. He’d had that sort of idea before, but didn’t really know enough to even have an idea of where to start.
“That sounds exciting and soooo coool!” MK said, hopping up and down in place. Only to stop as he asked “Uh, are we starting right now?”
The three crusaders shook their heads, Sweetie Belle explaining, “We were going to brainstorm during lunch and recess and then swing by the library to see if we can get any books that might help us.”
“Yeah, we already know of one possible roadblock on the plan.” Scootaloo interjected. “Apple Bloom isn’t allowed anywhere near machining equipment for a month after we accidentally set fire to that old apple shed when we were trying to add rockets to the wagon.”
“Hey! That was the first time I’d ever had trouble with a welding torch!” Apple Bloom protested, earning a rueful shake of the head from Sweetie Belle as she replied,
“It was also your first time using one.”
Apple Bloom gave her friend a glare at that, but then said “Thankfully my sister hasn’t said no to regular tools and stuff, so maybe we can actually work something out even without the better stuff.”
“Hey, it doesn’t bother me either way!” MK said. “Having a set of cool arms I could use would be amazing! I’m behind this one hundred, no, one hundred and twenty percent!”
The girls let out a cheer at that, only for the sound of the school bell in the distance to remind them of more pressing matters.
“Quick! Or we’ll be late!” Sweetie Belle said, the four of them all making a mad dash for the school.
MK wasn’t sure if it was the excitement for the Crusaders plan, or if he was just getting better at staying balanced, but he tripped only once before reaching the school door.
---
First recess came quickly enough for the four of them, but they got distracted when Twist asked them if they wanted to come play tag for a bit. Winner got a whole bag of Twist’s homemade candy. The chance to get free candy was too much for the four of them, and left no time for planning or talking about the building of arms for MK.
No one was really surprised when MK got knocked out of the match early on, largely thanks to tripping over his own feet again in his excitement, but he made up for that by cheering on the others.
And it didn’t matter much anyways, since when Scootaloo won the game she was more than happy to share the bag of candy at lunch.
“So, if your not allowed to use a welder or tools like that, how are we going to make me an arm?”
Apple Bloom frowned a bit. “Well, I was thinking maybe we could make wooden arms… but I don’t know how well they’d work or how breakable they’d be.”
“And we don’t really know anything about Monster magic,” Sweetie Belle began, only to be interrupted by Scootaloo.
“Or Unicorn magic.”
Sweetie frowned at Scootaloo’s words, but then reluctantly nodded. “Or Unicorn magic. So we don’t know how we’d make it so you could actually USE the arms.”
“Sounds like something to ask Dr. Alphys about.” MK said as he munched on his sandwich.
“Or Twilight… but their both in Canterlot for some big magic thing or other.” Sweetie Belle mumbled, pulling her head out of her salad.
“Maybe Spike might know some books that could help?” Scootaloo offered. “He knows that library as well as Twilight does.”
The other three nodded at that. MK threw the last bite of his sandwich into the air then chomped it as it came back down. When he finished chewing, he asked, “So that means a visit to the library… but what if we can’t find anything to help?”
That stumped the others for a few minutes. Then Apple Bloom perked up. “Maybe Zecora knows something that could help! She knows all kinds of potions for everything under the sun!”
“Hey yeah! Maybe she’d even know a good kind of wood for something like this!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, and added, “Plus if it’s a potion we need, Apple Bloom can make it!”
“She can?” MK asked, earning nods from the two even if Apple Bloom didn’t look so sure.
“Well yeah, I mean she did rather well with that potion thing she made to try to get her cutie mark!”
Apple Bloom squirmed a bit. “Hey now, Zecora had already done most of the work for that one.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t mess it up any. It did give you what you wanted! For a bit anyways.” Sweetie retorted, earning some unsure grumbling from the farm filly.
MK hummed a bit as he considered all they had said. “Sounds like we got a plan then… can’t do much more til we get some books and talk to Zecora right?”
“Yeah… sure we could try and pick a wood to use for the arms, but then that’s putting the cart before the horse.” Scootaloo replied, even as her wings buzzed excitedly. “Still, this is going to be so much fun! And just imagine if we can get our cutie marks from it!”
As the three of them drew in a deep breathe, MK tried vainly to use his tail for some shelter as he mumbled, “I can already think of one good use for arms.”
His tail, sadly, offered little protection from the trademark shout the three fillies unleashed a moment later. His ears were ringing just as much as the school bell did just moments later, signaling the end of lunch.
The only thing that kept him from dwelling on that for long was the knowledge he wasn’t the only one in the school yard rubbing at their ears for the next ten minutes.
---
The rest of the school-day breezed by for the four of them. Even an attempt by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to pester them didn’t get far. They were all much too excited to let their teasing interrupt their plans as they all piled into the wagon and Scootaloo sent them racing through the streets of Ponyville.
The first stop was the Golden Oaks Library. Twilight may be out of town, but Spike knew the library by heart now just as much as she did. And he probably knew more about magic then the four of them combined.
Spike answered the door readily enough, smiling at the four of them. “Heya girls, Heeyy MK! You back for some more of those comic books I showed ya last week?”
MK blinked, then laughed a little as he said “Well, that’s not why we came here, but that did remind me I finished them and need to return them and borrow some more. I can do that tomorrow though.”
Apple Bloom nods her head vigorously. “We’re on another Cutie Mark quest Spike! And this time it’s really important!”
“Yeah! We’re gonna try and make arms for MK!” Scootaloo exclaimed, her excitement visible from how she briefly hovered in mid-air as she hopped and let her wings buzz rapidly.
Spike raised an eyebrow at this. “Uh huh… well, that would be nice… but uh, are you sure your not biting off more than you can chew? Or uh… thinking of trying to each do things that another of you is better at it.”
Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes at that. “We learned not to do that from the Talent show. Mostly.”
“The girls figured the library might have some books that could help us out. Does it?” MK asked with a hopeful glint in his eyes.
Spike still had an uncertain look in his eyes, but he waved them in as he said “Well, tell me what you had in mind and I’ll see what help we might have in all these books. Don’t get too hopeful though… Twilight’s library back in her dorm at the Royal Palace and the Canterlot Library probably has more books that could help then this old tree does.”
“We know. But we’ll take anything that can help!” Sweetie Belle said as Apple Bloom started explaining the idea. Scootaloo jumped into the discussion just as readily.
“If we have to, we’ll have Twilight or Dr. Alphys help us… but we’d like to be able to do it ourselves if we can. Or as much of it as we can anyways.”
With Spike’s help, he pulled out about ten books, skimming through them and asking them a few questions, such as if they wanted it to be able to do anything special besides act like normal arms, or if they wanted to try to use magic wood or regular wood…
“On Monster Magic… we only really have one book that Alphys let Twilight have. You can borrow it, but I haven’t had a chance to look at it, so I don’t know how much help it’ll be.”
“Any help is better than none.” MK says as he takes the book with his tail and puts it in their bag. “Might even teach me some stuff about Monster Magic I don’t know!”
Eventually, after looking through a few of the books themselves, they narrowed it down to three other books that seemed like good ones to go with for this project. A book on carving and woodwork to help give them some tips for making the arms… and two books on ancient unicorn attempts at making things called ‘automatons’ that sounded similar to what they were trying to do.
“You should probably visit Zecora too just in case. She might have some concoctions that could help. Couldn’t hurt anyways.” Spike said as he finished putting the books and their names in the logs.
Nodding and heading out the door, they piled back into the wagon as MK shouted “Thanks a bunch Spike! And I’ll be by tomorrow to return those comics and get some new ones!”
It was quickly decided that before heading off to Zecora’s that they would drop the books off first at the club house. But as soon as they got there they realized it’d probably be a good idea to draw some designs up first and see what wood they had around the farm to work with.
The girls at first were content to leave drawing up ideas for what it would look like to MK. They were going to be his arms after all. But MK said it was their idea to do this, and soon they were all drawing all kinds of designs for the arms.
They used some of the comics and other books they had in the clubhouse to get more ideas and inspiration, though a few commons trends did start to make themselves known. Like sticking only to two arms (even if MK did like the idea of having eight arms like a spider or octopus) and having it be something he would wear like a backpack or jet pack.
Of course, by the time they were done narrowing things down to about three ideas, it was dinner time. Apple Bloom invited them all over, and they happily scarfed down every last bite of Apple Family cooking their small stomachs could take before they all had to head home.
MK could barely sleep. Tomorrow it was a half day at school, so they’d have plenty of time to get ready for the trip to Zecora’s place within the Everfree Forest. If the girls were right, she might have something that could help make it so their plan to make him some fully functional wooden arms a reality.
It took an hour longer than it usually did, but eventually he drifted off to sleep, his dreams just as excited about tomorrow and the possibility of having arms as his thoughts had been.
---
“So this is the Everfree Forest?”
MK and the Crusaders were standing at the edge of the ancient and wild forest, along one of the few actual paths that seemed to lead further in. He’d heard things about it from the other foals at school and from a few older ponies in town.
“Yeah, first time being near it MK?” Scootaloo asked, earning a nod from the young Monster.
“We’ve only been living in Ponyville for like, two, maybe three months now? Never had a reason to come over this way til now.” MK replied.
Apple Bloom blinked a bit. “Hey wait, I thought the Underground all the Monsters came out of was in the Everfree. Near that old castle Twilight and our sisters went to?”
MK nodded. “Yeah, but most of us who left immediately left via those big airships the Princesses lent to the King and Queen. As awesome as it was to be flying, I had a bit of a case of air-sickness and had to stay in our quarters. This is the first time I’ve seen the forest from, well, the outside.”
“Well, we know the way to Zecora’s, so as long as we stick together we’ll be fine.” Sweetie Belle said with a smile, the girls nodded as they started forward. MK followed after them with only a second's hesitation.
The forest was dark and foreboding, even in the daytime. Even though the CMC had been through here a few times by now, they still kept their heads a bit lower and eyed the surrounding area warily.
By contrast, MK didn’t seem all that bothered by the darkness. Being from the Underground, he was used to it being darker than normal. The sounds did occasionally make him jump, but since the girls never reacted too much to any of them, he figured there was nothing to worry about.
There was only one moment where things might have become dicey- the sound of a growl in the distance that made all three fillies freeze in place and scan the trees surrounding them. MK followed their lead and kept as still and quiet as possible, wondering if the source of the sound had been one of those Timberwolves that MK had heard stories about.
Thankfully, they didn’t find out, and after a few minutes they resumed their walk. MK could see all three of his friends relax once they rounded a corner in the path and saw the strange tree home of the hermit zebra.
Hurrying on up to it, Apple Bloom reached up and rapped on it a few times, calling out “Zecooora! Ya home?”
It took a moment, and there was the sound of something being set down, before the door opened and Zecora’s smiling face greeted them.
“What a pleasant surprise dear Apple Bloom. Please, come in and bring your friends out of the gloom.”
The girls hurried in, and MK stopped in front of the striped mare, smiling as he took in her exotic appearance, at least compared to most of the ponies he’d seen.
“And who is this that you have brought, I hope their introduction is not an afterthought.” Zecora remarked as she too gazed at MK with interest.
“Oh yeah!” Apple Bloom said, smacking her head as she realized she and the girls had gotten caught up in trying to figure out what new things the zebra alchemist was up to now. “Zecora, this is our Monster friend, Monster Kid. Monster Kid, this is Zecora!”
Zecora raised an eyebrow at this, and seemed about to ask something, then recognition dawned on her as she said, “Ah yes, Twilight did mention something about a Monster Kingdom. I take it the ponies are making you and your fellows feel most welcome?”
MK nodded his head. “You bet! I was expecting to meet humans when I came to the surface, but I think the Ponies are just as cool! And if all Zebra’s are like you Zecora, I think I can add Zebra’s to the list of cool things up here.”
That earned a soft chuckle from her. “I am glad that I meet with your approval. It is much better than being seen as awful.” She then turned her gaze back to the CMC as she asked, “So what has brought you to my abode?”
Once more, the CMC and MK relayed their idea, and asked if she had any suggestions or could point them to anything that could help them out with the arm making project. Zecora looked thoughtful for a moment, then mumbled and began to move about the room. They watched as she went from one bottle, jar, or pouch to another, occasionally saying to herself “No this will not do” or “perhaps… No, no, it will not work well with that.”
“This might take a bit.” Apple Bloom said. “I saw her get like this last time me and AJ came down here to get a tonic for the cows.”
The next ten minutes were spent with Zecora working through her many reagents and books, and the occasional question sent their way. The girls explained what some of the items were to MK, at least the ones they had learned about from Zecora or friends and family in town.
Finally, she exclaimed, “I believe I am done, these should help make your wooden arms function.”
The four hurried over, seeing a small bottle with an almost amber colored liquid, a shiny piece of black rock that looked rather sharp, a scroll, and a book with no name or picture on it to show what it was.
“The scroll lists what else you will need that I do not possess. Be sure to not skimp on them if you wish for success.” Zecora said, then opened the book to show a page she had marked with a ribbon. “And here is a rune to make your arms as sturdy as iron, assuring that them breaking will be of no concern.”
“Wow… thanks a bunch Miss Zecora!” MK said, the others nodding their heads in agreement as they hurried to carefully place what was being given to them into their bags. “If this works, we’ll make sure to come by and show ya the finished product!”
They exchanged goodbyes, then headed back to Ponyville, eager to get to work… Only to learn that the wood that Zecora was suggesting was a unique one that was used in magical constructs. They’d need to have it special ordered, and that wasn’t going to be cheap.
This lead to a decision amongst the group. Still determined to do this (mostly) on their own, the four of them decided to go around town working odd jobs to earn the bits they needed for the hunk of special wood.
Thus, for the next week, the Cutie Mark Crusaders put crusading off to the side and, alongside MK who was adamant about doing his part too, threw themselves into doing whatever they could to earn extra bits. Watching foals, helping clean out the school’s old storeroom, assisting Fluttershy with some of her critters…
They even wound up playing the part of servant’s for a small party Diamond Tiara was hosting. And while normally Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were insufferable, Silver Spoon managed to convince Diamond to be… less of herself while they were working. Apparently Silver Spoon thought the idea of what they were doing was rather cool (and according to her, Diamond thought so as well, but wasn’t going to say so aloud.).
By the end of the week, they’d gathered the money and with a bit of help from Rarity and AJ, filled out the form for the order and sent it off.
All that was left was the waiting, and using their now once more free time to make practice versions. The crusaders wanted to be as ready as they possibly could be once the wood arrived.
---
The day that it finally showed up on the front porch of the Apple family home, Apple Bloom raced off to get the others and bring them back to the barn. At each of their houses she stopped, rapped loudly on the door or window, and shouted “It’s time!”
“Alright girls, and MK, are we ready!” Apple Bloom asked as they looked over everything. They had the supplies, the practice sets they made to base the final one off of. They’d memorized the runes they needed to carve…
Everything was set.
“READY!” MK shouted out with Sweetie and Scootaloo, his eyes beaming with excitement right along with them.
The next few hours was a flurry of work. Apple Bloom focused mostly on the wood work itself, with Sweetie Belle taking the time to make sure they were doing everything step by step. Scootaloo and MK tested things out and also let Scootaloo be the one to carve the runes into the contraption.
There was a brief pause in the work, when the runes were finished and gained a soft golden outline. According to the book, that meant they were ready to draw in magic to seal them in place and ensure the enchantment would be permanent. Still, they all put their work on hold to gaze in awe at the work of magic they were nearly finished creating.
After that, once it was shaped as their plans said it should be, after they double-checked everything, they coated the wood in the potion that Zecora had given them and waited for it to dry before the true test was at hand.
The test to see if it would work with MK’s magic.
From what they had read from the books they borrowed, there was no reason it shouldn’t work. And no reason that there should be any complications…
Still, now that it was finished and they were about to strap it around MK’s torso, the thought did crop up.
“Think this will work?” Sweetie Belle asked, looking between the four of them as MK stood tall, trying to keep from bouncing in place as the excitement in him grew.
“I hope it does, otherwise we’d have done all this work for no reason.” Scootaloo said, earning a bit of a glare from Apple Bloom. Scootaloo eeped a bit and said “H~Hey, I wasn’t meaning the cutie mark side of things. I haven’t actually thought much about that side of things this last week anyways.”
“Don’t worry about it Apple Bloom.” MK replied, offering them both a smile. “And you too Scoots. Even if this doesn’t work, it’s been some of the best fun I’ve had since when I first met Frisk.”
“Yeah, the best case scenario is it works and it works so well we get cutie-marks. Worst case, it doesn’t, and we’re all just back where we started.” Sweetie Belle said after a moment’s thought.
That earned a nod from all four of them, and after making sure the straps weren’t going to be too loose or anything, not wanting it to fall off before it had magically bound to MK, they were ready.
With a soft click, they strapped MK in, who shifted just a bit to get comfortable and used to the weight of the wooden contraption. It felt rather like wearing a backpack, something he’d tried once but found a bit weird without proper shoulders to rest the straps on.
At first, nothing happened, and the three fillies looked a bit underwhelmed. MK himself wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but nothing at all was a bit-
Then he gasped, magical energy surging through him as he felt his soul making itself visible. The upside down heart came forth, surprising the three fillies. Especially when their own souls responded to his calling forth and came into being in front of them as well.
“W~What the hay?” Apple Bloom asked as she found a red floating heart floating right before her. Sweetie and Scootaloo were just as surprised but also in awe as they gazed at the green and yellow hearts before them.
Their attention was returned to MK’s own soul as it pulsed orange, earning a yelp from the young Monster even as his wooden arms began to glow orange and white as well. As they did, the runes golden glow began to slowly grow brighter, each rune one by one being filled with magic and making a connection with MK’s soul.
Once all the runes were filled, they glowed and pulsed three times. The first time was the same orange hue that had come from MK’s soul. Then there was the white that seemed to make up the entirety of it, and finally the gold hue returned for nearly a minute before slowly fading.
Slowly, their souls all retreated back into their bodies, and the CMC watched MK sway a bit, worry and anticipation filling each of them in equal measure.
“M~My head feels… f~funny…” MK said after a moment, shuddering as his arms moved to hug himself. “S~So does the rest of me…”
“M-MK!” Sweetie squeaked, the others getting wide smiles on their faces as they watched. “I~It… It worked!”
“H-Huh?” MK asked, only to blink as he realized he was… feeling something. A sensation he’d never had before… Slowly, he looked down and saw that his wooden arms were in fact now wrapped around him. They had been limp and just resting in the air a moment ago, but now…
“I~I… I can feel them…” MK said, his voice soft, quiet, an almost disbelieving tone in his voice as he concentrated. He could feel the new flows of magic that made up his body had grown, and indeed, now extended into the wooden arms he was wearing.
They weren’t just a mechanical assist now… they were literally a part of him!
Taking his time to do so, MK opened and closed his new fists, watching in amazement as they did exactly what he wanted. He waved his arm in the air, and it did so. He gave himself a pinch, it worked! And hurt a bit! But it worked! He snapped his fingers and while it didn’t sound quite like it did for some of his Monster friends, more of a cracking sound like a branch breaking, it was still his own fingers snapping.
“It worked… it… It worked… Girls it worked!!”
The Cutie Mark Crusaders quickly joined MK in a big congratulatory hug, MK nuzzling each of them and thanking them over and over again, just enjoying the fact that he could in fact hug his friends.
Then he realized that he could give his parents actual hugs, and he let out an excited hoot and holler as he shouted “Come on girls, let's go show my Mom and Dad, and everyone else we see!”
Letting out their own excited cries, the three girls galloped after MK as he just up and started sprinting towards town, using his new arms to help keep his balance and keep himself from tripping over his own two feet.
In their excitement at this wonderful accomplishment, the three crusaders seemed either unaware, or unconcerned that they had not in fact earned their cutie marks.
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Okay, that was just awesome.
9904795
Definitely!
That was genuinely the most heartwarming thing I have ever read on this website, the pacing was really good, and the payoff at the end was beautiful. I really hope this author considers picking up this story again, because I would love to explore this world more
10182335
I will try to write some more in the near future. Been focusing on other stuff mostly and lack of feedback has left me admittedly somewhat less motivated. But glad to know you enjoyed it, and I still have the outline for the story and a doc set up for the next episode~
EDIT: I can't type when tired.
10189129
oh! thats great! Yeah, it can be hard to get feedback for stories a lot