Ponies on Earth and their New Horizons

by TikiBat

Chapter 17: Making Magical Memories

The familial bonding down at the pool was both adorable, and also exhausting— which was a good thing in Silver’s eyes. Any parent who wanted to just go off on some fun family vacation might want to spend as much time as they could doing stuff, but for a night pony family, getting exhausted and going to bed early meant that they’d be able to start on the next fun activity in no time at all.

After a quick shower, Orion was completely exhausted, and with a slow and groggy stride, he flopped down into the big nest of blankets and pillows that Silver had made up for him, and it wasn’t long until a soft snoring could be heard from him. Silver and Scarlet were both quick to follow suit, with the two of them snuggling up together in bed. In a rare break from the norm, neither of them ventured out of their dreams, instead choosing to just let their own dreams play out for once— as was the norm when they were on vacation.

You never heard about it in the mainstream much, but for well practiced dreamwalkers this act wasn’t all that uncommon— at least not for Silver and Scarlet. It was easy enough to physically go elsewhere in the waking world, but in a dream the same old routines felt like just that— same old routines that they could do any day of the year, rain or shine. So the act of keeping to their own dreams, while unusual, was almost like taking a vacation from dreamwalking in a way.

Before long it was time to wake up again, and in almost perfect sync the two elder night ponies started to stir. Scarlet was the first to raise her head up and roll over, with Silver following shortly after.

“Mhmm, sleep well Silvie?”

The stallion let out a very long drawn out yawn and nodded. “Like a foal.”

“Speaking of which,” Scarlet glanced over to Orion, who was still asleep cuddled up next to his favorite plush toy. “I think that swim really tuckered Orion out.”

Silver followed Scarlet’s gaze over and smiled. “No kidding. That’s a good thing at least, it means we get to stay cuddled up in bed a little longer.”

“And it means you can finally tell me about your big surprise,” Scarlet turned the conversation back towards that subject.

Silver couldn’t help but smirk and roll his eyes. “You really want to spoil that before Orion wakes up?”

“Orion’s not gonna understand what it is either way, so why not break it to me early.”

Silver shook his head. “What have I said I’ve always wanted to do for a while now?”

“Go to the pier?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Or…” he encouraged. “I want to say we chatted about this way back when we first started dating.”

Scarlet closed her eyes for a moment as she thought back to those early conversations. Finally a small smirk of her own spread across her face.

“Oh you didn’t, did you?”

“I didn’t what?” He chuckled.

“You know bringing Orion there is just asking for trouble right? Like just imagine all the stuff he’s going to look at… and all of that stuff that I know you’re going to wind up buying for him.”

Silver broke into another laugh. “Hey, technically this is all business trip budget.”

“Yeah? What part of going to Disneyland counts as business?”

“The uhh…” Silver hesitated for a moment. “Uhhh the Tomorrowland part has a lot of future-y looking things…”

“Yeah, that’s totally it,” she teased. “So what you’re saying is that your team is going to build a science fiction amusement park then?”

Silver began to stammer out a response but just couldn’t find the words. Finally he let out a small sigh. “You’re not going to rat on me are you?”

“Depends,” Scarlet laughed. “Do we get to go on all the cute rides I want to go on and will you pose with me for a bunch of cute pictures?”

Silver held a hoof to his chin in mock consideration. “Hmmm… so the trade off is I get lots of cute stuff for the scrapbook, get to spend fine with my favorite person ever, and don’t get in trouble at work?”

“More or less,” she replied.

“Then I think you have a deal.”

---

The ride to the park wasn’t a long one— it was only a few minutes from the hotel after all, but that still didn’t stop the anticipation from building up inside of Silver. He knew that Orion clearly had no clue where they were going, but even still the little foal seemed so… excited about everything. It was obvious enough from Silver’s excited phrasing that they were doing something special, and even a foal as young as Orion was could understand that.

The parking situation was about as complicated and long as usual, but the trade off was that Silver didn’t have to deal with it head on. He was glad enough for that, because it gave him all the opportunities to watch Orion’s confused expressions as they rolled through the parking structure. What was such a mundane thing to him must have seemed so foreign and strange to Orion, and much to Silver’s own realization, this was probably the first time that Orion had ever seen something like this.

Once they had gotten parked and said their temporary goodbyes to their driver, they were faced with two options: take the very tall and very steep escalator down, or take the elevator. The brave and confused stares that Orion was giving the escalator answered that question for them, and Silver was quick to shepherd Orion over to the elevator bay and away from the escalators. It was probably for the better too, because neither of them had had any reason to ride such a contraption up to now, and the last thing they needed was one of their tails getting caught in it.

The next leg of their journey was the tram ride, and boy did Orion love it more than anything they had done thus far. The three of them had managed to get their own row to themselves, but even with Orion snuggled tightly between them, Silver could tell he was having the time of his life. Open air rides were apparently something the foal loved, and Silver made sure to take note of that.

Finally after what felt like an odyssey they had reached their destination, and Silver couldn’t have been any more excited for it. As they trotted up he fumbled around his saddlebag for their tickets, and scoped out the shortest line. Thankfully for him, there was one short one to the side that seemed to be set up exclusively for ponies, and that was where they headed towards.

The loud cheerful music drowned out the crowd noise around them, and for a brief moment Silver was hit with a rush of nostalgia. Hundreds of happy memories flooded back to him, and he couldn’t help but smile.

Scarlet’s giggling pulled him back to the present, and he met her with a nervous laugh. “What’s so funny?”

“It’s nothing. You’re just so cute right now, you know that?”

Silver blushed and looked away, instead turning the conversation to something else. “You sure you’re not confusing me with Orion?”

“Nope,” she shook her head. “But he’s being super cute too.”

The two watched as Orion marveled at the crowd around them and the big ornate train station that sat beyond the gates. He probably had no idea what any of it was, but his completely adorable expression made the two of them squeee in excitement.

It wouldn’t be long now until they had their chance to experience it all. In contrast to the human lines this was more or less empty except for a few other ponies, including a pair dressed up in what looked like homemade costumes.

“I am the terror that flaps in the night! I am the lone stroller on main street that runs over the foot of crime! I am—“

“— Going to make us late for our reservation again Onyx!” The other pegasus shouted back at him.

“Downpour you didn’t let me finish!” He complained, drawing annoyed glares from the other people in line behind him.

“When I said we should pick some outfits to wear I didn’t mean dress up in costume and monologue like some geek.”

“I’m not a geek, you’re a geek!” He pouted back.

Silver glanced over to Scarlet and shook his head, trying his hardest not to burst out laughing at the absurd argument that was sparking up in front of them, “And you said I was taking this trip too seriously.”

The mare let out an unintentionally loud laugh, and quickly ducked down to avoid the glares from the two pegasi.

“Aha, you two again,” a security guard observed, breaking up the conversation with a heavy sigh, “Why is it always you two that cause trouble at the gates?”

“Heya Don!” Onyx cheerfully greeted.

“Just having a little debate is all,” Downpour added.

“And causing another verbal disturbance. Why don’t you two come off to the side and we’ll talk this through, kay?”

The security guard quickly ushered the pair away, and based on the fact that the three were seemingly on a first name basis, Silver could only assume that this was a very common occurrence.

Scarlet shook her head and looked over at Silver. “Thank you for not making a scene Silvie.”

Silver raised an eyebrow and threw his muzzle up into an exaggerated pout. “You really think I’d do such a thing?”

“Yeah, with how dorky you are about this kind of stuff, I do.” Scarlet laughed.

“You insult my honor!” He boasted.

“Next guest please!” Came the voice of the ticket taker.

Silver blushed and dropped his brash and proud pose and quickly trotted forward.

“Good afternoon!” He cheerfully greeted the attendant.

“Hello sir, got your tickets?”

Silver nodded and reached into his saddlebag, pulling out his phone which had their tickets, and handed it over to the attendant.

“Mhmm,” She scanned the tickets and held up a phone. “Alrighty, I just need to take some pictures of you, okay?”

“Sounds good to me.” Silver replied.

A few moments and three pictures later and the three were all set to go.

“Alrighty, you three have a magical day now, okay?”

“That’s definitely the plan!” Silver excitedly squeed.

---

Both Silver and Orion excitedly looked around as the family trotted down Main Street. Quaint buildings and bright popcorn lighting surrounded them on both sides, and cheerful old timey music filled their ears. Crowds were thankfully low which meant that excitement was quickly building, and if Silver wasn’t a grown stallion he’d probably run off to go explore the place he had visited so often with his family as a kid.

“So where do you wanna go first?” Scarlet asked with a smile.”

“Oh my gosh, where to even begin?” Silver looked around. “It’s been so long since I’ve been here, I mean there’s so many things that must have changed by now! I always loved the pirate ride, but ohhh we could do the jungle ride… there’s like so much we could do!”

“So why don’t we tackle it counterclockwise then?”

Silver’s nostalgic trance broke for a moment and he glanced over at the land Scarlet had suggested. “You just want to go see space stuff in Tomorrowland.”

“No,” Scarlet denied. “I just think it’d be a cool land to check out first… Plus we probably can’t even ride the space ride, you know that right?”

“Of course, just pointing out that you might be a little biased there is all,” he laughed.

“Maybe a little,” she admitted. “But look at it this way, maybe we go ride what we can in there and then work our way over to the other stuff, and then we can save the best for last.”

“You mean save pirates for the last?” Silver seemed a little hesitant.

“Sure.” Scarlet nodded. “You said you loved it so much, right? So why not make it an extra special end to the night?”

Silver considered this for a moment before nodding his head. “Okay, save the best for last, work counterclockwise… You’re right.”

And that’s exactly what they did, trot towards their first destination of the night.

Tomorrowland didn’t have much for ponies to do— with almost all of the rides not being designed for ponies. Silver assumed this would change in the near future, especially given that there was already a dedicated entrance line for ponies, but that would have to be something saved for a future trip someday perhaps. Instead they looked around at the few sights and continued on into the next land.

Fantasyland was the perfect kind of place for a pony, because all it really had was more tame family rides that wouldn’t be too intense for Orion, and wouldn’t be too uncomfortable for them to ride. So that was where their family trip really began, with the three of them tackling all of the big dark rides that that part of the park had to offer— all except for one. For as much as Silver loved the Small World ride, he knew that the trademark catchy song would work its way into the three of their ears and never leave, and wanting to instead look at what other new offerings the park had, they chose to skip it for now.

The frontier area didn’t have a whole lot to offer either except for the nice relaxing riverboat cruise, which they gleefully hopped in line to ride.

Orion looked up in awe at the large riverboat, eliciting a laugh from both Silver and Scarlet. Shaking his head, Silver lifted Orion onto his back and carried him onto the boat.

“You’re going to like this one little buddy, I just know it.”

“You think so?” Scarlet asked aloud.

“Yeah. There’s lots of stuff to look at out there, plus it gives us a chance to take a little break and just relax for a few.”

“I suppose you’re right.” She waved him along. “How about we head on up to the top then? That’ll give us a nice view right?”

Silver smiled. “The best.” He looked back at Orion. “What do you say little buddy? Wanna go to the top?”

“The top!” he cheered, answering the question with an adorable enthusiasm.

“I think that answers it then.” Scarlet laughed.

The loud whistle of the boat startled Orion, but also sparked a reinvigorated energy in him, and almost quicker than Silver could react, he had leaped down and ran over towards the upper railing.

“I think he likes it so far,” Scarlet mused. “Guess we need to keep a closer eye on him, eh?”

Silver shook his head and laughed. “No kidding.”

The riverboat ride was calm and serene, but that never got in the way of Orion’s interest in what was going on along the riverbanks. To the foal, the fiberglass animals were just as real as ever, and he couldn’t help but run from side to side on the boat, tracking their movement with every fake call and robotic motion. Silver and Scarlet of course fawned over the foal’s cute antics, but nonetheless kept a close eye on Orion.

Just as soon as they had started, their ride was over and the three found themselves at a fork in the road. To their right sat New Orleans Square and the pirate ride that Silver loved so much, and to the left, one of the few areas they hadn’t explored yet.

“So what’s the plan then?” Scarlet asked.

Silver looked over and smiled. “Well we have two options. Double back to Adventureland and take a spin on the old Jungle Cruise, maybe stop by the singing bird show, and then come on back here to wrap things up…”

“Or?” She asked him.

“Or… seeing as how he was so excited by the fake animals… Maybe we wear him out a little more and save that ride for later… Maybe catch it on the way out?”

Scarlet smirked. “New Orleans it is then!”

---

Silver and Scarlet sat on either end of the row with Orion snuggled up tightly between them. Much to their delight and relief they had managed to get a whole boat to themselves, something they could be thankful for. The colt had started to throw a fit at first, not being happy with the two older night ponies confining him to the boat when he clearly wanted to hop out and explore the unfamiliar place, but once they had gone down the drop and entered the cave his tantrum quickly subsided. To say that Silver was overjoyed to see him enjoying the ride was an understatement, because as old as the ride was, it still held a special place in the stallion’s heart and the fact that he could share the experience with his own wife and son filled him with a joy that words couldn’t even begin to describe.

Silver let out a quiet laugh as the little night pony dressed as a pirate gleefully looked around at the towering piles of gold and skeletons, an adorably awestruck expression plastered on his face. He leaned in close to him and spoke in a quiet voice, “Do you like it little buddy?”

The colt excitedly nodded his head, not breaking his gaze for even a second, “Yeah!”

“This used to be my favorite ride when I was your age, grandma and grandpa used to take me here all the time,” he paused for a second, noticing that the colt had begun to ignore him, clearly lost in his own world.

“I think you lost him Silver,” Scarlet answered.

Silver let out another quiet laugh, “Told you he’d love it.”

Scarlet returned a smile, “I never doubted you for a second.”

No fear have ye of evil curses, says you? Properly warned ye be, says I, the ride’s narration menacingly declared, sending a wave of nostalgia through Silver.

The Stallion’s gauntlet suddenly came to life, quietly vibrating on his arm as a call came in. He glanced down and silenced it, returning back to watching Orion gleefully take in the different scenes around him. Almost immediately it buzzed again, earning a long sigh from the stallion as he answered it, “Gyro I’m busy right now, we’re on a ride and Orion’s really enjoying it.”

“It’s important,” the unicorn groggily replied.

Silver rolled his eyes, “How important?”

“Remember the recruitment calls we put out? We got a hook.”

Silver’s interest was piqued, “I’m guessing you called before bed for a specific reason then?”

“Yep, I’ll meet you in Somewhere in a few minutes. How much time do you have?”

“About 10ish minutes, they’re running the ride slow tonight.”

“Perfect,” the comm went silent and Silver let out another sigh.

He turned toward Scarlet and gently tapped her on the shoulder, “Hey, just got an important call, I’m going to drop out for a few minutes, keep a close eye on the little buccaneer if you can.”

“Right now?” She raised an eyebrow, “Silver we’re on vacation.”

He frowned, “I know, I’m half tempted to just ignore it but I know he’s going to keep pestering me about it until I answer.”

“Okay but after this I don’t want to see you doing any more work until the trip’s over, okay?

Silver nodded, “Okay.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

She smiled, “Good, I want to take Orion to the Haunted Mansion next and I want you to be a part of that.”

Silver smirked as cannon fire rang out around them, making the colt between them excitedly look around to try and find where the source of the noises were coming from, “You don’t think it’ll scare him?”

Scarlet glanced down to him, letting out a small laugh as she picked up the excitement in his actions, “No, I think it’ll be right up his alley in fact. Just look at how excited he is now.”

Silver smiled, sitting back in his seat and closing his eyes for a brief moment. The instant he reopened them he was sitting in his office in Somewhere, the boat’s gentle rocking carrying into the dream, giving him a strangely unnerving feeling as if the entire world was in motion.

“I’ll never get used to this you know.”

Silver turned toward the orange unicorn who was sitting in one of the chairs against the back wall of Silver’s office, “I wouldn’t expect you to, and to be honest the only reason I had you guys request this ability in the first place was to make stuff like this a lot easier for us to do.”

“Mhmm, right. So let’s cut right to the chase, I found a group that’s interested in the recruitment calls we sent out. I’ve done a little bit of digging and they seem legitimate, and are even gifted in their field too.”

Silver raised an eyebrow, still finding it hard to get his bearings in here, “So who are they then? And can we trust them? I’m going to need more information before I can even think about bringing them in.”

“They call themselves the Think Tank, and they’re a smaller group made up of 6 ponies out in Nevada. Resonance research has been their particular line of research lately, and the mages they have on their team are gifted in their own right too.”

“Have you done a background check yet? That’s some very high level research and I want to make sure that if we’re bringing them into our home that they’re not some shady group.”

The unicorn nodded, “I did a basic one and they all came back clean, I’ll be running a more detailed check tomorrow morning, I’ll have a definitive answer by then.”

Silver nodded, “Good. Let me know how things go, I’d prefer if we met back up in here, maybe around two or three in the morning, just because I’m still on vacation, with my family you know?” He replied back with an annoyed tone.

The unicorn nodded, “That works for me.”

“Good. Keep me posted on what you find, this could definitely be big.”

“I will. So how’s the search for the new city operations director going?”

“It’s going well, Patrick and Midnight both have a couple candidates I’ll look at when I get back home,” he paused for a moment, “Why?”

“I’m just curious. I think it’s good that we’re bringing in more help, and I’m sure you must feel like you have a huge weight off your shoulders with it.”

Silver nodded, “We’re probably a good month away before we bring any kind of help in, I think we can afford to hold off on another meeting until then if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Good. I’m sure you’re having a blast so I’ll let you get back to your vacation, we can talk later.”

“Thanks Gyro, go ahead and forward their information to me, I promise you I’ll take a look at it when we get back to the hotel.”

“Mhmm, Goodbye Silver.”

Without any further discussion, Silver let the construct around him fade to darkness as he returned to the waking world. The stallion was caught in a momentary daze as he opened his eyes, not being used to his real world location changing so drastically when he normally exited a waking dream. With a smile he looked down toward Orion, who was happily humming along to the music as they passed by the mechanical pirates.

“Back in the real world?” Scarlet asked as she looked down toward the humming colt, “I bet you’re glad we didn’t take him on Small World.”

Silver let out a laugh, “Oh you know it, we’d never hear the end of that song.”

“What do you mean? We’re never going to hear the end of this one.”

“Well I like this one a lot more so I think I can live with that,” Silver replied with a smirk.

The pair let out another laugh together.

---

Art by: https://twitter.com/FanDrawsArt

Comments

[ProgAltRocker]

Cute bat family at Disney, yay!