Dawn the Derby Horse

by Meadow_Dawn

11 - Home Sweet Home?

Dawn traveled for the half an hour the group required before they reached the rendezvous point.

The group slowed to a trot as they approached, everyone scanning for possible threats or changes before entering a large burrow they had cleared prior when the Commander was planning.

Dawn changed into her human form and sighed, setting the still unconscious father down on the ground.

Twilight turned and gave her a smile, Chrysalis moving to pull her daughter in for a hug. Dawn accepted the hug and then pulled Twilight in, ignoring the glowing from their eyes. Once they finished, she began writing in the dirt.

A horse-shaped stick figure, hoofprints moving to a trio of stick figures and a stable.

“Why would you need to return to them?” Chrysalis hissed, her voice staying quiet and gentle.

Dawn paused, then circled the smaller stick figure human. She wrote the words ‘friend – goodbyes.’

The cybernetic pony turned to the ground, extending one metal ‘finger’ from the hoof, and drew a box, then waves inside the box. Next to it was a circle, no, a clock, then a question mark. She looked up closely to Dawn.

Dawn wiped the ground clean, then wrote, - promised return dad.- She wiped it clean again, -friend thinks coming with, tell no.-

“One of them wishes to come back with us?” Chrysalis hummed despite the hiss, a smile hinted at by how her eyes partially closed. “Have you warned them about the dangers of this?”

Dawn held up a hand with 3 fingers raised. After a pause, she raised a fourth and tapped on the message again.

The commander made a partial grimace as if debating with herself, then gave a small sigh and nodded. Dawn leaned forward and gave the two of them another hug before changing back to her horse shape once more. Once they re-mounted the father on her back, the group made a lazy pace back to the ranch.

-----

Erin paced in the main room, grumbling as she took the shirt covering the armor off, pacing around in the kitchen.

“Erin, sweetie, stop pacing. You’re making me dizzy and more anxious… and what are you doing wearing that?” The mother insisted.

“Look mom, you have your way of coping, I have mine. This is what Dawn had me wear to keep me safe and I’m keeping it in case I have to go back out there.”

“And what good are you going to be getting in the way of the police?” She demanded, her fingers busy knitting yarn together.

“Assuming they got to the right place.” Erin scowled before a knocking noise came to her door and a familiar voice called to her.

“Erin? Erin! Open up!”

“Dad!” Erin exclaimed, running over to the door and letting him in.

The father stumbled, tired, mildly shaking, but supported from behind as he stumbled in and sat down in the recliner.

Erin hugged her father as he sat down, and pulled back, “Are you ok daddy?”

“I… I don’t know.” He said as he was helped to a chair, his spouse kneeling by him and beginning to cry in happiness at getting him back.

Erin looked to Dawn, now a human once more and striding to the table where her notepad and pen laid. She stood nearby, glancing between Dawn and her father before noticing someone else had joined them. Erin saw an almost impossibly curvy tanned woman with sickly green waist-length hair and green eyes, came forward and looked around while wearing a black suit that clung provocatively to her chest and a black pencil skirt to match.

-He will be fine when the adrenaline stops. Healing was my first profession and all indicators show he is unharmed, just rattled.-

“Dawn… thank you.” Erin said, giving her a full hug, ignoring the armor they both wore to express her gratitude, then turned to the other figure her own height. “So who’s this?

Dawn simply raised her hand and patted Erin on the head as she gave a one-armed hug in return. When they broke off, she accepted the paper back and began to write as the human answered.

“My name is Chrysalis, I am Dawn’s mother.” She said, moving forward with a sultry hip sway and a confident smile to match, “and you must be the family that had been looking after my daughter.”

“Yeah.” Erin said, looking at her and blushing before getting a tap on the shoulder from Dawn.

-Erin, this is my mother, Queen Chrysalis. Mom, this is Erin Gothard, my rider, caretaker, sparring partner, and otherwise friend who looked after me most these last six months, though her father helped provide the hay and alfalfa I would eat otherwise.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you Erin.” Chrysalis said, reaching her hand forward to take Erin’s own, “I am deeply grateful for you looking after her and keeping her in good health. I also want to apologize for that unfortunate mess you were just involved in.”

“It’s not your fault.” Chrysalis smiled.

-Erin, my squad has reached me, and now I need to be ready to return home. I’m sorry, but it is probably for the best if I headed out and prepared to go before any more harm comes to your family, especially when the police check in and try to find out what happened.-

Erin looked at the message, looked up to Dawn and took in the sight of the armed vibrant haired human in front of her. Dawn had been her best friend in the last several months, and they were close. Dawn trusted her with so much information about her world, it was practically an invitation in her eyes.

“Hang on then, let me get something.” Erin said, swiftly dashing off upstairs to her room.

She looked to her suitcase, looked around for anything she could have missed and stuffed it in before putting some more outfits and intimates into a backpack, then shouldered the backpack and came rushing down the stairs.

Dawn sighed and facepalmed before writing out a new reply.

“I don’t care what you’re going to say, I’m going with you.” Erin insisted.

“Oh really? So ready to leave all you know behind without any thought to your parents and how much they’ll miss you?” Chrysalis asked, having an amused expression.

“I’ve given it thought already,” Erin countered, “I’ve told Dawn several times I’m sticking with her and I’m ready.”

-Erin, I make no guarantees you will come back. When we try to connect to a world, any amount of time could pass. It could be one minute, one month, one year, one century, one millennia or anything in-between, and it is never consistent. If we connect once and a month passed for them and a year passed for you, it’s not like you can stay another year and it’ll be only two months here. It could be a century the next time. This ispermanent and you might never see your family again.-

“I guess that means I’ll say my goodbyes. I follow my instincts and they’re telling me to come with.” Erin said, frowning and setting the suitcase next to Dawn.

“Erin, you’re not an adult yet, you can’t-” her mother protested.

“So I’m adult enough to race in the derbies and drive on my own, but I can’t decide what I want to do with my life?” Erin asked, giving a mischievous smile before dropping it and giving her mother a hug. “Sorry mom, but I got this. How many other girls are going to be able to do something this fantastic? I need to jump on this or I’ll regret it the rest of my life.”

“But I…” The mother trailed off as all too soon, Erin broke away and gave her father a hug, even as he still sat in the chair.

“I’m glad you’re safe daddy.”

“I’m glad you came for me.” He said, hugging her tight, “You sure about this? Those creatures… they-”

“I am daddy.” She said quietly. “Not gonna change my mind.”

“… All right. I’m gonna miss my little girl…” He said before turning to Dawn and looking at her with tearful eyes. “You look after her if she doesn’t change her mind, or there’ll be hell to pay.”

-I will do everything that is within my power to keep her safe and equip her for the future she’s insistent on choosing, even if Tartarus itself were to break loose.- Dawn showed before taking it back and adding, -You’re taking this more calmly than most humans seem to.-

“My daughter takes very good care of her friends and family.” Chrysalis emphasized, standing more rigidly and businesslike.

“I’m a simple man, but even I’m not blind. My daughter knew you were special, and I watched you. I knew there was something different but you chose her… besides, how can I tell her no after she proved me wrong before? She’s got my blessing to do what she likes, even if I’m going to miss her terribly and worry about her.”

-You both are good parents, and I hope to get her to you soon. If she chooses not to, I will take care of her to the best of my ability. I have three children of my own I’m looking after, and she will be welcomed among them.-

“Good.” Erin’s father answered before a bright light seemed to appear from the field outside the pastures. “What the heck is that?”

“That would be our ticket home.” Chrysalis answered. “Again, it was a pleasure meeting you both.”

Dawn gave a salute, then began walking out of the home following Chrysalis. Erin looked to her parents, gave them a smile, then turned to walk after Dawn.

Erin was met with a bright wavy liquid-like box in the field behind the shed that held ten figures standing in front of it. One more figure stood, closer than the others. It looked like a lavender miniature horse, seeming to have mechanical limbs and numerous scars. She looked back at the house, only to see chrysalis had been replaced with a much more intimidating figure. It was horse-shaped, smaller than her smallest horses but not by much, maybe a year old horse, but it was dark and insect-like.

Erin felt her heart pound as she noticed the change, even as Dawn moved forward, giving them a salute, then hugging the lavender pony. The insect-horse that she could only assume was Chrysalis walked forward to join the hug, then the trio separated, Dawn standing to the side with notepad and pen at the ready.

The purple pony seemed to shift in a way that Erin didn’t expect, pushing off the ground with its forelegs and stood up like Erin did with the help of the augmentations, only standing up to her chest due to the height difference.

Dawn began writing in her notebook, then passed the notepad and pen to the purple horse. Erin was surprised to see small digits of metal pop out of the hoof and grab both, writing their own message for a while before showing Erin what was written.

-Her name is Erin- Erin saw Dawn had scribbled, then read the main message.

-Erin, As Commander Twilight Sparkle of Equestria and the Equestrian Defense Force, accompanied by Major Chrysalis of the Ridgeback Hive, I require you to provide your informed consent that you are knowingly and willfully leaving to join our world, something we do not normally allow. You do this knowing that you will not have any guarantee of return, that in the event such an option is granted, you have no guarantees of how much time will elapse in your birth world or ability to return to Equestria, and accept responsibility for the actions that you take, to live in accordance with our laws and promises made. Do you accept these terms?-

Erin looked it over, then saw the X and the underlined area where her signature would be present. She took it in her hands, signing the document and adding, “I do.” Spoken and written as she handed it back.

Dawn nodded as she took the notebook and put it in storage, making it disappear in front of her. She gestured for Erin to step through.

Dawn offered her hand to Erin, and Erin accepted it, pulling her suitcase behind her as she smiled at the adventure that must await her. Another world with unicorns and pegasi and other mythical creatures was bound to be fun!

She saw Dawn disappear through the gate, taking a deep breath as she walked through, and felt insanely cold temperatures surrounding her, barely able to see the hand holding hers. She followed for what felt like a long time before finally reaching warmth as she stepped onto a metal walkway in a room.

She looked up with a smile, then froze as she saw countless guns pointed at her, both held by these miniature horses that barely came up to her waist and by machines, even seeing a gunboat turret pointed at her. It was all she could do to keep from having a heart attack or doing something particularly embarrassing when she heard a voice beside her.

“Home sweet home.”

She looked to the girl next to her and blinked as soldiers approached, ordering them to not move.

“Don’t worry. This is normal.” She said before looking forward again with hands on her head to show compliance.

Erin blinked again as she imitated Dawn slowly, confused. This was not how she pictured this would go!

Author's Note:

Happy Hearth's Warming everyone. Hope you enjoyed this little odd story, and maybe I'll see you again in the next one. Take care, stay warm, and may your life be fulfilled.

Comments

[harts fire]

a vary good story that is left open for a sequel.

[-Dreamer-]

is it planned to continue the story or not