Chapter 5
Roseluck stared at the closed door longer than she should’ve, feeling frustration stir in her chest. She was doing everything she could to be a good friend, and how was this bat responding? With coldness and apathy. It’s alright Rose, he just woke up. Not everypony is themselves early in the morning, or late at night. He’ll be better on the weekend, then maybe I can really get to know him.
“It would be a bat,” Lily said, after a minute of awkward silence. “You’re shameless, Rose. Don’t you care that they keep breaking your heart?”
She spun back around, glaring across the puzzle at her sister. It was quite a complex model this time, depicting a bouquet of flowers in ten thousand pieces. Moving them around for earth ponies was as much about patience and dexterity as attention to detail. Good practice for flower arranging, really.
But she was ready for this—she’d been expecting it the second she saw those bat wings. “I moved in first. It was a vacant room when I looked at the place.”
“Sure it was,” Lily repeated. “I believe that. And if you believe that, I’ll sell you some chrysanthemums that bloom during the snow.”
Daisy laughed along with her, but Rose only grunted, backing away from the table. “You saw him. It doesn’t matter how he looks if he’s going to act like that. I don’t know who he is. Haven’t even seen him in Ponyville before today…”
“He must fly to work,” Daisy suggested. “Maybe he’s a night guard?”
Lily pushed away from the table, rising too. The puzzle was barely started—at this phase, it would be easy to leave it behind without getting too attached. “If he was, he’d probably have swords and stuff, right? They wouldn’t fit in that bag he was carrying.”
“Don’t we have more important things to worry about?” Rose walked past her sister, lifting the heavy set of ledgers from under the table and dropping them beside the puzzle with a meaty thump. “These books aren’t going to balance themselves. Shipping me off to this place doesn’t make all the red ink disappear.”
“Or we could spy on your roommate,” Lily said. “We could dress it up! Say that we’re, uh… helping unpack! Yeah, we could do something nice, help him get moved in. And while we’re at it, you can see if he’s boyfriend material.”
Rose could take only so much teasing. She shoved Lily in the shoulder, hard enough for her to stumble for a moment. “Stop trying to set me up with stallions, Lily. We have a business to run, that means no time for distractions.”
But by then, she’d already lost Daisy to this incredibly silly train of thought. “We could still help him get moved in. Maybe you’d get credit on the house chores or something.”
“We haven’t worked out a system for—you’re already going upstairs.” Rose followed slowly, wanting to turn around and give up every moment. But if she didn’t restrain her sisters, they’d probably do something rash. Kinda like going through a stranger’s things without their permission. Just because Ponyville was a close-knit community with lots of trust didn’t mean strangers from elsewhere would feel the same way.
They’d already let themselves in, into a room that was somewhere between perfectly ordered and completely chaotic. Like a pony who knew they needed to take better care of things, but often lost track. It also smelled like bat stallion in here, in a way that would’ve embarrassed her into leaving immediately if she didn’t have company.
Then she saw what they were staring at. It wasn’t the smell that had fascinated them, but the wide picture window. Rose hadn’t ever bothered to open this door in her week since move-in, because it wasn’t her space. But now that she saw…
“Did Celestia move the sun while we were climbing the stairs?” Daisy suggested. She backed away, turning across the hall and pushing Rose’s bedroom door the rest of the way open.
The window was open, and the light of an early evening sky filled it. A single streetlight burned outside, and a few lone ponies remained on the street. Rose stood frozen, glancing between both halves of her house.
“How is it night on one side, and day on the other?” Lily asked. “Is it another national disaster?”
The incredible strangeness of what they were seeing overcame curiosity, Rose’s sisters hurried past her back to the stairs. She followed, pausing long enough to shut the door behind her. There was no reason to make it obvious they were doing things they shouldn’t, if they weren’t going to dress it up like they were doing the new pony a favor.
She followed her friends into the living room, where they had an uninterrupted view out the kitchen window. To… night in Ponyville, exactly as it should be.
“That’s weird.” Daisy said. “It doesn’t look different down here. Maybe it ended?”
“Or it’s a bat thing.” Lily stopped inches from Rose, looking smug. “You’ve been with them before. Do bats have magic windows that make daytime and nighttime get swapped?”
“No!” She rolled her eyes. “That’s silly. Thestrals are nocturnal. Daylight would just make them sleepy. You wouldn’t want a magic window to make you think it’s bedtime when it’s time to go to work.”
She hesitated a moment, stepping back so that she was between them and the rear of the duplex. “There was one thing. The pony that leased me this place, uh…” Clearly knew how desperate I was and probably took advantage to sell me a cursed house. “Told me that I should never use the back door. Something about… poison joke growing in the vacant lot? I think that was it. But we’re never supposed to go that way.”
“Oh.” Daisy looked thoughtful. “Maybe nopony warned the bat. Having day and night swapped does sound like something it would do to a bat.”
Rose remained in place until she was sure that her sisters weren’t going to try and force their way past her and see what was out there. But it was a silly thing to do—the flower sisters were known for many things, but adventures and risk-taking were not one of them. A few seconds later and they’d forgotten about it.
“We should focus on the books,” Rose said, seizing on their distraction. “We have to figure out where we’re going to get next month’s ornamental bulbs, or we’ll miss out on the summer festival profits for the second year in a row. Neither of you want that, do you?”
Finally she’d gotten through to them. Even Lily returned to the table, groaning. “I guess… I guess not. We should budget or whatever. For the stand.”
“For the stand,” Rose insisted. They didn’t go back to the mysterious bedroom again.
Work could’ve gone better.
Tracy’s hopes of getting in before the supervisor got there were dashed when he arrived at his desk to find a frowning post-it on the screen. Nothing else—Janet just wasn’t the type to be more direct. But that note would mean a stern talking-to when it came time for weekly review.
I forgot to set my alarm properly, I was too busy being a horse. Yes please lock me up in an asylum somewhere and throw away the key. As tempting as it would’ve been to use the true excuse, he didn’t mention anything about the place.
Except to HR, which he visited late into the day. Late enough that even he could smell how awful his clothes had become. He couldn’t even run to the car for deodorant, since Discord had moved everything into the alien house for him.
“Got that form,” he said, handing it across HR’s desk. “Sorry about forgetting to come in sooner.”
She took the page, frowning down at it and scanning each field in turn. “Well, this seems to be in order.” She sniffed, turning up her nose. “They told you about office facilities on your first day, right?”
“Y-yeah,” he stammered. “Sorry.” He left before he could say anything else.
But despite how stupid he felt, he was still wearing the employee badge when he walked out of work. He climbed into his car, flicking the air conditioner all the way up—then remembering that it didn’t work, and rolling down the windows instead.
I’ve got the whole weekend to work this out now. I can move everything into the car I need, only visit the house when I need to pay rent. It’s okay.
A part of him didn’t even believe what he remembered from his previous night. The curious mix of real-estate magnate and landlord who was also the Devil just didn’t feel like it had happened to him. Obviously he wasn’t remembering correctly, that was all.
The house still looked the same from the outside, when he finally parked in front of it. Chinese takeout sat in the passenger seat beside him. He ate it there in the car, letting a more pleasant smell cover up the scent of unwashed engineer. I’m going to have to go in there eventually. Use the shower, get some clean clothes, and I’m out.
I’m not going to go completely insane because something insane happens to me. This isn’t Lovecraft. I can do this.
He finished the meal, walking his empty bag to the bin out front before making his slow way to the front door. He settled the backpack securely on his shoulders—mostly because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to do it himself—then opened the door and stepped through.
His hope during the workday—that he’d imagined everything in a fit of desperation and insanity to find somewhere to live—quickly proved false. He felt the same rush of motion, then his hands on the floor, then his tail hanging in the wind. Along with everything else back there. Because of course his memory of being naked was entirely accurate.
The second door was still shut, which was probably for the best. It wouldn’t be good for those horses to find a way out into the city. He could only imagine the disaster that would cause. And given his luck lately, he’d probably find a way to be blamed for it.
I just have to make it upstairs. It’s okay. He pushed on the second door, and found the knob didn’t actually connect to anything. It was probably just there to make it easier for horses to grab them with their mouths. Disgusting. Can I use wings for that?
He’d barely even looked at them since this disaster began. Having wings was fairly low on his list when he was trying to not get his immortal soul locked in horse hell.
There was only one horse in the living room this time, the one who called herself “Roseluck.” By the look of things, she’d fallen asleep on a book, or at least surrounded by them. The kitchen table was a mess of puzzle pieces and ratty-looking paper. He winced, then pretended not to notice her and headed for the stairs.
But there was no walking quietly when every step on the wood brought a clopping sound he couldn’t muffle.
Roseluck blinked, sitting up as he reached the stairs. She looked around, then over at him. Her ears flattened, tail twitching in some way that probably meant something to an animal. But he didn’t know how to read it. “O-oh. Hehe… guess I stayed up working a little too late.”
“Know the feeling,” he said, without even slowing down. His day had been quite hard enough without inviting more from the horse-woman.
At least his bedroom was the same as he’d left it—a mess. He flicked on the light, then started digging through boxes until he found the toiletries. He gathered all that up, then hefted the towel and the bag of various soaps across the hall to the bathroom.
There was no lock on the door, because of course there wouldn’t be. But at least the sink had two taps, and there was a gigantic shower on one side of the room. Someone had thought it was a good idea to build a window in the shower, without blinds or curtains or privacy glass. It was just… right there, where the whole world would see him.
A shaft of orange light cut across the horizon outside, and the sun rose on an alien world.
Even Tracy was momentarily distracted from his sourness, staring up at the sky through the bathroom window. A little flight of horses passed high above, somehow pushing the clouds away in front of them. He squinted, wondering if his horse body needed glasses—but he wasn’t blind. They were flying, actually using those little wings. They’re flying.
He glanced over one shoulder, and felt a twitch from the thing that wasn’t quite an arm attached to a shoulder. Could he do that too, or were those just for show?
Don’t even think about it, Tracy. You’re not staying. Just get clean and get out.
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Ah think this is yer best chapter yet! Great job! :)
Oh dear. Rose has a type. This could get quite complicated, and that's before some roommate talks on chores and such. She's not going to be happy to hear his plans even before taking her single status into account.
Meanwhile, Equestria's dangling the promise of flight in front of Tracy's muzzle. Let's see how long he can resist before biting.
And no one's actually looked at Tracy's electronics. I have to wonder what the game console, the laptop, et al. turn into on the pony side. There's clearly something in those saddlebags, but if the portal doesn't let bills through, it certainly wouldn't let any of the other stuff go unchanged. (Or it might; not like I'm the one making the rules for it.
)
The First Temptation of Discord - Hey, do these wings work?
The Second Temptation of Discord - A house full of hot mares.
The Third Temptation of Discord - There's a bakery right down the street.
The Fourth Temptation of Discord - How would you like a pet? Look, I'm rooming with Fluttershy, and I have to ask.
Clearly, some self-taught flight lessons are in Tracy's near future.
And looks like I was right before, only Tracy's window looks back out at the human world. The rest all still view Ponyville as normal. Makes sense, really, as that'd make it easier to maintain appearances, and Discord's many things, but he is still intelligent enough to know the importance of that much.
Damn
Oh come on Tracy, just embrace it. So much has already happened to you.
Now the real question: Does Tracy use his wings comedicially the first time or does he use them dramatically?
Complication after complication. It's going to be hard to hide not being an Equestrian if Roseluck is familiar with bat ponies.
Oh hey, I was wrong in guessing that Roseluck wouldn't have been under heavy pressure to sign a lease. Can't wait to find out what fascinating terms might be hiding in there.
Weren't there multiple streetlights present on the human side of the world?And even then, seems there might be some magic to disguise the worlds from each other to some extent.Interesting that it doesn't also change the apparent time of day, too, but that might be more for Tracey's benefit to not mess up his circadian rhythm.Even if it did, though, it might also be kind of hard to explain why only one of the windows on that side of the house show that particular view.Can't wait for Roseluck and/or her sisters to be in the hallway when Tracey comes home. That might be fun to explain, although perhaps the magic
apparently showing humans as ponies through Tracey's windowmight also hide his transformation.THis is another intersting chapter. I'm sure that Discord is pleased about the fact that the flower ponies have already discovered the window to the human world. I'm sure that it's fully Discord's intention that there will be ponies that will come to earth. Roseluck's earlier experience with batponies might be the reason Tracy became one it certainly fits Discord's sense of humour.
Well, that's a couple more questions answered. And oh boy, Roseluck must be as messed-up as Tracy to also be duped into this mess. Those two really do belong with each other.
So it wasn't a dating scheme that led her here. That being said, Tracy's bat form is pretty suspect. Looks like Discord's playing cupid.
Say what you will about Discord's slavery clause, this is pretty messed up.
Yeah Lily, let her admire the hot bat in her free time!
He also put in a slavery clause in your contract? Guess that would just reveal Discord too quickly I guess.
And that's how he'll stay in Equestria. And the chance for Roseluck to take his heart.
10143840
I'm guessing it's just the currency. The Accounting Department detests inter-reality currency exchange as well as serendipitously crashing currencies and economies.
10143840
I seem to recall one story where a smartphone turned into a massive stack of code written on paper. Fortunately, that doesn’t appear to be the case here.
10144073
Yeah... those wings would sinch the deal for me too. If I was a unicorn meh... Earth Pony meh... Pegasus sure, Threstral sure, Gryphon sure.
Dragons are a toss up, changelings are a no go, say what you will, Pegasus and Threstrals are my favorite species.
I wonder how he'll react once he name drops Discord and everyone around just takes it for granted.
Except the trio that is, they're going to panic as always.
10143840
Because we've seen arcade machines and street lights in the show, they have either electric power or magitek as a substitute. If it's magitek, then I'd say there wouldn't be any changes made to his electronics that could be seen from the outside. The change would be that the electrical circuitry would be replaced with a magitek crystal array. And either way that means if Twilight got a look at the inside of them, it'd be a guaranteed ticket to advancing the level of electronic/magitek technology in Equestria. But that would have no place in this story, unless really significant changes happen to the current flow. Even then, it'd be more suited to a side-story than the actual story being told.
Fly or shower - tough choice :)
10144091
Hi phone vibrated yesterday to wake him while in Ponyville.
Ok, we've been told that Tracy's work has all the facilities he needs. Why didn't he spend the time to wash up as a human on this side before heading home to sleep?
For that matter, instead of living out of his car, why not do the following:
1. Empty his backback in the car.
2. Go into the house, get some pony-form clothing into the saddlebags.
3. Return to the car, turning this into human clothing in the backpack.
4. Decide what will be worn the next day, and bring those in.
5. Sleep. Dress. Leave.
He would only need to swap "gear" and "clothing" in the car once or twice a week. Most of his clothing could stay in his pony closet, only being brought out to the car in prep / to make sure it is what he thinks it will be. Bringing in the "next day's" clothing to make sure there's no confusion or surprises. Use that room for sleeping/dressing. Use work for all his facilities/cleaning. Use a laundromat on the human side for washing.
Tracy could seriously all but ignore the pony world completely, and there would be no problem of any kind.
I mean, it's not like -- WINGS! FLIGHT! WOO!
gees only a couple of days in and Rose has already broken the one guess rule how rude. i wonder how discord will punish her. anyone else want to take a guess?
10144011
Actually, the window mentioned in the above passage is in Roseluck's room, and is on the other side of the house, the one facing Ponyville.
10144819
I stand corrected. Thanks!
It's not even that difficult to make the glass less-than-clear!
So the flower ponies were able to see past the window, but through the filter (so not the back lot). Wonder if they actually looked closer if they'd discover they don't recognize the creatures on the other side... Actually, if they left through the window would they remain untransformed? 🤔 Dangerous to try though, being the second floor up...
Trace wouldn't need to embellish how he was a "horse", simply saying that he underestimated the new commute time with his new housing arrangements would probably be enough. It would also explain his lack of hygiene, due to lack of time to exercise self-care.
Roseluck was in a mad-rush to get a space too, eh? Wonder what the backstory on that is. Her sisters apparently couldn't help out either... And with said sisters' apparently propensity to matchmake her around, makes us wonder what happened in the week-plus prior to current events...
Cue Rose trying to strike up a conversation while he's showering, no foreknowledge that Trace might not like that...
Hey, at least he's going to be washing off some of that lovely musk, right?
Keep going! ;)
10144332
Discord did mention it would be compatible, electricity, when he mentioned Tracy should get a UPS (presumably for the line-conditioning features many of the good ones have).
We live in an age of exploitation and documentation. Maybe he’s just really weird or confused and he’ll think of it later, but the first thing I’d do once I confirmed I wasn’t hallucinating would be to record video, take pictures, jot down extensive notes, ask for confirmation from the talking pony, bring a guest to see if they experience the same thing, and then figure out how to contact the authorities on both sides to facilitate first contact. Getting the human officials to believe him wouldn’t even be that hard—just give a police officer some excuse to go rooting around in the house and convince people one by one from there until he gets high enough up the chain that important individuals start taking him seriously. Discord’s involved so that plan likely wouldn’t work, but I’d at least try, you know?
You know, there might be a privacy clause in that contract that would prohibit him from taking videos -)
I love it so far.
However I hope there is something that keeps him from actually going through with sleeping in the car and not living in their house.
And will something bring Roleluck to investigate through the back door? I hope so.
I assume Discord just gave Tracy the ability to use his equinoid body quite easily, but I wonder if there is stuff that he still needs practice in.
That... makes sense actually.
Probably, but at least he would have an believable excuse for being late.
Why am I not surprised...
Why don't they start here? I don't think Tracy moved these boxes from the living room to upstairs. He would have a hard time carrying them.
Are Daisy and Lily Rose's sisters or friends? They were established as sisters earlier in the chapter.
Uh, isn't it morning on the human side and evening on the pony side?
10172193
Nope. Day ended. He's looking out the pony window.
10209302
I missed the part where it said what window he was looking out of.
Made me jerk up and look about my room. It would appear this is me.
You just met. You're COMPLETE STRANGERS. He's awake during the night, and you during the day. You both living there is ENTIRELY for the sake of convenience. What reason does he have to be interested in you in any capacity? Apathy, sure, but for good reason. Coldness? No. He just doesn't have any reason to have any interest in you. It's not like you own the place and were buddies since childhood and you're doing him a favor.
The sad thing is, there are people exactly like that in real life. They say "hello" to you and think you owe them all your free time in return. I can't stand people like that.
Act like what? He woke up and needed to hurry out the door to not be late to work. Not everyone has their own business and makes their own hours. And again, total strangers.
No, it's cute ponies instead. Be thankful for that, little human.
Great story so far
she's trying her best and Tracy is all "Nope, not seeing this"
Also, poor Rose
Oooo the Bat Pony is a Dude....
Uuuuuuuuuh boi... xD
Living in ponyville.... its a possibility xD
HaHA thestrals! I am glad to hear that ^^
I would love that. A dream come true
10502179
Most sane people would prefer Lovecraft--going insane, that they could handle.
This is Ponyville, after all.
More to the point… just wait till he understand that an APPLE is worth something like a POUND of gold and that he can bring back…
Work the year in Equestrian going on the other side for food and then he BUYS the company….