Going Back to Ponyville for the Week.
I sat down after Celestia and Luna had their snuggles, as Celly wanted to talk with me about how my teaching gig had gone on the first day, and Luna wanted to go to sleep since it was way too late in the day for her to be awake. Celestia made us dinner, since we’ve been getting our food from the Royal Kitchens a lot less, as in one of us would attempt to cook something up. At first Chef Beet was concerned about letting me or Celly cook, mostly Celly(she burnt water once too, apparently). However, after I actually taught Celestia how to cook a little, she does cook when time permits. Usually I cook, or if we’re both feeling lazy, we do end up ordering something quick like a simple salad.
“So,” Celestia said, sitting across from me in our private dining room. “I received a letter from Twilight. Did you seriously swear at two foals?”
“I didn’t yell at them, at least,” I chuckled. “Uh, those two brats were trying to put down my other students for not being able to use magic until I literally helped them. I don’t tolerate that kinda stuff; it seems innocent and harmless but bullying can lead to a lot of things. Back home at least, the best-case scenario is whoever’s getting bullied doesn’t care. Worse case… Uh, usually a news article is written and there’s one less person on the planet and a grieving family. I’ve lost a friend, one I knew since I was five, because she got bullied so damn hard and she never asked for help because she felt like she couldn’t.” I sighed. “I ain’t gonna have that sorta shit happen if I’m teaching and can catch it.”
“I see…” Celestia sighed. “I suppose you did have a reason to cast them out, though you should’ve done it a little more professionally. As in swear a little less when dealing with foals?”
“The foals I was dealing with were Dinky Doo, Button, and Sweetie Belle after that. I know for a fact that Apple Bloom’s taught Sweetie a thing or two about swearing. I swear though, I kept my swearing to a minimum after I made the bullies leave my little tutoring session. I probably let it slip here or there, but I’m a bit Irish, we tend to swear just a little bit.” Or a lot if we had some whisky.
“Now that you say that, your accent is a bit unlike anything I’ve heard before. It’s faint, but it’s there.”
“It’d get stronger if I were drunk, or talking to a fellow Irishman. Usually I try to keep it tame so people can understand me. Ma was an Aussie, Pa was Irish. Combine the two accents from those, and you get mine. Though I certainly swear a lot more than the average Aussie… I don’t think Snips or Snails will be coming to my next session; they said they were a waste of time. ‘Tis a shame, but… if they don’t wanna learn, or want my help, I can’t do much, can I?”
“I suppose not.” Celestia nodded, sipping on some tea. “Though there is something I would like to point out.”
“Go on.”
“You got three foals to have their First Spark; you got them using magic in your first session?”
“Yeah. is that… a big deal?”
“You’ve no training as a teacher, and you’ve done that, Source. Some professors struggle with getting foals to use magic for the first time.”
“Well, it was pretty easy. Figure out what gets them excited, play off of it, and then somehow spin the desire to learn how to perform spells into that excitement. Brew it together and all of sudden… Magic. Sweetie Belle thought she could get a cutie mark in magic and her friends thought they could get magic in helping her practice. Button… Ah Button, kid’s a sweetheart, I think he wants to learn magic first and foremost; being with me is like a dream come true. He can actually learn from me. Dinky’s reason for wanting to learn is fucking adorable; she just wants to make her Mom proud.” Seriously, Dinky is a little cinnamon roll. In fact, all three of my students are cinnamon rolls.
I love my students and it hasn’t even been a full day since I’ve started tutoring them.
“I see… Twilight talked with Cheerilee. Button… He did ask you to walk him home, yes?”
“Yeah, seemed super hesitant about letting me see the front door, though. We weren’t even around the corner of the building when we got to his place…”
“Was it a large, nice looking building?”
“Yeah.”
“That was Ponyville’s orphanage, Source.”
“...What did you just say?”
“Button is an orphan Source.”
“...So that’s probably why I let him snuggle up on the side of my belly, and why he smelled… so plain, like he had no smell on him beyond his own. Wait, what the fuck?!” I asked. “Oh god…” I took a deep breath. Okay yeah, this body has some really strong primal instincts; it wanted to keep Button close after realizing that a foal with no parents was nearby… wait, that ain’t how horses operate in the wild, what the heck? Mmm, pony biology.
“Twilight mentioned how Button used the side of your belly as a pillow while trying to perform Runes after you taught everypony there how. Of course, Dinky and Sweetie Belle, according to Twilight, were using your back as a pillow. Letting a foal use the side of your stomach as a pillow is something you usually only reserve for your foal. Button likes you a lot, Source.”
“...Would you get mad if I adopted him? I won’t do it immediately, I wanna get to know the kid before I do it on a whim. But if I end up liking him enough to take him as my own, would you care?”
“Care? Source, I would love being able to care for a colt! Sure, it may not be a colt I would be giving birth to, but Button would make for a lovely son for you… I think. I would also have to meet him.”
“I know what I’m doing tomorrow at least,” Celestia raised an eyebrow. “I’m gonna go to Ponyville, and everyday throughout the week and actually hold more tutoring sessions with those foals. Not gonna lie, they probably will need some guidance anyways while they learn their first spell, and it’ll give me a chance to get to know Button a lot more. If I like him enough by the end of the week, I am going to adopt him. He’s a good kid and doesn’t deserve to be stuck in an orphanage for most of his childhood. That could fuck him up mentally, it probably does…”
“You could go tomorrow, and I will accompany you on Friday; I would love to meet your students anyways, and perhaps I can see how you teach? If you’ve managed to get them to get that first little spark… you are clearly doing something right.”
“Alright then. However, I wanna go take a nap. I used DragonFire several times in the last two days for somewhat long distances. I moderated how fast I went, but a trip to and from Ponyville, along with using magic a fair amount in between just makes me a little drowsy. Especially after Rainbow asked me to go at my top speed with DragonFire and race her. I was faster, but then I faceplanted and fell asleep as soon as the race was over; too much speed with that spell can fuck you up, lemme tell you. Best sleep I’ve had in a while, though.”
“No hornaches?”
“No, surprisingly not. I have been testing something with Python Script. Now, instead of it just making my horn ache, it just makes me sleep if I use my horn too much. Since I’ve made it so instead of just using my horn muscles, it uses other other muscles in the body. So it takes more energy, but I have more magic reserves and literal muscle to put into every spell. Granted, I shouldn’t do it if I’m fighting anypony since it can make my nerves seize up, it’s an alpha-level concept after all. Anyways, I am tired… Can we just snuggle? Like actually snuggling for the night, not having sex. I’m a bit too tired for that.”
“I can make do with being a pillow for my little Cody.”
“God, you found out what Pinkie uses as a nickname for me?”
“She sent me a letter! I was struggling with a nickname for you, and now I have one! Ohoho! You’ve had so many nicknames for me that it made me a little upset that you chose a name that you can’t easily make nicknames off of.”
“You could call me Steve. It’s a fun thing from something made with Java. I’d probably end up responding to it, or not. I dunno; you’d have to whack me in the head if I don’t.”
“Why ‘Steve’ though? What fun thing?”
“Eh, don’t worry about it. Just know it was hella fun back when I was twelve.”
“...Curse you for not telling me more about human stuff when I ask!”
“I’ll tell you when I feel like it. And I feel like cuddling with you instead. That’s way more fun.”
“Fine. I suppose I will have to…” Celly gave a fake sob. “Put up with cuddles for now.”
“...You love cuddling anyways.”
“Dammit. That used to work-”
“Then you did too much. Don’t you dare use the look on me right now.”
“I was only considering it!” She then did it, and I ended up telling her about that fun thing where Steve originated from….
“Source, that sounds like the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
I woke up the next day and started making my way towards the train station. While I wanted to just use DragonFire to just fly to Ponyville, I knew I shouldn’t. For starters, I was still recovering from magic physically draining me. I also just wanted to take today nice and slow. At first, I had every reason to be early, but I didn’t technically have to be in Ponyville today. I just wanted to go and check in on my students, and that was after class. Plus I can go ahead and tell Twi and her friends to stop trying to get in my pants.
Well, mostly Rarity. The others were perfectly okay with keeping things platonic; pony piles are natural occurrences and usually just signs of affection, not love. I know Twilight might have a thing for me, but it could just be her trying to be a lot nicer after being a bit of a bitch.
“Howdy!” I waved to a random passerby in the street as I walked. I was in an unusually good mood. That probably meant something bad was going to happen today, but that’s fine.
I hopped and skipped onto the train after getting my ticket and pulled out a book from a saddlebag. Did I read a lot? No, but I have been reading a fair amount more now that I don’t have anything to distract me. I relaxed a little bit as soon as I heard the train whistle. I knew I was going to spend some time with Luna, but she’s a bit nocturnal, as she’s been picking up her old sleep schedule again after learning about how to rule a little more modernly from Celestia. I almost didn’t notice something hitting me in the back of the head.
“Wuh?” I slowly turned around to see an angry looking griffin. “Can I help you?”
“What the? That was supposed to knock you out!”
“Why are you trying to knock me out?” Now is a good time to mention I have been putting defense enchants on myself whenever I leave the castle on hoof. Stuff like durability, and stuff to teleport me back to my bed if anything were to actually knock me out. They only last a day, but they cost so little to cast that I don’t really mind using the enchants to keep me from getting hurt. Anything to get home to Celly at the end of the day.
“I-I… Uh…” The griffin growled. “Screw it!” Everypony in the train car started running when he pulled out a crossbow. It looked really fancy, though worn out. “Somebody in Griffonia wants you, and you’re coming with me, or else.” I shrugged and turned back to my book. “Are you even listening? Are you deaf? I’m trying to kidnap you and I am threatening you!” My horn lit and his crossbow was cleanly dismantled. I then grabbed the bolt before it fell and pointed it at the griffin’s head.
“Man, you chose the wrong guy to kidnap. I’ve got guards watching my ass like hawks, and I can kick your ass or leave you as a skidmark. I didn’t do anything wrong other than live and love somepony. Now kindly piss off before my guards come in and body check you. Better yet, leave before I break your wings and chuck you under the fucking train. You’ve got children right?”
“...Of course I do-”
“And you apparently know who the heck I am. So go home, be a family man. Or go home to your kids in pieces. Your choice. Because… I ain’t a pony, mentally at least, and if you cross me again and don’t get outta my face, I am going to ensure that you will not see the end of the day. I’m in a good mood though, and scored a job as a teacher of sorts, which is really fun. If I weren’t in a good mood, I would've killed you for clubbing me over the back of the head with the butt of your crossbow.”
The griffin pulled out a knife, seeing as he probably didn’t learn his lesson. Solar Strike and three other guards piled on him trampled him, and had him binded up and knocked out the moment the knife was out. “Are you alright, Sir?” My guard asked.
“Man, drop the ‘sir’ shit with me, Solar. You and I know I don’t demand any respect from you guards.”
“It’s just protocol, sir. You’re Celestia’s consort even if you aren’t taking many of the duties of being a high prince, you are a high prince.”
“And as your high prince,” the griffin got dragged into the last train car, or where my guards were supposed to be bunking. “I say my guards take a chill pill and relax. Feel free to joke around with me, sit down, but still be vigilant if you think somebody else is gonna kidnap me. Solar you’re one of my bros, sit down and take a load off. Once the griffin’s in a cage, of course. The rest of your guys can come and sit with me and hangout too if they wanna.”
“...Captain Armor is going to yell at me-”
“And he isn’t your current commanding officer by technicality, is he?”
“Right now, you are, sir.”
“Then you aren’t gonna get in trouble. If Shiny’s got an issue with how I run my squad, he can take it up with me. Go do your job, then get that stick outta your arse, mate.”
“Yes sir!”
“You’re trying to take the piss outta me,” I said, lightly glaring at Solar. “I like it. Keep doing what you do, bro.”
‘Yes bro sir!” That… Oh my god. I think I’m gonna kick Solar in the balls for that.
Fortunately for Solar Strike, he did not get kicked in the balls for calling me a ‘bro sir’. Fortunately for me, we all made it to Ponyville without any more issues. I notified Celestia about the bird that tried to kidnap me and she sent me a letter describing how proud she was of me for handling the situation so well, and that she was going to beat the ever living crap out of whoever sent the grif, since he was clearly doing a pay job, after me. So Celly’s going to be really sexy(angry) for a while.
Listen, Celly is very pretty, but there is something almost breathtaking about seeing her get angry… When it’s not directed at me. It very rarely is directed at me though. Usually she just gets disappointed in me and that makes me want to go sit in the corner for being a bad boy.
We got off the train, the guards went to check to get hotel rooms for them all, a few others went to shove the griffin in a jail cell… Then Celestia popped in out of nowhere, kissed me, and took the griffin to Canterlot to prosecute him for attempting to kidnap a public official. Meanwhile, I started making my way over to Cheerilee’s school house… I actually didn’t walk, I used Levitate on my hooves and started running in the sky. Ponies all glanced up at me, before doing a double take. Some foals who weren’t in school pointed up at me while telling their mothers or fathers(or both) about the pony running through the sky.
I quickly landed at the schoolhouse, getting looks from every single foal since it was recess. I could see Button off in his own little corner actually doing a Light Spell. I know who’s getting ice cream on friday. Hey, actually, Sweetie Belle and Dinky were with him and they were also doing light spells. The rest of the crusaders were hanging out with them, mostly with Sweetie, but it looked like they were trying to indoctrinate little Button into their group at Sweetie’s request.
Hmm… I bet Sweetie has a crush on Button still. That would be adorable to tease them about.
“Hey Mr. Source Code!” Two familiar little brats ran up to me. It was Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Usually Diamond does the talking, Silver just nods along like an idiot and goes with what her friend does.
“Hello,” I greeted. “Can I uh… talk to you both later? I’ve got students to catch up with. They’re making really, really good progress-”
“But they’re a bunch of blank flanks. They won’t amount to anything!” Silver actually said something on her own accord. “Especially at this rate if they still don’t have their cutie marks!”
“Actually,” I said. “I say blank flanks are pretty cool. Sure, not having their cutie mark at this point in their life may seem like they’re useless, but I say it’s an opportunity. They can find out what they wanna be when they’re more mature and have the knowledge to play off of their talents for either a good career, or even just a fun hobby. You don’t need something to say you’re good at something to prove your worth, after all.”
“That is…” Diamond hummed. She and her little friend were a bit lost for words. “I- uh… why not just hang out with us?”
“You just wanna see Celly so you can look at her flanks. Granted, they are flanks straight from the heavens, literally from the heavens, and that’s far as your interests in me go. You don’t want any life advice or whatever.” I stepped around the now thoroughly broken fillies that heard me call Celestia’s ass nice, because it is, and sauntered on over to my students. “Howdy kiddos!” I laid down and was immediately hounded by five happy foals.
“We thought you were coming back on Friday?”
“I figured being able to tutor you guys everyday on your first week of learning magic would be more helpful… Though look,” I pretended to look hurt. “I’m a bit useless, aren’t I?” I asked.
“What!?” They chorused.
“When I walked up, all three of you were casting Light spells! And they looked good too!”
“We were just using that textbook you gave to Button,” Dinky said. “Did we do something wrong?”
“Like hell you did. I wanted to be the one who taught you that, not the book that I explicitly gave one of you, or the equations and Runes for!’ I chuckled and waved my hoof. “I’m just pulling your legs. I’m proud, Dinky. It took me longer to figure out how to cast Light. How many Runes did you take, guys?”
“Two,” they all said.
“It’s surprisingly easy!” Sweetie Belle squeaked. My god, I love those little squeaks.
“Good, you’re using Python’s Runes. That’s why those Lights look so damn good. How’re you guys liking Python?”
“Rarity said my Light looked like hers when she was twice my age,” Sweetie said. “And I was using less magic!”
“Hmm. So y’all are loving it?” They all nodded. “Do note that when you’re older, you may not be able to fully use Python if you’re genuinely really strong with magic. So I will give you guys crash courses in the other systems so you have an idea of how to do them when you all eventually outgrow my teachings.” I ruffled Sweetie’s mane. “Damn good job on spell casting, kids. As promised, on Friday, we’re all gonna go get ice cream. And y’all will get to meet Celly. I might ask her to bring down one of the instruments-”
“She can play an instrument?” Button asked.
“No, an instrument has many different meanings. A magical instrument is what’s used to gauge how strong a unicorn is. I’m gonna test how strong each of you guys are each week and determine when to shift your focus off of Python; you may end up being better with a hybrid of Python and regular Runes, or even just a completely different spell system.”
“Oh… I hope I score high,” he mused. “Though if not, Python does seem to work really well…”
“If you do, you could travel from here all the way to bucking Prance with DragonFire. I can travel pretty far and I’ve got some weak magic reserves.”
“That would be so awesome!” Button squealed. “Oh, I can’t wait!”
“So after school, you guys want to learn some, or I can watch y’all practice?”
“Can you help us get our cutie marks?” Scootaloo asked. “We just invited Button and Dinky, since they don’t get their marks yet and you’re our favorite teacher?”
“Pfft.” I chuckled. “C’mon, I’m not cooler than Cheerilee is, am I?”
“You are pretty cool,” Scootaloo hummed. “But Cheerilee is super nice…”
“I’m your favorite tutor and Cheerilee is your favorite teacher.”
“But you taught us how to use magic.”
“No, I gave you the means to learn how to use magic on your own. I’m just helping y’all along the way if you misstep somewhere.”
“...Oh. You’re still a teacher to me,” Scootaloo nodded. “And you’re cool because you don’t give me homework.”
“Mmm, I might. You aren’t even my student and I might. What if in between me helping these guys learn magic, I help you and Apple Bloom with stuff. I could teach y’all something cool, some cool new trick, or just help y’all with your homework? Does that sound good?”
“That would help. Multiplication still gives me troubles,” Bloom nodded. “And Ah get to work with my adopted uncle!”
“Surrogate? Adopted means I’m legally related to you, Bloom. Surrogate means it’s unofficial.”
“Ah guess you’re my surreal gate uncle.” I chuckled at that and nuzzled her. Fucking christ, these kids are so cute. It’s almost downright heartwarming how quickly they all started liking me after I helped them with magic, save the crusaders since they already knew me. Though Sweetie is nuzzling me a lot more than usual and actually sharing the side of my stomach with Button. Oh god, don’t tell me I have to adopt her too. I mean, I will, how could I not, but I don’t wanna do that to her actual parents!
I was teaching my students how to throw things by playing with a frisbee. “Aight,” I said, gesturing to Apple Bloom. “I want you guys to match her throws.” Apple Bloom threw the disc and it went zooming. “She’s an earth pony so she is physically stronger than we are, but we’ve got magic. If you can match her strength with your magic, then that’s good. If not, it’s not a big deal. Just do your best for today; and most importantly have fun.” We were supposed to throw it in a way that it came back to us. Apple Bloom was a natural at it. It came back and she caught it with her teeth…
If a human tried that, they would lose all their teeth.
Twilight had tagged along after realizing I was in town again, to mostly hangout, and to see how I would teach a foal to throw something with their levitation.
“How do we throw stuff anyways?” Sweetie Belle asked.
Twilight opened her mouth. “Y’all obviously know how to Levitate stuff now,” so I grabbed the disc. “See hold my aura is only grabbing a bit of the disk?” They all nodded. “Hold just enough of it with your magic to the point where you can still move the object,” Twilight’s mouth stayed open. I did as such. “Then with a flick of the magic,” I tossed the thing further than Apple Bloom did, it zoomed off into the distance. “Any-” it came back full force and hit me in the forehead. “FUCK!” I started holding my nose while everypony started looking me over.
“Oh thank god for enchantments or my nose would be broken right now,” I groaned. My voice was very nasally right now.
“Are you alright, Mr. Code?” Button was the first to ask. “That looked like it hurt.”
“It did, but not as much as it would’ve if I didn’t have a few ‘buffs’ running. Some griffin tried foalnapping me earlier. Tried clubbing me over the head with his crossbow and everything… Ah, learn enchantments kiddo, they come in handy. Stopped me from getting kidnapped and kept me from having to go to the hospital.” I picked the disk up and held it for him. “Wanna have a go and toss the frisbee?” Button was still checking if my nose was fine… Hah. “I'm fine, kiddo. Just go have fun with your friends.” He nodded before going off. I ended up sitting and watching while Twilight loafed down next to me.
“That… I was gonna tell them how to throw something. I was just gonna say give it a flick and then let go of the frisbee. Your method for throwing objects…”
“It’s different, but something I’ve been working on. I did some testing and it turns out that doing it the way everypony else does is a waste of magic.” Button actually almost matched my throw on the first try. “Good job, Button!” I chuckled as it came back around and he actually caught it with his magic. He winced slightly. “Ah, don’t catch fast moving objects with your magic kid, it’ll hurt like a bitch!”
“I can tell!” Button groaned. “Hornaches are the worst!” I chuckled at that.
“But anyways, you don’t lose any control when doing my method, and in fact, it’s probably better. It was easier for me to direct where to throw an object with my method. It was… like throwing something with a hand, which was why I did it the way I did at first. Then it turned out to genuinely be really good and better since it used just a little less magic. Optimize every little bit of magic, Twi, that’s my goal.” Sweetie Belle and Dinky gave good throws. Both were nowhere near as good as Button’s, but that was whatever. They seemed to mostly care about having fun once they figured it out the first time. Scootaloo, surprisingly, patiently waited for all the unicorns to go so that they could figure out throwing objects. She had the best throw yet, actually reaching mine.
“I’m just surprised. You’re not a bad teacher even if you don’t actually have any teaching experience. From Light spells, to teaching them to throw… you’re teaching them runes.”
“Yeah. I’m gonna have them try to Rune out the nightmare that is WME’s version of Levitation to see how accurate they are with Runes.”
“...Why? Are you a sadist?”
“I just wanna know. It’s a good test. If they’re precise, they can keep learning Python no problem, since that’s the one thing both systems share; an exact level of precision. I won’t test grade them on it, I ain’t grading shit, but it’s something to test them with every now and then.”
“Why wouldn’t you grade them on performance? It may not mean much but-”
“Grading systems are shit, Twilight. Inherently shit. Especially the letter system. What? Do I give Sweetie Belle an F because she could only get three Runes into WME’s spell system? No, that’s stupid. Grades end up being something a student will shoot for, most of the time, instead of actually learning anything new. I just focus on making the lessons fun and insightful, and very, very easy to understand. So far, it’s working out. Taught the kids how to throw shit in the most fun way possible. Next, I’m gonna take’em camping and get them to use Fire, since that’s Button’s main goal; learning DragonFire. Learning Fire is a crucial step in the right direction.”
“Source… That-”
“I’m teaching them the practical uses for magic. My main complaint about my education was the lack of anything practical. If it seems like it would be useful in day-to-day life, it’s more likely to actually stick. So practical uses, and then some extra shit if they wanna learn it. Once I have more textbooks printed, they’ll have everything they’ll need to learn any spell they want in Python… Assuming it exists.”
“Huh… I never thought of that.”
“Education was a huge deal, and people were talking of ways of improving it even if the people actually in charge didn’t have a reason to. I picked up a thing or two about teaching since… my old hobby involved teaching people how to ‘play’ the things I coded.”
Twilight smiled. “Is this like your old hobby?”
“Teaching? No. It’s fun. I’m glad I’m able to start making my mark on the world, even if it’s my magical system making the mark instead of just me. It feels good. And I get to spend some time with cute foals; who am I to complain about that?”
Button trotted up to me, clearly worn out; the foals started playing tag after they got bored of the frisbee before laying right between my forelegs. Flopped right on his side, resting his head on my foreleg. Internally I was screaming. My god, that is the cutest thing ever, and my entire emotional state now lies in Button clearly holding some form of affection for me. “Oh my fucking god,” I whispered. This here, this is the greatest moment of my life. I am so, so… down to just lay here and take a nap actually. A nap never hurts.
Twilight looked at me and Button snuggling together and I swore her heart actually melted. “Okay, that is kinda cute.”
“We’re stallions,” Button mumbled, he was definitely half asleep. “We look cool, not cute.” and… out like a light. I nuzzled him and laid my head.
“I can take being cute. Celly says I am,” I chuckled. “Finna take a nap. If the kids need help heading home, wake me up, ‘kay Twi?”
Twilight nodded before sitting back and watching the rest of the foals, one by one, got done playing and coming over to join Source and Button to nap. The stallion was clearly the main attraction, with Sweetie Belle snuggling up to Button too, and resting her head on the same leg that Button had. Apple Bloom was laying across the side of Source’s belly, Scootaloo was using his back as a pillow while sprawled out on her back, and Dinky managed to get on top of his head without waking the stallion up, before resting her own head right between his ears. Source’s tail soon curled up, on its own, and laid across Apple Bloom.
“Hmph.” Twilight sighed. “Dangit, now I want to take a nap…” She sighed. “Maybe just an hour; no way Source would wake up before an hour passes.” She laid down in front of Source so she would know that they would be facing, should either of them wake up, each other. While she wanted to join in on the adorable scene of Source being used as a bed by five foals, there was no room for her to join in, unless he used his butt as a pillow. And that would be a little weird.
Twilight ended up sleeping longer than Source or any of the foals… Save Button. Button was all too comfy with just sleeping in an empty field with him.
I lifted my head drowsily, Twilight and the rest of the kids were long gone. I woke up earlier to see the crusaders heading home for the day, and Dinky being carried off by her mother. I looked down to hear some teeth clacking together; Button just let out a jaw splitting yawn. He rolled over onto his belly and blinked a few times. The sun was setting in the distance and it looked like Button was ready to head home for the day too.
“Need me to walk you home, kid?” I asked.
“I…” Button sighed. “I kind of don’t want to go home.”
I decided to pretend to be naive to this kid’s situation. “Rough home life?”
“No… I just… home doesn’t really feel like home, y’know?”
I paused. I really don’t know how to go about this. “Uh… Do you mind sleeping in a library?” I asked. “Because Twilight is forcing me to stay at her place again for the week. So wanna just stay with me? We’ll ask your parents first, though.”
“...Okay.”
The two of us ended up walking to the orphanage and I was immediately greeted by an old mare. “What are you doing with Button?”
“I’m his teacher, I was teaching Button how to use his magic, and we lost track of time… We ended up taking a nap in the field I was teaching him. So here he is. Button here was hoping to spend the night at my place so that I can help him with his homework.”
“Button, is this true?” The mare asked.
“Yes, Mrs. Care. I asked Mr. Code if I could stay where he’s staying tonight.”
“...Okay. You best know how to care for him,” Mrs. Care said in a semi harsh tone.
“I will.”
Not too long after that, we were sitting outside of a Hayburger, since I skipped lunch and it was nearing Button’s dinner time. “I’ve never had this before,” Button said, poking at his burger.
“It’s pretty tasty,” I said. “Do you not like hayburgers?” I asked, looking up from my food.
“It’s just… weird. Mrs. Care usually cooks for everypony…” Button paused. “Is Mrs. Cure your mother?” I asked.
“She isn’t. She’s… I live in an orphanage, Mr. Code. I think you’ve noticed that already.”
“...Okay, yeah, I did. I do have some news for ya, though.” Button gave me an inquisitive look after sticking a hay fry in his mouth. It hung out of his mouth while he gave me a cute little head tilt. “If Celly says yes, and if you’re up for it, I might end up adopting you. Of course, we’re taking it slow right now. I gotta make sure you’re a good fit for me, and that I would be a good parent for you. Of course, I will only do so if you’re up for it. Take your time with getting to know me, and I’ll take my time getting to know you, alright?”
“I hope you end up adopting me,” Button said. “You’re kinda nice.”
“I do my best to be a decent person. You’re a good kid, Button.”
“Why do you keep saying ‘kid’? I’m not a goat.”
“God dammit, Button…” I chuckled. “Ah, I’ll tell you why if I end up adopting you. Since if I do adopt you, you’re going to learn what the heck you’re dealing with. I will tell you just what I am before that though. I don’t want you to think you’re getting somepony that’s a pony in the head. Because I’m certainly not a pony in the head.”
“But… you look like a pony.”
“I am physically a pony. Mentally, I am something else.”
“I’ll be fine with it if the ‘something’ else is nice to me. Way nicer than my parents were to me.” He took a bite of his burger and his eyes widened.
“I take it that you like that?” He quickly nodded. I chuckled. “C’mon, let’s eat up. We gotta get to Twilight’s place before she ends up hunting me down. We wouldn’t want that; she’s a bit scary when she’s a bit angry.” Despite that, we took our time eating our dinner and happily chatting away with each other on the bench we had taken over so that we could eat our food. No, Twilight was not excited about how late we were when it came to returning to the library.
She was surprised to see Button there, or to find us the next morning, snuggled together while Button tried his best to make me let him have five more minutes of sleep. It didn’t work, but his attempts were commendable.
Stats
Page generated in 0.023 seconds
Total duration
1,118 users online
1,863,284 hits today, 1,872,792 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Normally Cream Heart is his mother, maybe you can introduce her as a potential parent? Or not, you don't seem very fond of herds
Don’t you mean, “a wee bit?”
Diamond did seem to be toned down in her attempt to make nicer with Source. It’s nice to see some effort from the filly, at least.
Somepony or somegriff wanted Source to go to the Griffon county? This is an interesting development.
Seems out of left field, but it definitely has my attention.
I think Twilight and others are playing the long game on Source.
I can tell this is going to be a fun week in Ponyville.
Does Python have any medical applications? Or non-unicorn benefits? I’m asking because of Scootaloo… 
I need to see the adoption happen.
Awesome chapter! Nuff said.
11855652
Cream Heart could also simply be a worker at the orphanage, or someone who's looking to adopt a foal. There's no reason to shove her together with Source Code.
Ow.
HEY!!! Don’t you go be hating on Minecraft!! I dream about playing it in my dreams because my laptop isn’t taking a charge anymore and I don’t have the money to replace so I haven’t played Minecraft in about a year.