Ch23 Welcome to Equestria, Part two [edited]
Jake and the Kid
Chapter 23
Welcome to Equestria
part two
***
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight Sparkle’s voice cracked like a whip, freezing the rainbow-hued pegasus in her hooves as the angry unicorn marched into the dressing room, her eyes flashing.
Curry let out a little eep at the sight and quickly placed Fluttershy between herself and the librarian. Strangely, Fluttershy simply gave a little smile at Twilight before twisting her head around and giving Curry a comforting nuzzle.
“Uh. Oh. Hi there, Twilight. How yah doin?” a flustered Rainbow babbled.
“I have a wheat stem to pick with you, Rainbow Dash. I hear you were in charge of the crew who wrangled that thunderstorm last night. After you spent all day yesterday teasing me about being in love with Princess Luna.”
“Honestly, I had nothing to do with planning that storm, Twilight. The orders came down from up top, straight from the main bureau in Cloudsdale. I didn’t even know you were out in it till I got here this morning. Honest, cross my wings and hope to never fly again.”
“Oh, but you don’t deny getting me all worked up about Princess Luna, right before I was going off on a camping trip with her. Knowing that I’d never be able to get the idea out of my head. Knowing that I’d be watching every move she made, listening to every word she said, and wondering about what she wasn’t saying. That I’d lay next to her smooth warm body, waiting for her to reach out and touch me, and wondering what I’d do if she did.”
“Well, when you put it like that,” Rainbow said in a downcast tone, looking as guilty as sin. “I guess, yeah.” A moment later, she looked up with a start. “Smooth warm body?”
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” Twilight squealed in joy, giving Rainbow a breath-stealing hug. “It was the most wonderful night of my life. And I owe it all to you.”
“Wait. What? Can we go back to that ‘ smooth warm body’ comment? Because--”
“Sorry. Got to go. Princess Luna invited me to check out the Harem with her. She is thinking about remodeling her bedchamber and wants my input.” Twilight bounced out of the room like a purple Pinkie Pie on a sugar bender.
“Wait. What?”
Rarity reached over and pushed Rainbow Dash’s lower jaw back into place. “My dear. I never knew you were such a wonderful matchmaker. Tell me. Do you know of any special pony who might be suitable for me?”
“Wait. What?”
“Well, do think about it, dear. I’m not going to be a fancy-free young mare forever, you know.” Come, Curry. Let us go and show off your new outfit to everypony.”
“Uh, sure,” Curry replied, walking past Rainbow Dash. She couldn’t resist giving the stunned looking pony a poke. The pegasus didn’t even blink, or move her gaze away from the door Twilight had just exited through.
Fluttershy gave Dash a worried look as she walked by, but didn’t stop. She stepped out into the audience chamber and the doorway folded shut behind her. “That was a little mean, Twilight,” she said in her soft voice as she looked over to where Luna, Twilight, and Applejack were sitting on the floor in a small circle turning a mutual pink from suppressing laughter behind their upraised hooves.
“It was no more than she deserved,” Rarity said in a severe voice.
“Come on. Admit it, Fluttershy. It was funny,” Applejack said, making no effort to keep her voice down now that the room was sealed off.
“Well. Maybe. Just a little,” Fluttershy conceded, a tiny smile tugging at her lips.
Curry’s head swiveled from one pony to the other, trying to understand what the big joke was, and what the scene in the dressing room had been all about. When no explanations looked to be forthcoming, she shrugged her shoulders and put it down to adult stuff.
“Now, dear. Let's go and show you off properly,” Rarity said, giving Curry a tug to encourage her to walk into the center of the room. Curry plastered a long-suffering look on her face but felt a glow of pleasure as her friends trotted up and complimented her new outfit.
“Oh, I like it. You did great, Rarity,” Sweetie Belle praised her sister.
“Yeah, you look pretty as a picture, Curry,” Apple Bloom chimed in.
“Hmmmph, I preferred the old one,” Scootaloo sniffed.
“Well, really, like, I don’t know where to start. The improvement is so vast it is hard to decide which to mention first,” Diamond Tiara gushed as she walked around Curry. She paused and sniffed in habitual derision. “Like, what in Equestria is that?” she asked disdainfully, pointing a hoof at Curry’s rear, where what was very definitely a ponytail projected through the back of Curry’s skirt.
“Well, duh, that’s her tail,” Scootaloo said.
“Like, she doesn’t have a tail you ignoramus,” Diamond Tiara snapped back. Just then the indicated object gave a swish and swatted the snooty pony across the nose.
“Don’t know, that sure enough looks like a for real tail to me,” Apple Bloom laughed.
“Rarity, you didn’t,” Twilight said, peering around at her friend’s backside. “I thought you said you’d never cut your tail again?”
“I only thinned it a bit, dear. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash contributed as well. We took some long strands from our manes too. You can barely notice unless you know to look. To tell the truth, I’m a bit surprised at how well it turned out.”
“We are impressed with the level of thy skill. It does look most authentic,” Luna commented. “How did thou manage to impart such a life-like motion to an artificial appendage?”
Rarity looked a bit uncertain. “I wish I could take the credit,” she said quietly to the pair of magic users. “I wove it into the material of her new body stocking, and it seemed to just take on a life of its own.”
Twilight and Luna exchanged a look, their eyes passing information without the need to speak. Twilight kept her voice just loud enough to be heard over Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara’s squabbling. “I wouldn’t worry about it, Rarity. We know nothing at all about Humans, or maybe I should say, Snipes, as that seems to be what Curry has decided to call herself. This might be perfectly ordinary for them.”
“I suppose you are right, Twilight dear. I’ve noticed the same effect with the ears I made,” Rarity said, looking over at the headband that was mostly concealed under Curry’s thick mop of hair, and the two small horse ears that peeked through her mane at the top of her head. They twitched visibly toward whichever pony was speaking. “I can’t imagine why they move that way. They’re not even connected to her real ears so it's not like they are actually helping her hear better.”
“Something to test,” Twilight commented, a touch of anticipation in her voice.
“Later,” Luna said. “For now, Twilight Sparkle, I suggest we retire and leave the foals to their bonding. You and I have decorating tips to pursue.”
Rarity gave a laugh. “Yes, do go on, Twilight. I will keep an eye on things here. Spend some time with your marefriend,” she said in a joking tone.
Twilight gave a slightly strained laugh, and said,” Yes, we wouldn’t want to let Rainbow Dash off the hook too soon, would we?”
“Indeed not,” Luna said in a slightly mischievous tone. She leaned forward and nibbled the base of Twilight’s neck, causing her to duck her head and nervously step away.
“We really should save it for when we have the ‘proper’ audience,” Twilight said nervously.
“A little rehearsal will do no harm, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna teased. “Come. I will retrieve the crystal key from Goose Down and we two may then explore the other areas of this edifice.”
Applejack stood beside Rarity, watching the two dark-hued mares as they trotted away. “Luna’s lightening up right well. I’d have never guessed she’d be the sort to join in on a joke like that.”
“What joke is that?” Pinkie Pie asked, bouncing in out of nowhere.
“Twilight and Princess Luna turned the tables on Rainbow Dash,” Applejack told her. “Twilight pretended that she and Princess Luna got romantic last night.”
Pinkie Pie looked blank for a second and then gave her head a shake. “I don’t get it,” she admitted. “I mean, if they were to pretend that they didn’t get all romantic, that would be sort of a joke. But how do you pretend to do something you really did?”
Applejack and Rarity exchanged looks. “You don’t suppose?” Applejack asked.
“Well, they do seem very fond of each other, and they compliment each other marvelously. So it does not seem beyond all reason.”
“How about we just wait till Twilight tells us her own self,” Applejack suggested. “Only reason I can think she’d not have told us is if she’s not settled in her own mind about it yet. I say we back off and let her figure it out.”
“As you say, Applejack dear. We should give her some space,” Rarity said while avoiding looking straight at Applejack.
“You ain’t fooling anyone, Rarity. I see that look in your eyes. You’re planning on throwing them together, ain’t you?”
“But, Applejack dear, it would be such a shame if they are meant to be together, and they talk themselves out of it. You know what Twilight is like. She puts up a brave front, but she is simply riddled with self-doubt when it comes to personal matters. And Princess Luna is almost as bad from what I have seen of her. They only need a little help from their friends. What harm could it do?”
***
Curry collapsed backward onto a big fluffy pillow, panting for breath. She had just finished giving her new outfit a trial run that had consisted mainly of seeing how fast and far she could bounce around the large room they had spent the night sleeping in. Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Pipsqueak had enthusiastically joined in. Curry had outdistanced the little colt, but trying to keep up with the other two foals had proven impossible in the end. She could hear then in the next room over, which had turned out to be a kitchen, trying to talk Sweetie Belle and Twist into visiting the swimming pool/giant bathtub with them.
The pillow she was laying on depressed slightly and Curry turned her head just enough to see Diamond Tiara settling carefully onto the soft surface. “Hey,” Curry greeted her. She repressed a smile as Diamond Tiara fought the superior smirk that seemed to be her natural expression and directed a patently false look of good cheer toward Curry. It was really amazing how expressive ponies were in this world, even Jake.
“So, like, I suppose your work is almost done?” the mean girl/pony said in a conspiratorial whisper.
Curry merely arched an eyebrow and said nothing.
“Oh, you don’t have to admit anything. Unlike some ponies, I, like, know what is going on.”
“Yeah, Diamond Tiara isn’t, like, fooled easy, you know,” another voice chimed in.
Curry switched eyebrows while maintaining her best poker face. She didn’t even bother to look in the direction of Silver Spoon.
“I must have read a hundred foal tales when I was, like, young. I never thought I’d be in the middle of one. LIke, a deserving young orphan colt makes a wish, and a Human, oh, excuse me, a Snipe, like, grants it.”
“Yeah, like really. We all read those, like, when we were really, really, young. We don’t read them now, or anything,” the chorus chimed in.
Curry tried to suppress her reaction, but Diamond Tiara was watching her closely and saw Curry’s eyes widen in surprise.
The pony’s expression became smug. “I knew that was what was happening,” she said in satisfaction. “But, as I said, your work must be almost done. “Jake is going to be a prince, and go to live in the palace with, like, Princess Celestia. So it must almost be time for you to fade away and leave the story.”
“Oh, like, that is so, like, sad. You must be really, bummed.”
“Who says I’m leaving,” Curry blurted, and wished instantly she could take back the words as Diamond Tiara’s face lit up.
“Pshaw, like, it’s in all the stories. The wish is granted. The poor orphan pony will live, like, happily ever after. Time for the human… Sorry. Like, I keep getting that wrong. Time for the Snipe to go on to the next deserving pony with a wish. Never to, like, play with the, like, poor orphan colt again as he moves in with his new family and doesn’t, like, need a Human… Snipe, anymore.”
“Like, sad, for real.”
“Hmph,” Curry snorted, laying back on her pillow and closing her eyes. “Joke is on you. I didn’t grant Jake’s wish. He didn’t even make a wish.”
“So you didn’t, like, set out to find him a warm welcoming home?”
Curry hesitated. She knew she shouldn’t give Diamond Tiara any leverage, but at last, she said, “Course I wanted him to have a nice place to live. If’n I’d left him where he was, he’d have been all alone, without a friend or nopony to look out for him. What of it?”
“Why nothing. Like, you did a marvelous job.”
“Yeah, really, like, great.”
“I’m just saying that, like, your job is, like, over, and it’s so sad you’re going to have to walk out of Jake’s life now. But, maybe you don’t, like, have to,” Diamond Tiara said, her expression turning even more sly. “If you were to give a wish to a deserving pony who is going to be, like, around Jake a lot, of course, you’d have to stick around till that wish was fulfilled. And maybe you could, like, grant another one after that?”
“Oh, like, that is a really a great idea. You should totally do that.”
“Why would I---”
“Shhhh, like, don’t make up your mind right away. I’m just saying think about it,” Diamond Tiara said as she got up and casually ambled away.
“Yeah, like, think. Cause it’s a really great idea,” Silver Spoon hastily said, even as she struggled to get back on her feet from the soft pillow. With a very unmarelike grunt, she managed and hurried off after Diamond Tiara.
Curry shook her head and muttered, “Crazy ponies.” Despite that, there was no denying that Diamond Tiara’s words had struck a chord. Not about the whole crazy wish thing, as if she could have given Jake his wings and horn. But her remark about Jake getting a home and family. She had wanted that for Jake, though at the time she had headed them into the mountain she had no idea how she was going to do it.
What if she had been wrong all this time? She had thought this was her story, and that Jake was her comedy relief talking animal side-kick. But Jake was the person, so to speak, here. This was a land of ponies. Curry was the strange one here. Maybe Jake was the hero of this story? But, where did that leave her? Where did it leave Jake?
***
“No! You’re kidding,” Jake protested, looking at Big Mac in disbelief. He was half smiling as if any minute he expected Big Mac to admit it was all a silly joke and they’d laugh like crazy.
“Eenope,” Big Mac said, shaking his head, his expression deadpan.
Jake stopped walking and spread his front legs, ducking his head down and looking between them for a second. There was a look of mingled hope and disgust on his face when he lifted his head back up to look at Big Mac. Part of him still clearly thinking that Big Mac would give in and admit it was a joke, while the larger part of him didn’t think he would.
“But, that’s dirty,” he protested.
“Eenope.”
“I wee from there.”
“Eeyep.”
“I’m supposed to… to a mare? That’s dirty,” he repeated.
“Eenope, it’s what grownup stallions do.”
“Have you done it?” Jake asked in horrified fascination.
It was Big Mac’s turn to look flustered. He lifted a hoof and scratched his chin thoughtfully, “Don’t have a marefriend, right now,” he prevaricated.
“You’d do that to a friend?” Jake asked incredulously. “Wouldn’t she hate you after you did?”
Big Mac couldn’t help himself. “Not if you do it right,” he said with a smile.
“So you have done it?”
Instead of answering Jake, Big Mac called out in a loud voice to the guard who was lingering someway down the laneway. “Hey, come on up here.”
Jake turned to see who Big Mac was yelling at. His eyes lit up and he trotted down the lane toward the approaching pony while calling out, “Sweets, Sweets. Big Mac is telling me whoppers. He says a stallion is supposed to...” Jake’s voice faded out in the distance as he came level with the guard, who came to a halt as Jake expounded at length. Big Mac couldn’t hear him, but knowing what the topic was, the gestures Jake was making gave a pretty good indication of what he was telling the guard, and which parts he was currently talking about. Big Mac sort of wished he was close enough to see the expression on the young guard’s face.
He started to walk slowly toward the pair, pacing himself so as to give Jake lots of time to explain.
***
Sweets was profoundly grateful for the dye that had turned his coat as black as Jake’s hide. He really hoped it was doing a good job of hiding his reaction as Jake explained in surprisingly graphic terms given his limited vocabulary, the crazy things Big Mac had been telling him. It would reflect badly on his dignity as a Royal Guard to be seen blushing like a school filly getting her first kiss.
It wasn’t that Sweets was a prude. He’d whiled away many a night on the trail with his brothers, or in the barracks, discussing mares and the things they did with them or wished they could do with them, in great and graphic detail, and that didn’t even begin to compare to the night time discussions in the barracks during basic training when they’d all been weeks without a sniff of a mare.
Jake, however, was not one of his male peers. Sweets had spent a great deal of time talking with him at Fluttershy’s home. Despite his size and voice, you only had to talk to him for a few minutes before you realized just how young he was.
As the large red stallion ambled up and joined them, Sweets gave him a censorious look, and then almost bit his tongue when Jake said, “Tell him, Sweets. Tell him you’d never do something like that to a mare.”
Sweets gritted his teeth as Big Mac gave him an amused look. At the same time his thoughts flashed to Bon Bon and Lyra, and all the things he had imagined doing with them once he could offer them full disclosure.
His hesitation, and maybe the look on his face must have given enough of his thoughts away that Jake gave him a despairing look. “Not you too,” he said in a betrayed voice.
“If’n we didn’t, there’d be no foals. No foals, no ponies. Stallion got a duty,” Big Mac said in a matter of fact way.
“No way. I won’t. I don’t want to,” Jake repeated vehemently.
“Colts don’t have to,” Big Mac said in the same tone of voice.
That made Jake’s eyes light up for a moment, but then a look of unhappiness crossed his face. “But if I’m not big, no pony will like me.”
Sweets blinked and gave Jake a closer look. The colt sort of had a point. His size did tend to overwhelm all other impressions and Sweets could certainly see it attracting some ponies to him. But it wasn’t all he had going for him. He was a good colt. Anypony who spent time with him would soon realize that. Besides, he’d still have wings and a horn no matter what size he was. He’d not lack for ponies wanting to get close to him. That wasn’t actually a good thing, now that Sweets thought of it. Jake was going to need guards, even more than the princesses because they were more than able to look after themselves when you came right down to it. That thought sent his mind down avenues that a few days ago would have been unthinkable.
“Eenope,” Big Mac said firmly. “I’ll like you. Apple Bloom and her friends like you. Applejack and her friends like you. Granny Smith might not notice, but she’ll like you if’n she does. That’s a lot of ponies.” Implied in his statement, but going right over Jake’s head, was that anypony who didn’t like Jake after he was changed wasn’t worth knowing in the first place.
“I’ll like you no matter what size you are,” Sweets put in his two bits for what they might be worth.
“Really? But I won’t be able to pull so much,” Jake said to Big Mac.
“Maybe, but you’ll grow,” Big Mac said. He gave Jake a serious look and gave him a shoulder bump. “Be a colt. Time enough to be a stallion later.”
“Do you think I should?” Jake asked in a resigned voice, all traces of his earlier temper tantrum gone.
“Eeyup!” Big Mac said firmly with not a hint of hesitation in his reply.
Jake closed his eyes and thought for a bit, he then gave a big sigh, and said, “Okay.”
Big Mac let out a huge sigh of relief, and yet, at the same time, felt his stomach clench up from tension. He hadn’t wanted to bring this up till Jake had decided on his own, now that he had, it was time to bite the bit and take it between his teeth. “One last thing then,” he said solemnly. "Applejack and I, we asked Princess Luna if we all could adopt you into the Apple Family.”
Jake’s head came up, his eyes wide. “You did? Did she say yes?”
“She did, if’n I was prepared to be your Pa. I told her I’d be honored. If you didn’t mind?”
The big colt shivered, his ears going up as a great gasp escaped from his mouth, he sucked in his breath and tried several times to speak before finally getting the words out. “Yes!,” he shouted, his voice booming off the landscape. “Yes! Yes! Yes!”
“I think he likes the idea,” Sweets said, folding his ears tight in an effort to preserve his hearing.
***
It took a little while to round up all the ponies who had scattered during the unplanned intermission. Eventually, all the required ponies were accounted for, except for Twilight and the princess.
Twist had opened up the door to the harem, and Rarity, with a certain ladylike reluctance to go inside, had called out to Princess Luna and Twilight that Jake was back, and willing to go through with the spell.
Princess Luna had emerged from the harem with a relaxed, almost sleepy look of contentment in her eyes, and a coat and mane that gleamed. Twilight on the other hoof, Twilight looked a little bit rumpled but shared the same look of contentment as Princess Luna.
Rainbow Dash had taken in the scene with her emotions plain on her face. She quite clearly wasn’t sure if she was being played, or if Twilight and Princess Luna had spent the last two hours playing. It was also pretty clear that she wasn’t about to ask.
All the ponies convened once again in the grand audience chamber in the middle of the vast tent. The non-essential ponies, all those who would in no way at all be involved in the magic, were instructed to line up along the walls. All the foals and Curry were in this group, along with Big Mac and Granny Smith. Surprisingly enough, so was Princess Luna.
Jake, as would be expected, was standing dead center in the room, looking nervous as he shuffled his hooves on the thick rugs. Every now and then a big fat spark of static electricity would jump from his heavy iron horseshoes.
Twilight was facing Jake head on, about ten feet away. She was wearing the Element of Magic on her head. The other Bearers were spaced equal distance around Jake.
“Now, Jake, I want you to try and think about when you were young and hadn’t yet grown up,” Twilight told the big colt.
***
Twilight was very nearly vibrating with anticipation, and worry. This would be one of the most delicate and powerful spells she had ever worked. She had suggested that it was properly Luna’s right to cast it, what with her being the elder more powerful and skilled spell caster.
Twilight’s mind darted off on a tangent for a moment as she used the princess’s bare name in her thoughts. She was still grappling with the feelings she, they, had discovered they had for each other, and it still felt a little disrespectful to not include Luna’s title, even in her own private thoughts. Of course, if you wanted to talk about disrespectful, not using Luna’s title in the privacy of her own mind was pretty insignificant compared to some of the other things she had imagined doing with the beautiful dark-hued mare.
Shaking off such inappropriate thoughts, Twilight brought her focus back on the issue at hand. Luna had insisted Twilight had the ability to do this spell, and that she was not going to hold Twilight’s hoof for her. There had been confidence in her words, and also a challenge.
The talented unicorn was not going to let the princess down.
“Nothing matters but the spell,” Twilight muttered to herself, calling up visions of the patterns of magic she needed to shape. “Don’t let your mind wander. Focus only on the necessary, let everything else fade.” She controlled her breathing, drawing it deep into her lungs in a calming rhythm, her heartbeat normalized and her emotions faded into the background until nothing filled her mind except the bright promise of the spell she held there.
“We’re ready, Princess Luna,” Twilight said in a calm, confident voice.
***
Luna took a quick glance around the room to make sure no inquisitive foal, or adult, had strayed from their assigned spot. Only then did she cast her own prepared spell. A dome popped into existence around the group of ponies in the center of the room. It shimmered with the hue of Luna’s signature magic and would block any outside distraction or magical effect that might interfere with the delicate casting Twilight was about to perform.
***
Jake looked around him nervously at all the serious ponies surrounding him and flinched slightly when the translucent purple dome popped into place around all of them. He turned his eyes toward Big Mac, who was outside the glowing thing, but still easily visible. The stallion gave him a supportive nod that calmed Jake. A little bit.
Twilight’s horn started to glow with the familiar aura of her personal magic. Slowly it built in volume and intensity, wavering slightly as it reached a size comparable to half her entire body and spit a few sparks. Twilight’s brow furrowed and sweat beaded on her face until the visible component of her magic stabilized and a matching phantom glow formed around Jake.
The light radiating from Twilight’s horn caught Jake’s eye and drew his gaze. Twilight’s eyes were glowing a perfect white without a hint of a pupil. That would normally have freaked Jake out, but he found himself observing the sight in a detached manner. He didn’t even notice when the golden collars around each of the other five mare’s necks began to glow as well. A sense of warm comfort permeated Jake’s body and caused his eyelids to droop sleepily. Remembering how Twilight had told him to think about when he had been a young colt, he called up his most favorite memory of all.
***
“I want that one, Old Ben,” a childish voice demanded.
Jake blinked his eyes and looked through the bars of the rail fence. On the other side was a small girl and an old man. Jake thrust his head between the fence rails, stretching his neck out as far as he could in an attempt to snuffle the two humans.
“See, he likes me,” Curry said as she stroked Jake’s nose.
“I don’t know Curry. He might be only pony sized now, but he’s a Percheron. He’s gonna grow up to be a big fella. Too big for you to ride. Percheron are workhorses. They were bred to pull things. Not for riding.”
“Nuh, huh. Mr. Sedgwick said they were bred to carry knights.”
“Oh, he did, did he. That as may be. But, you’re no knight. You know I told you that if you wanted a pony, you’d have to look after him. Looking after a horse that’s going to get as big as this fellow is going to be a lot of work. You won’t have time for anything else.”
“I don’t care. I like him. I want him.”
“Well, it would be nice to have a horse that could help bring in the winter wood.”
“See, you want him too. He’ll get lotsa big and be able to do lotsa work.”
“Well, if you’re sure?”
The tiny child threw her arms around Jake’s muzzle and hugged him as hard as her small arms could manage. “I want him. I don’t need a stupid little pony.”
“Okay, if you’re sure. I’ll talk to Sedgwick.”
“Yay,” Curry cheered. She pressed her forehead against Jake’s face. “You hear that, boy. You and me. We’re going to be BFF. That’s Best Friends Forever. You’re going to need to know lots of stuff. Don’t worry. I’ll teach you. You’re going to get big and strong and we’ll fight dragons and pirates and rescue princesses. You just wait and see.”
Jake gave her face a huge lick, tasting the residue of sugar on her sticky features.
“Oh, yuck. You got awful breath. “Here, eat this. It’ll make you smell better,” she held up a shiny apple she had dragged out of an overstuffed pocket. It was bruised and battered with a small bite already taken out of it, but when Jake crunched it between his teeth, it was the best thing he had ever tasted.
“Good right? You be a good boy and I’ll give you lots of apples.”
***
Eyes wide, unblinking in case she missed anything, Curry stood staring through the filmy surface of Princess Luna’s protective shield at Jake. Beside her, Diamond Tiara was looking like she was seriously regretting shoving Pipsqueak aside to gain her current spot as Curry’s fingers curled tightly in her mane, pulling hard enough to bring tears to the pony’s eyes.
In Curry’s mind was a memory of Jake that first day they had met. An oversized colt, all legs and head it seemed. He had towered over her small form back then just as much as he did now that she was all big and grown up. She flexed the fingers that were not tangled in Diamond Tiara’s mane, feeling the phantom impression of Jake’s lips in her memory as he took an apple from her hand. To her eyes, he had been the most wonderful creature under the sun, and the idea that she might possibly prefer some other, cuter, more suitable, pony to him had been unthinkable. She was proud of Jake. Proud of his size, his strength, his intelligence, but even it all those disappeared, she’d still love him just as much. He was her horse, her friend, her BFF.
This was a magical story, Curry told herself. Jake’s magical story. Everything was going to be all right, she just knew it. That didn’t stop a thread of dread from worming its way into her mind, which was why she refused to look away as Twilight’s magic, along with that of her friends, wrapped Jake in a cocoon of light so bright it made her eyes water. The bubble of light surrounding Jake was made up of shifting colors that flowed over the surface in a vaguely hypnotic way. Despite being made entirely of light, it looked as solid as a boulder. As she watched, it grew smaller, taking on an egg shape. Diamond Tiara whimpered as Curry’s fingers tightened in her mane. Curry was on the verge of screaming out to Twilight to stop, that she was going to crush Jake, and then, the magical glowing egg cracked.
A gasp from the observers echoed around the tent, and they all stepped back from the blinding light except for Princess Luna. She leaned forward in anticipation, lost in the play of magic as a ray of pure brilliance burst out of the crack. Something dark and pointed thrust forward from inside the egg, widening the hole and causing more cracks to spread.
Both squinting and shading her eyes with one hand, Curry could just barely make out Jake's horn as it withdrew for another thrust. There was no question in her mind that it was Jake’s horn despite being noticeably shorter, and stubbier than it had been. The horn may have been smaller, but the second impact showed it was just as strong as before, making even more cracks zigzag out from the impact point and crazing the entire top of the magical construct. Just when it seemed that Curry's heart was going to hammer itself to pieces, Jake smashed into the egg a third time and the air was filled with hundreds of small fragments that seemed to float independently of each other in the air before they all burst at the same time in silent explosions of sparkling light. Princess Luna's barrier darkened, shielding the audience from the worst of the blinding light. When it cleared, a shadowy shape could be seen struggling to stand. The shape, which had to be Jake, reared up with a shrill whinny, wings spread wide to bring his front hooves down on the final fragments imprisoning him. Jake pawed the air with his front legs, kicking out at what was left of the magical egg. The remaining shards fell away from him, fading into nothing just like the earlier fragments had done.
The light that had escaped through Princess Luna’s shield faded, leaving only afterimages in Curry’s eyes that slowly resolved into the figure of a black alicorn colt standing in the middle of the circle formed by Twilight and her friends. A considerably smaller figure than the one which had stood there mere minutes before.
“Jake,” Curry cried out. She broke away from all the other ponies and rushed forward as Luna dropped her shield. She reached her friend and threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in his mane as she hugged him as hard as she could. “You’re all right,” she mumbled into his thick hair.
***
Jake leaned into Curry, enjoying the fact that he could do so without shoving her away. He savored the feel of her arms around his neck, her warm breath in his ear. It took him back to his first days in his new home. Those days had been short. He had quickly grown far too large to be cuddled in such a manner and had to settle for being brushed and pampered in a less direct way.
“Do you feel okay, Jake?” Twilight asked. He looked up to see her standing a few feet away, her eyes slightly above the level of his own. She looked so big. They all looked so big, he thought, looking around at all the other ponies.
“Jake?” Twilight repeated.
“Huh? Oh. Yes. I’m fine.” That was not the complete truth. He didn’t feel bad, but he did feel strange. He felt light as if he might float away if he didn’t keep his feet planted firmly on the rugs.
“Wow, you’re still so big,” Pipsqueak exclaimed from below his line of sight. He looked down to find that the small pinto whose head had barely come to his knees before was now at almost chest level.
“Boy, no wonder you were so big before if this is how big you are as a colt,” Apple Bloom remarked as she looked up at him.
“Spread your wings. Did they shrink?” Scootaloo encouraged him.
Jake looked back over his shoulder as he extended his wings. They looked the same to him.
“Too bad,” Scootaloo said. “If they’d stayed as big as they were before, you’d have been just like Goose Down. You could have flown forever.”
“I think they look perfectly fine,” Fluttershy said as she came up beside Curry and gave Jake a nuzzle.
“Indeed he is. A most excellent bit of spell casting, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna complimented. Jake found himself looking up at the tall dark mare. It was an unusual sensation seeing a pony who was taller than he was, but he found he didn’t mind it.
“Looks good,” a deep voice added, and Jake quickly snapped his head around to look at Big Mac. The solidly built earth pony loomed over him. Jake took a step forward and almost tripped. He looked down and found all four of his hooves were nestled inside his former steel horseshoes, his much smaller hooves nested comfortably inside their circumference while the bent and twisted nails that once held them onto his hooves were scattered like charred matchsticks across the rug.
“We’ll have to set those aside for when you grow back into them,” the always frugal Applejack remarked, nosing one of the heavy shoes and arching an eyebrow at the weight.
Jake didn’t really care. As soon as he got his feet clear of his former shoes, he stepped forward and nestled his head up against Big Mac’s shoulder. In return, the big red pony lay his head across Jake’s neck in a pony hug.
“You don’t mind me being smaller,” asked Jake said in a very small voice, swallowing once before adding, “Pa.”
“Eenope,” Big Mac said, giving Jake an affectionate, and gentle, shoulder bump. “Son.”
“Bawwww,” Pinkie Pie sobbed, gushing tears. “I’m so happy.” An instant later the tears stopped and her eyes gleamed with excitement. “Do you know what this means?” she asked.
"Why, yes," pronounced Luna with a regal wave. "It is time for a party of truly monumental size and scope to introduce Jake and Curry to our Equestria. No normal party will do; it must be larger and more impressive than any other party ever thrown in the history of parties, something that shall be immortalized in the ages as--" Luna paused, watching Pinkie out of the corner of her eye "--awesome."
Pinkie remained frozen in place as everypony who knew her dove behind the firmest pillows they could find while wishing for some good solid rocks or trees. A high-pitched noise began to echo around the area, starting quiet and building as the pink party pony began to vibrate up and down, finally rocketing straight up in the air with a cry of "Yipieee!"
Displaying a rather disturbing level of self-awareness, the tent fabric above Pinkie Pie folded hastily back out of the way to give her a clear avenue.
Twilight Sparkle stepped up to Princess Luna, looking up into the bright blue sky that had been revealed when the tent folded open. She cooed appreciatively as fireworks began to explode above them. "Good altitude, Princess.”
"Thank you, Twilight," said Luna, looking up at where a pink parachute was slowly descending toward them, spewing confetti and streamers as it floated down. "Your advice seems to be very effective."
"Then I think you should take a few deep breaths now, Princess, because when Pinkie lands, she's going to hug the stuffing out of you."
***
“Here you go, Big Mac,” Twist stammered as she opened up a flap in the back of the royal tent.
“Thankee,” Big Mac said, feeling a bit guilty over taking advantage of the young filly’s crush this way, but the alternative had been to stand up on a platform beside a princess, in front of the entire population of Ponyville. Eenope, not happening. As partial recompense, he gave Twist a pat on the top of the head that nearly reduced her to a happy puddle of jelly. He looked back over his shoulder at where Jake was standing. “Softly now. Don’t want no pony hearing.”
The large and small escapees had barely stepped out into the sunlight when they found themselves confronted by a large and medium-sized obstacle.
“Going somewhere, big brother, nephew?” Applejack asked, trying very hard to suppress a knowing smirk.
“I think they took a wrong turn, Miss Applejack,” Sweets suggested, making no effort to hide his own smirk. “Why don’t we show them the way to the presentation stage.”
***
Princess Luna walked to the front of the hastily constructed stage and looked out over what seemed to be the entire population of Ponyville. With a feeling of satisfaction at not having to hold back, she used her Canterlot Royal Voice and announced.
“Fillies and Gentlecolts of Ponyville. It gives me immense satisfaction and pleasure to introduce Equestria’s newest prince, Prince Jake Apple, and his companion, the Snipe, Curry Comb. Please welcome them to our land.”
A thunderous roar filled the air as all the ponies present cheered. At the same time the ground shook from the impact of a thousand and more hooves stamping the ground.
The curtain behind Luna thrashed, as both Jake with Big Mac were unceremoniously shoved and onto the stage. Hidden in the shadows behind them Sweets and Applejack bumped hooves.
Both Jake and Big Mac looked around in wide-eyed panic as if searching for an exit route. Jake, taking advantage of his new, smaller, size, slid in behind Big Mac, only enough of his face visible to keep an eye on the crowd. It was easy to tell when he spotted a familiar face, his ears pricked up and his eyes lost some of their wild expression.
“Look, there’s Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo and Twist, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Even Bon Bon and Lyra. Everypony is here,” Jake exclaimed. He eased out from behind Big Mac, his wings, which had been pressed tight against his flanks, relaxed and spread slightly as he gave his friends a wave. The crowd in front of him roared even louder, but seeing his friends at the front shouting along let Jake know that all these ponies were happy to see him. His head came up, his horn highlighted against Big Mac’s red hide as his new father stood behind him. He pranced in place, shouting out to the crowd in response to their cheers. “Hi. Howdy. I’m Jake. Do you all want to be my friends?”
***
If anyone had ever told Curry that she’d be afraid of a herd of ponies, no matter how large, she would have, depending on age and gender, either laughed in their face or given them a punch in the nose. Despite that, this was the very situation she found herself in. The unending tide of sound coming from outside was causing the fabric ears attached to her hairband to lay flat against her skull, which was only one indicator of her mood in general.
Her experience being mobbed in Ponyville the day before had left her with certain insecurities. After all, she was the only one of her kind in this world. There were no full-grown humans around to chivy overly inquisitive ponies away, or to rescue her from her own foolishness.
On top of that, thanks to Diamond Tiara’s words, she was starting to wonder if she really belonged here. This was Jake’s place. He had a Pa now, and a family as well. What did she have? Who did she have?
“You don’t have to. If you don’t want to, that is. Of course, you can if you want to,” Fluttershy said in her usual soft hesitant voice from behind Curry.
Curry flushed a little bit at behaving like such a coward in front of a pony as brave as Fluttershy. It wasn’t like she was expected to get right down in the middle of all those yelling and stamping ponies. “I’m fine. Didn’t want to upstage Jake is all,” she said with a weak laugh while rubbing the back of her head.
“Oh. Well. Okay. When you are ready.”
“Yeah. I’ll just give them a bit of time.” Curry hesitated, and then mumbled, “Would you like to come out with me?”
“Me? Oh. I don’t know,” Fluttershy stammered, her gaze flickering from the exit to the reviewing stand to Curry.
Curry’s spirits plummeted as her whole body seemed to sag slightly. A moment later Fluttershy crowded into her space, her wing wrapping Curry in a hug as she whispered into the little girl’s ear,” I’d love to go out with you.”
***
“Here she is at last, the final one of our new citizens. Please give a big hoof for Curry Comb!”
Princess Luna boomed out, glancing over at Twilight to get a big hoof up for managing to avoid archaic terminology.
***
Luna carefully withdrew from the reviewing stand, leaving center stage to Jake and Curry, along with their guardians. Sweets was waiting for her inside the entrance. “This way, Princess,” he said, bowing her down the hallway. He fell in behind her as she trotted in the indicated direction.
Luna came to a sudden stop, her nose wrinkling as she sniffed loudly. She turned in place and directed a hungry look towards Sweets. The guard pony in question was positive that if he did not act quickly, word would somehow get back to his new marefriends about how Princess Luna had been shoving her nose in all sort of inappropriate areas of his body. With almost magical haste, Sweets dug the crumbled bag of candy out from his armor and held it loosely in his mouth, just a little afraid of what was going to happen next.
“I almost forgot. Bon Bon sent these for you to sample. She’d---”
He got no further as Luna greedily snatched the bag out of his mouth with her magic. A carefully wrapped candy floated out of the bag. Luna barely took the time to unwrap the delicacy before she popped it into her mouth. Her eyes closed in sheer bliss and she stood there shivering in delight for a moment. She swallowed and opened her eyes. "M-must save s-some for T-twilight," she stammered under her breath, lifting her head and firming her expression into a face of pure concentration. The bag floated slowly back over to Sweets while the Princess looked away, the smallest tremble twitching on her flanks.
“I charge you to protect these with thy life,” she said, her voice containing not one iota of humor. “Whilst breath remains in your body, let no pony rip you asunder from your charge.”
Sweets did the only thing he could do. “As you command, Princess, so will it be,” he said while tucking the innocuous bag back into place under his armor, feeling much as if he were concealing a caffeinated bomb against his fragile skin.
Once Luna had regained her composure, she took a deep breath and trotted through a doorway that had been kept open by the simple expedient of stationing two royal guards inside it. They shifted to the side, pressing against the fabric to leave enough room for Luna to pass between them.
“Greetings, members of the press,” Luna said as she took a position behind a podium set up on one side of the room and looked out at the ponies gathered in front of her.
Sneak Peek looked over at Featherweight, a scrawny young pegasus school colt with an outsized camera held in place around his neck with a bracket. He also had a press pass identical to the one around Sneaky’s neck hanging just under his camera. The, no longer so grizzled, press pony then looked back up at Luna. With the exception of Sweets who was standing off to the side, they were the only ponies in the room.
“You’re joking?”
“Not at all. Next question.” Luna said, a mischievous glint in her eye, though she maintained a perfect poker face otherwise.
“Ok, then is---”
“I believe it is the other member of the press’s turn,” Luna said in a quelling tone. She turned her attention to Featherweight. “That’s you, dear.”
“Uh, me. I usually only take pictures,” the young colt said nervously. He illustrated his point by raising his camera and snapping a shot of Luna, who went from staid public figure to flirtatious mare in a fraction of a second, and then back again.
“I’ll take all the copies of that, please. You can send them to me care of Twilight at the library,” she said to Featherweight. “As to the other, you must have questions. I have noticed that the one things all foals never lack for are questions.”
“Hmmm. Well. I did hear the girls at school wondering who does your grooming.”
“What? Now come on,’ Sneaky protested. “She trots out a brand new prince, and that’s all you can think to ask her about?”
“Don’t make me give you a time out,” Luna said sternly to Sneaky. “He can ask whatever question he wants. The answer to that one is that up till recently I have relied on my Hoofmaiden to aid me in my toilet, more recently I have taken young Goose Down into my service.”
Featherweight nodded and then started looking for something to write this down on, and something to write it down with. Sneak Peek gave a sigh and handed over a spare pencil and notebook.
“My turn now?” Sneak Peek asked sarcastically.
“It was,” Luna said with a smirk. “What is your next question, Featherweight?”
“till recently I have…” Featherweight muttered to himself as he wrote laboriously in his notebook.
“Oh, give me that,” Sneaky said, snatching the notebook back and quickly scribbling down Luna’s words with well-practiced ease. “You ask the questions. I’ll do the writing.”
“Oh. Well,” Featherweight hesitated, his eyes averted from Luna. Then, obviously working up his nerve, he asked Sneaky, “Couldn’t I just take the pictures and you ask the questions?” It was suddenly clear that the main reason the colt had been taking so long, and so much care, in writing down Luna’s words was to avoid having to think up questions that were worthy of the situation.
Sneaky shifted his head to meet Luna’s eyes, and a bit of mutual understanding flowed between them. “That would be perfectly fine,” Luna assured Featherweight. She then looked expectantly at Sneak Peek as Featherweight fluttered up into the air and began to take pictures of everything in sight.
Wishing he had his missing hat so he could adjust it theatrically, Sneaky squared his shoulders and asked. “Did you meet Jake’s father before you were sent to the moon? Or while you were there?”
Luna took a moment to ponder the question, and then said, “No.”
Featherweight lowered his camera and directed a look toward Sneaky that clearly stated he could have written that answer down perfectly fine on his own.
Meanwhile, Sneaky was fuming inside at giving the princess such an easy pitch. He’d gone soft here in Ponyville. If he’s asked something like that of any mare in town he would have gotten a good half-hour response without the need to ask another question, he’d forgotten the primary rule when questioning a politician. Never allow them an opening to weasel out of giving a straight answer.
“Is Jake your son?” he asked flatly.
“No,” Luna said in a voice that gave nothing away, but her eyes lost a little of their fey quality and Sneaky flattered himself to think that despite another one word answer she was starting to regard him a little more seriously.
“Do you know his father?”
“No.”
“His mother?”
“No.”
“Do you know where he came from?
Luna’s eyes lit up, and Sneaky abruptly started to wish that she would take him a little less seriously and suppressed a sudden urge to turn and run.
“That is a very interesting question. Recently I have been wondering if you might possibly be able to answer it better than I can. Tell me about Moondancer, Mr. Sneak Peek.”
His ears went back in surprise and it took Sneaky a moment to realign his thought processes. Once he had, his first response was not an answer to Luna’s request, but a flat statement. “You heard what I said last night. That’s the only reason you’d be asking me to tell you about Moondancer. But, I’ll tell you right now, there is no way that it’s possible that the brat is a human.”
“And yet, events and circumstances have led me to ask you, who would appear to be an expert on the topic, for this information. Enlighten me.”
A refusal was on Sneaky’s lips, but he paused, and not just because Luna could burn him down to his horseshoes if he annoyed her badly enough. All he had learned back in his misspent youth when he had been a diligent head-in-the-clouds journalism major at the university told him that what Luna was suggesting was flat-out impossible. But what if it wasn’t? That would be a story that would rock the very foundation of Equestria. And all under his byline.
“How long do we have?” he asked Princess Luna.
“As long as it takes. This is important.”
“In that case,” Sneaky turned to Featherweight. “You don’t want to miss the party, brat. You’ve got all the pictures you’re going to need of Princess Luna. Why don’t you go get some pictures of the guests of honor, and enjoy yourself at the same time?”
“Go along,” Luna gave permission when the young colt looked at her.
Featherweight wasted no time obeying that order. The worried expression on his face shifted to gleeful anticipation as he flew out of the room.
Once Featherweight was gone, Sneaky settled himself down on the rug without asking permission. “The story starts with an abandoned townhouse right after you and your sister had your... quarrel. The initial and long-held belief was that the inhabitants were members of your coalition and that they perished during the conflict. Or went into hiding.”
“You do not need to spare my feelings,” Luna said, her expression bleak. “They were counted among the many ponies I extinguished when I drew on the life-force of my followers in my desperate bid to defeat my sister.”
Sneaky felt an uncharacteristic sensation of sympathy for Luna. Princess Celestia had made it clear that her sister had not been responsible for the actions of Nightmare Moon, but despite that, he could tell from her expression that Luna felt differently, “In this case, I believe that the ponies in question had no connection to either you or your sister save that of blood. The head of the household was a very distant great, great, aunt of Prince Blueblood. In fact, I believe her family was the primary line of inheritance for the title. Prince Blueblood is descended from a cadet branch of the main family, which died out many generations ago.
“I don’t know how long the house was vacant, but eventually it was searched. One of the ponies involved found a series of highly detailed journals that somehow they ended up at a publishing house, where an unknown ghostwriter used them as the basis for the very first human story.”
“You mentioned finding the original journals in the royal archives?”
Taken back to his days as a student due to the subject material. Sneaky’s hard-earned gritty newspony persona sloughed away as he unconsciously dropped into earnest student mode. “That’s right. I chose to research the origin of human stories as my journalism thesis while I was at university. I wanted to trace the stories back to their original roots and show how time and frequent retellings had altered the original source material. The point I was trying to make was about how long-lasting news cycles could warp the original narrative structure. I thought the research would end with verbal folklore. To be honest, I never really expected to find a single originating source. I was shocked to find that every single human story could be traced back to Moondancer’s journals. There was not a single mention of humans prior to the discovery of those documents.
“The strange thing is, Moondancer’s journals were not fiction, they were an anthropological treatise on the human race.”
“Which does not exist according to you,” Luna interjected.
“I never said they didn’t exist,” Sneaky retorted. “They just didn’t, and can’t, exist in our reality. They are magical nulls. The world they live in has so little magic that it might as well not exist at all. They lack the capacity or ability to channel or cope with magic. If a human were to actually come to Equestria, they would have no defense at all against the natural background magic. They would not be able to resist being altered. It would either kill them or change them into something other than human. Something more suitable for this world. The one thing that would not happen is that they would remain as they were.”
Luna's eyes widened fractionally. “They would be altered by the natural magic field of Equestria?” she asked, her tone a hair tenser than it had been.
Sneaky was a student of pony nature. He didn’t miss Luna’s reactions. He gave no sign that he had, however. He merely filed the information away to be used at some other time as he answered her question. “If they came here, yes. But that’s impossible. It simply could not happen. The path from here to there, and back again, is magical. Without magic, they could no more cross the magical bridge between our worlds than an earth pony could stroll around on a cloud.”
Luna seemed relieved at Sneaky’s answer and continued to question him. “But Moondancer knew about Humans? Did she study them? If so clearly she could go to their world, or at least see it.”
“She and her assistants had magic, both their own and the natural magic of our world. With it, they could walk the path to the human world and return on multiple occasions. They called it ‘The Moon Path' but I couldn't make ears or tails out of how they opened it. Maybe somewhere there is a record of how it was constructed, but the only thing the journals I found were concerned with was the humans and their world. The last entry in those journals was written just two days before Nightmare Moon was sealed in the moon.”
The princess made a slight hissing sound between her teeth as she sucked in her breath. Her eyes were sorrowful as she said, “She was trapped on the other side.”
“If the story is true, it seems the most likely answer,” Sneaky nodded in agreement.
“You think it is, do you not?”
“I do. My thesis advisor did not. He felt the whole thing was a work of fiction, written up by a rich unicorn with too much time on her hooves and too little ability in constructing a decent narrative.” There was a decided bitterness in Sneaky’s tone as he said this.
“Would she, and her guards, have survived on the other side?”
“I don’t know. She did say in her last volume that she was working on a transfiguration spell that would allow her to interact freely with the humans she had been studying. Maybe if she performed the spell she would have been able to live out her life there. It’s sort of sad if you think about it. If she survived whatever closed the moon path, she likely spent the rest of her life waiting for it to open again so she could come home.”
“Maybe she did,” Luna mused softly to herself. “In a way.” She looked at Sneaky intently. “Tell me about this Transfiguration spell.”
***
“Paaarrrtttyyy,” Pinkie Pie caroled as she swung over Ponyville’s Mane Street on a streamer of pennants. A half dozen foals shared her improvised swing, all of them squealing in delight.
Underneath the daring ponies on the flying streamer, the street was a seething mass of partying ponies. Bursts of confetti erupted randomly, shooting high in the air, often lofted up even higher by unicorns. Overhead, pegasus ponies swooped and dove, each one trying to outdo their fellows while dragging long multicolored ribbons behind them that curled and twisted into various interesting shapes. Some of the more talented pegasi could actually work together to form crude images of various ponies and landmarks.
Other pegasi were not so keen on the idea.
“Oh, come on, Fluttershy. Let's show these ponies some real flying,” Rainbow Dash coaxed her shy friend, tugging on her forelegs in an effort to get her up into the air.
“I’d really like to. Only… I need to find Curry. She must be so frightened, all these strange ponies crowding her,” Fluttershy said as she tried to hide inside her own wings and hair.
“You don’t have to be worried about Curry. She’s likely helping Applejack sell pies or is with Big Mac and Jake. She’ll be fine. Come and fly with me. It will be fun.”
“Well. Okay. Maybe just for a little bit.”
***
On the ground, ponies caroused as they ate and drank with abandon. Every single food cart in Ponyville was doing a booming business despite the fact that there was plenty of free candy and refreshments to go around.
“There, that’s the last piece of apple pie we had. Can I go join the party now?” Apple Bloom demanded of Applejack.
“Sure can, sugarcube. Take Diamond Tiara with you as well,’ Applejack replied. She nodded toward the filly in question, who was wearing a foam apple pie on her head while leaning up against the food cart, her eyes glazed with either exhaustion or her version of sophisticated despair.
“Aw, do I have to?” Apple Bloom asked. “She looks too tired to walk.”
“What? We’re done? I can go?” Diamond Tiara cried out, life coming back into her eyes as she snatched off her novelty headgear and tossed it into the food cart. “Do you, like, know where poor, sweet Curry Comb is?” she asked, looking around as if the girl in question would suddenly pop out of thin air.
“She’s likely with Fluttershy?” Applejack remarked. “Either that or with Big Mac and Jake. They were giving cart rides to the foals last I heard.”
“Prince Jake is pulling a hay-cart?” Diamond Tiara asked in disbelief.
“Yeah, and having a fine old time of it. Big Mac found one just his size. That’s a whole lot easier now than it was before,” Applejack said with a laugh.
***
Jake was hot and sweaty, and his legs were trembling slightly from the strain of pulling a cartload of hay and foals for the last hour. It was wonderful. His only regret was that it had come to an end. Two earth pony stallions had taken over cart duty, leaving Big Mac and him free to wander around the street party. His disgruntlement only lasted to the first cotton candy concession, at which point he was prepared to admit that there might be fun things to do at a fair that did not involve pulling a large heavy cart.
While tasting his first candy apple, and trying to get the sweet coating out from between his teeth, Jake and Big Mac were hailed by Twilight Sparkle. The unicorn was at a ring-toss booth, watching as Princess Luna endeavored to win a cheap prize by tossing a small ring over the top of a wide-necked bottle.
“Are you two enjoying the party?” Twilight shouted to make herself heard over the background noise of the crowd.
“Yes,” Jake answered enthusiastically around a mouthful of candy apple.
Big Mac just nodded.
“So have you seen Curry?” Twilight asked.
Before either of the males could answer, Princess Luna let out several loud Huzzas and did a little victory dance. “In thy face,” she told the booth attendants with the red and white striped manes as one of them handed over a small Twilight Sparkle doll wearing the Element of Magic.
Behind the counter, the two booth attendants puzzled over the ring around the bottleneck. A few surreptitious tugs failed to free the ring, which was no real surprise to the booth owners, as the ring was at least one size too small to fit over the neck of the bottle under normal circumstances. After one last futile tug, they stuck the bottle under the shelf and produced somewhat larger rings for the next set of eager customers, just in case.
“Only took her forty bits,” Twilight said softly to Big Mac, an affectionate smile on her face.
“One can not put a value on victory,” Luna said in a haughty tone while hugging her prize to her chest protectively and darting glares at all the ponies around them as if they were all on the verge of snatching her prize away.
“You could have bought a dozen of them for what you spent to get just one,” Twilight argued, unable to let the incongruity go.
Luna gave a sigh. “Thou needs to loosen up, Twilight Sparkle.” Luna called out, “Candy me!” Sweets stepped out of the crowd, a brown paper bag in his mouth. Before Twilight could react, the princess extracted a single candy from the bag, unwrapped it with a theatrical flourish, and promptly popped it into Twilight’s mouth just as she opened it to ask a question, likely about the candy.
Twilight instinctively crunched down. A second later her eyes went wide and then rolled slightly up in her head as her body began to shiver. Pulses of magic began to ripple around the unicorn.
Big Mac and Jake backed up hastily, as did Sweets. The townsponies, who had been living with Twilight for over a year, quickly cleared an area around her.
Now standing alone with Twilight in the middle of an ever-growing clearing, Luna nervously said, “Perhaps I should have started her with only half a portion?”
“Maybe you should have, vixen,” Twilight growled, her eyes solid white as she stared hungrily at Princess Luna. Slowly Twilight began to stalk toward the princess, moving more like a feral cat than a bookish, slightly out of shape, unicorn.
“Perhaps a good run in the fresh air would do us both some good,” Luna stammered, before turning tail and fleeing with Twilight hot on her hooves.
Just before she vanished into the crowd, Twilight looked back over her shoulder, her eyes back to their normal color. “I’ll see you fellows later,” she said brightly to Jake and Big Mac. Then, her eyes once again turning bright with internal magic, she turned and pursued a giggling Luna, the wise ponies of Ponyville parting before them like the sea parting before some legendary wizard of yore.
Sweets galloped after the two mares, thinking that maybe pulling guard duty on a pony who hadn’t actually hit puberty might not be such a bad assignment.
In the chaos, Twilight’s question about Curry slipped everypony’s mind.
***
Angel Bunny rolled over in his basket and pulled his ears tight against his head to block out the annoying ‘scritch, scratch,’ of pencil on paper. Bad enough that ugly interloper had pushed her way into his happy home; now she seemed determined to interrupt his precious sleep time. Even more annoying than the sound of writing was the occasional sniff and the sound of cloth wiping across a running nose. It was totally aggravating. He couldn’t wait till Fluttershy sent this one on her way.
The antagonistic Leporidae heaved a sigh of relief when the annoying sounds coming from the kitchen table ceased, only to growl in aggravation at the sound of steps approaching his bed. If she dared try to pet him, he’d bite her fingers off.
“Look. You don’t like me. I ain’t any too fond of your fluffy butt either,” the thing said in a thick voice. “But you like Miss Fluttershy. I don’t think you want to see her sad. So I want you to give this to her tomorrow. I don’t want her to worry about me.”
Angel felt something being slipped into his bed. He ignored it, just as he refused to play into the female’s drama. That was his act and he wasn’t going to fall for some other creatures poor attempt. Only after he heard the front door open and close, and the faint sound of steps on the outside path, did he give in to curiosity and sit up in bed. He looked down at the folded piece of paper tucked into his bedding. What was with her and her notes? He was half inclined to bury it in the compost pile.
Curiosity got the better of the belligerent bunny, and he opened the folded piece of paper. The scrawls inside meant nothing to him, other than the fact they were much messier than Fluttershy’s neat penponyship. The damp blotches that festooned the paper were another matter. He lay one paw on one such wet spot even as the salty scent of tears filled his nose.
Angel Bunny was a selfish self-centered creature, but try as he would, he was often unable to conceal that underneath his antagonistic attitude he did have a heart. That organ lurched painfully in his chest, as he had a sudden vision of Fluttershy’s tears joining those that already decorated the page he was holding.
***
“I thought Curry was with you,” Fluttershy said in a guilt-laced voice.
“And I thought she was with you all, or with Big Mac,” Applejack said soothingly, while clearly trying to hold down her own worry.
“Fluttershy! Fluttershy!” Twilight Sparkle cried out, surprisingly from above them. The entire group of ponies looked upward to see her floating in the air, held aloft by Princess Luna’s forelegs wrapped around her body. Both ponies looked thoroughly mussed, with Princess Luna’s normally exquisite mane filled with old leaves and twigs. Twilight didn’t look much neater, but her friends were used to her looking a bit frayed around the edges.
The royal taxi service lowered the unicorn to the ground in front of her friends and Twilight used her magic to lift a small white form off her back and over to Fluttershy.
“It’s Angel Bunny. Princess Luna and I were, er, moon-gazing, and we spotted him trying to get through the crowds of ponies. I don’t think he’s hurt, just exhausted.”
Her beloved pet lay limply in Fluttershy’s hooves, panting heavily. Laboriously he reached upward and extracted a folded piece of paper from where he had been holding it in place with his long ears. He held it out to Fluttershy, giving every impression of being on his last gasp.
“Ham,” muttered Rainbow Dash even as she circled around her friend so she could read the note over Fluttershy’s shoulder.
***
Dear Fluttershy
Thank you for looking after me. I’m writing this letter so you dont worry.
Jake has a home now. So it is time for me to go home I reckon.
Say hey to all the other ponies and thank you for me.
I want to tell
I really
you been
I never knew my mom.
I used to try and think what she’d be like if she was still alive around.
Id see a mom on tv or in the store and think what if she were my mom? Never felt right
Don’t have to wonder no more I know what my mom would be like Shed be like you
I wish I were a pony.
But I aint So best I go home. Maybe ifn Im lucky I will meet a mom like you.
Dont blame angel.
I told him to not give you this till tomorrow.
If he didnt give it to you, and you found it in the trash then you can go ahead and blame him.
Your friend
Curry Comb
Moonlight Dancing On Water. my real name. Don’t tell nopony.
ps
You can tell if you want. Maybe theyll get a right good laugh about it.
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Moondancer
Moonlight Dancing on Water
I'm sensing a pattern here.
nice, can't wait to see what happens next!!
Why do you punch my feels with an ending like that.
It freaking hurts!!!
Aggghhh!!!
Its nice fic, but it dirtly spoiled with lots of unnecessary characters and text. One should scroll up whole parts to reach desirable plot points.
Curry was imagined as an alicorn in that dreamfield. Then why horse become one instead of her?
Good story, good chapter... only got one minor problem with one thing.
Diamond and Silver saying 'like' way too often, I know they do say like alot, but perhaps tone it down a little bit please
Nooo! Someone catch her before she does something stupid and leaves!
This is a good story. I've read a lot of stories on fimfiction, I rarely reread any because I haven't got the time. This is one of the few I consider worth a reread.
I hope you keep writing pony stories after this is complete.
I'm getting the impression that Curry is a descendant of Moondancer. Maybe even her daughter depending on how the timeflow differences between worlds works out.
Actually that might be right seeing as how some of the humans from the beginning seemed to have immediate knowledge of Equestria, thus implying that last contact for them wasn't to long ago.
Did I spot Flim and Flam running the ring toss stall?
And finally the letter. Right in the feels.
4183262 After last weeks episode I could not resist giving the two of them a cameo. Curry's ancestry won't be confirmed in this story arc. Have to leave something for some other time. But I'm not being overly coy, she is related to Moondancer, the how and why will have to wait for another story arc.
4182251 Consider it done. I thought I might be pushing it too much.
4182328 Count on it. I was always annoyed at the countless stories I read where the protagonist leaves the wonderful world they discovered behind.
4181681 Clever of you. ^_^
4182508 Thank you very much. Once this story wraps up how much incentive I have to do another is going to come down to the response and comments on this one. Your comment for instance ups the odds a lot.
This has been an excellent read - and the only one I know of where the protagonist is actually form the audience the show was intended for. I'm sad to see that it's come to an end.
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's dialogue was nearly unreadable. You may want to trim down the "likes."
I'm curious if Curry's transfigured form would, in truth, be an alicorn. The form she had in the dreamscape may have been influenced by Luna's expectations of finding an alicorn.
4183717
I built the start of this story in my mind when I went looking for a story containing a young girl coming to Equestria, and to my surprise could not find a single one at the time.
Someone else brought up DT and SP and their use of Like. I'll tone it down. I went in to this chapter and cut out a few of the 'likes' Did leave a few, as that is part of their character.
4183521
A little bit yeah
4183842 I went back in and cut a few of them. Hopefully that will improve the readability.
See, comments do have results.
4183884 'corse they do, thats why there called comments
i.imgur.com/sCFXxnn.png
This is Heavy Weapons Guy. He is as intelligent as an 8 years old kid. Because of his huge "healthbar", medics swarm around him like angry bees. Heavy does not like having too many doctors behind him. It stresses Heavy out, he starts to show symptoms of "spy paranoia". However, what differs Heavy Weapons Guy from others is that he is "Heavy". If you take away what makes him Heavy, he dies. Soup rice big not
If Heavy is really scarred of "medics", the solution would be sending Heavy to "Valve servers". "Medics" there are 2000 years old CoD players and not interested in Heavies.
... But one of them, a night blue sniper with fully charged machina, is aiming right at a purple pony. If purple pony gets hit, she will be penetrated. By the bullet
Great
Whew. Picked up the corrections and added to the source document. Sorry about that. Hopefully I caught them all this time. Typos are like the CMC, they change faster than you can catch them.
4182202
I can't agree. I think the large cast has been handled very well, and the story has been very entertaining.
Very nice to see Jake in a good living situation, and I'm definitely looking forward to finding out about Curry's heritage.
4228668
Thought I caught all those blossoms. Fixed.^+^
that last bit was very well done
i choked up a bit
shaneblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/lie-down-try-not-to-cry-cry-a-lot.jpg
Home is where you most comfortably use the bathroom.
4679949 ... You know what, you're right.... wow, I never looked at it like that.
4679949 words of wisdom that'd make Confucius jealous
Lyra was correct about Nightmare Moon's banishment closing the path. Curry must be related to the modern day Moondancer if Luna's theory is correct I wonder how Curry would react. Diamond Tiara deserves the Stare for her actions.
I approve of this method of breaking Rainbow Dash! Moar!
So she did that, and if Jake is her descendant, which would mean he's descended from the superior branch of the old royal bloodline, which means he outranks Blueblood.
And he's being raised by Apples. Perfect!
What?
On another note, it's a little odd to suddenly see DT and SS use a bunch of likes in their speech these last few chapters after not really using them in the first few chapters they were involved in.
9786113
As I recall I watched an episode and they used a lot of them. But I got complaints so I backed off a bit.
My excuse is that they tend to use more exaggerated speech depending on the situation. They would not talk like that in front of their mother's for instance, but at a party where they are cutting some other pony down to their face they would be using that sort of speak heavily.
I wish I could have some caffeinated coffee candy like that! Looks like I'm not the only "nightmare" that likes to drink coffee.
"Anthropological," while an especially apt term here, feels a bit out of place in the land of "everypony" and "oh, the equinity." Equinological? Sociological? Not sure what works better.
Leporidae is the family - a member is a leporid.
Also, before I go read the next chapter, which I know has been up forever, I want to make a prediction - Moondancer was a Nocturne Unicorn. Wonder if I'll be right.
10066999
Sometimes a ponyism is just so clunky that you'd be better off not even trying and just go with the standard word.
I never even considered that Moondancer might be a nocturne Unicorn. They didn't exist in Georg's universe as far as I know. But it's actually something I've speculated on from time to time, if there were other Nocturne ponies besides the Thestrals.
Am I reading this right and that Moondancer's line technically outranks Blueblood's? That... could have some interesting implications later...
Could Curry.....be Moondancer ?????
11752003
Could. It's one of those plot ideas that leaves things open for interpretation.