Ch3 Dream a Little Dream [edited]
Jake and the Kid
Chapter 3
Dream a Little Dream
**********
‟Ah, here is Princess Celestia ’s reply now,” exclaimed Twilight Sparkle, as Spike belched up a ball of green fire, which condensed into a ribbon wrapped scroll. ‟I'm certain she knows what that magic flare means. There's nopony as talented as her!”
Spike cleared his throat with a few yadda, yaddas, and then started to read in a declarative tone, [1] ‟I’m deeply sorry, my favorite student. But I am afraid I was preoccupied with other pressing issues and did not sense the magical flux you detected,”
‟What, how is that possible? Did I imagine it? Am I coming down with something that has thrown off my magical sensitivity?”
‟However, Princess Luna, who was watching over the night as is her duty, did sense it.” Spike continued, with a laugh, once he figured he’d milked as much fun as he safely could from the delay.
‟Give me that,” Twilight snapped, snatching the scroll from the laughing dragon with her magic.
She quickly scanned over the lines that Spike had already read and picked up where he had left off.
‟More importantly, Luna believes that she recognized the burst as possibly being the flare given off at the birth of an Alicorn foal. I would like you and your friends to visit this newborn Alicorn and provide a formal welcome to Equestria as representatives of both Luna and myself. You are to give them whatever assistance they require and are to escort them to Canterlot in as quiet a manner as possible unless the parents object. In that case, render what aid you can, and notify us at once.
With the greatest affection and trust, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”
‟Whoa. For real.” Spike exclaimed. ‟That’s incredible. I mean for so long it was just Princess Celestia. Then Cadence was found and there were two. Now Luna has returned and a new foal has been born. I don’t think there have ever been this many alicorn alive at one time. Isn’t that incredible, Twilight?” Spike, receiving no reply to his question, looked over to see Twilight frozen in place, the scroll dangling in front of her glazed eyes.
‟Twilight? You-hoo, Twilight. TWILIGHT!”
‟Ahhh. What? Where? Oh, sorry, Spike. I’m just a bit overwhelmed.”
‟Yeah. It is pretty amazing.”
‟You don’t know the half of it. The Princesses trust me! Me! I mean it's such a huge honor but there's so much responsibility involved! I have to officially congratulate the parents on behalf of the Princesses and welcome the new Alicorn foal! They can't possibly know what it means to have a baby Alicorn, so I'll have to explain to them everything involved! There should be a ceremony of some sort, but baby Alicorns are so rare, maybe I'll just have to make something up! Or maybe there is a ceremony, and I missed studying for it! Princess Celestia or Princess Luna would have said something in the letter if there was a ceremony, right Spike? Oh, I don't have time to look it up, I'll just have to wing it! There are so many things we need to do!"
‟Three, two, one,” Spike counted down as he walked over to Twilight's writing desk.
‟We need a checklist!”
‟And there we go. Ready when you are, Twilight.” Spike said, sitting himself down at the desk and picking up a freshly sharpened quill.
‟Don’t be silly, Spike,” Twilight said, levitating her saddlebags from the bag rack and over her flanks. ‟We have to do this on the go.” She reached out with her magic and snatched two books off the shelves. Thanks to the recent birth of the Cake twins she knew exactly where these particular books were. Pinkie had been checking them in and out nearly constantly for some time. While neither book was specific to Alicorns, she should be able to do some cross-referencing from them as they specialized, respectively, in Unicorn and Pegasus foals. She added an Earth Pony foal book to the bag so all possibilities would be covered.
‟Come on, Spike. We need to find Rainbow Dash first,” Twilight said, flinging open the door to the library.
Tongue in cheek, Spike carefully wrote on his scroll as he trotted after Twilight out the door. ‟Baby books, check. Look for Rainbow Dash, Check.”
A little while later Spike wrote down. ‟Find Rainbow Dash, check. Wake Rainbow up, check. Dodge retaliatory rainstorm, check. Send Rainbow to tell Applejack to meet us at Fluttershy’s place, check. Pick twigs out of Twilight’s mane as a result of the backlash from Rainbow’s departure, check.”
Even later.
‟Here you go, Twilight,” Pinkie Pie said excitedly. ‟Baby bottles. Baby wipes. Baby diapers. Did you know there were other types of diapers? Boy, I didn’t. That was sure embarrassing. Baby saddle. Baby Pacifier. Baby powder. Baby Lotion. Baby toys. Baby carrots. Baby oil. It's not made from real babies, I checked to make sure.”
‟Check, check, check. Really? Check and check checkity check,” Spike said, marking off the last items on his Pinkie list.
Just then Rainbow Dash came racing in, pulling to a sudden stop in front of Twilight, who closed her eyes in protection from the sudden dust cloud. ‟Okay, Applejack is on her way to Fluttershy’s. Now, do you want to tell me what the hay is going on? This had better be important. The dream I was having before you woke me up was just getting to the good part.”
Twilight coughed as she tried to keep Rainbow's dusty arrival from contaminating her giant collection of Pinkie's baby support equipment. "Tell you when we get there. If I can get all this in the bag!"
‟Oh, oh, let me. I’ve gotten really good at handling all these in the last month,” Pinkie Pie caroled. She snatched the items from Twilight and in less time than it took to say, had them neatly arranged in bags hanging over her own flanks.
‟Ah, well, thank you, Pinkie. But it’s not really necessary. You can go back to bed.” Twilight said, visions of the hyper pony deciding to throw a welcome foal party in the middle of the Everfree forest, in the dead of the night, attracting, or maybe even inviting, Timber Wolves, Hydras, Cockatrices, and who knows what else, flashing through her mind. (2)
‟Don’t be a silly willy, Twilight. I told you. I’ve learned a lot. You’re going to need me. It’s not like I’m going to throw a big loud splashy party and attract all sorts of nasty wasty beasties who are just dying to gulp down a little helpless foal.”
Twilight big sweated and sheepishly trotted after her friend. ‟Of course you wouldn’t. No one would do something like that,” she mumbled.
Rainbow Dash flew along beside Twilight and whispered out of the side of her mouth. ‟Don’t sweat it. I was thinking the same thing.”
‟I can heeeaarrr, you,” Pinkie said cheerfully from her position a dozen yards in front of them.
******************************************
Curry’s initial wild excitement at finding a for real ruined castle right in her own bucking back yard, more or less, had waned fairly quickly as she and Jake had wandered through the various rooms. While no doubt there was lots of interesting stuff for people who liked empty dusty rooms, there was none of what Curry thought of as being essential.
Where were all the old suits of armor? The discarded swords? The skeletons? Discarded swords jutting out of a bunch of skeletons dressed in old suits of armor? Most importantly, what was with the serious lack of hidden rooms and treasures?
No matter how many mantelpieces Curry checked for secret triggers, or how many torch brackets she hung from, secret doors adamantly refused to open. It was a total rip-off. The only good thing about the places were all the carvings and statues of horses, unicorns, and pegasi. There was even a whole bunch featuring some really cool looking mares who were both. She never even heard of winged Unicorns. Those were pretty cool. Not as cool as overflowing treasure chests would have been, however.
Jake was uninterested in any of this. He was tired. The stone floor hurt his feet, the ramps they walked up and down made him nervous, many of them lacking what he regarded as sufficiently high guardrails. After looking over one and seeing nothing but darkness because the floor was so far away he resolutely kept himself pressed tightly to the wall and he followed after Curry, complaining nearly every step of the way.
Curry ignored Jake’s continued whining in her excitement; something she would never have done if he hadn’t suddenly started talking. It was as if the mere fact that he could gripe about the situation was proof enough that he wasn’t really in any dire need of care.
Neither Jake or Curry really paid attention to the soft, diffused light that filled the castle and allowed them to find their way, even in rooms with no windows. Curry just took it for granted as a feature of a ruined castle, and Jake didn’t think about it at all.
Eventually, however, the exertions of the day and the stress of the last week started to tell on the young girl. She could not stop yawning. And was not helped by the fact that Jake was letting out contagious yawns of his own every few steps as he shambled along behind her. So, when they walked into a room filled with drifted leaves and other forest litter that had been blown in through a huge hole in the wall, she decided to call it a night. She gathered up some dry leaves and twigs and made a small pile in the big stone fireplace that took up almost all of one of the room’s walls. Over the top of the fireplace was a bas-relief of a winged unicorn mare rearing up on her hind legs with her wings outspread. The figure was outlined against a full moon. A sliver of a curved moon decorated the mare’s flank, with a few stars cupped within the crescent shape. Her mane stretched out over her back, so finely carved that it seemed to almost be floating.
Starting to have a hard time keeping her eyes open, Curry used some waxed matches from her emergency survival kit to light the small pile of tinder. With the help of Jake, who used his teeth to drag over some large pieces of broken furniture, and under Curry's guidance break them up into smaller chunks by stepping on them. The young girl soon had a large fire blazing and a good stockpile of well-cured wood ready to throw on it. The night had only been a little cool and the crackling fire soon dispelled that. With all that accomplished she had time to think about other things. Like how long it had been since her last meal.
Jake had snatched a few bites from the foliage just outside the fallen wall, but Curry’s belly was starting to complain. It was too dark to look for edible plants or set a rabbit snare. She’d do that tomorrow. For a moment she thought about the coat she had left on the sledge. There were still a couple of apples in the pockets. She frowned and discarded the idea. She wasn’t sure how long it would take to find her way back to where she’d left their stuff. She decided that she just needed to suck it up.
With the help of Jake, who used a tree branch as a broom after seeing her do the same thing, Curry made a large pile of smaller twigs and leaves in one of the room’s corners, at the same time making sure she left a large area of bare stone in front of the fire. To her surprise, Jake lay down on the bedding she had made for herself. He curled up much like a dog, not even seeming to have any difficulty doing something that should have been impossible for the big horse. She stifled her instinctive protest. It wasn’t like she was actually going to get any sleep. She hadn’t been able to sleep for more than a few minutes at a time all week. Jake might as well have the bed, he’d get more use out of it. Besides, she’d been wanting to sleep with Jake all week. She kicked off her shoes and hung her socks to dry over the mantlepiece. Padding on well-calloused feet across the room she clambered up on top of the drowsing Percheron. Curry curled herself up in the hollow between Jake’s legs and his stomach. The warmth of his body helped make up for the lack of any covering. But it was still a bit cool. Once again she regretted leaving Old Ben’s coat back at the sledge.
Jake didn’t stir or even seem to notice her weight. Not surprising. Proportionally, she looked like a cat curled up on a wolfhound. Curry, finding Jake’s warm body surprisingly comfortable listened to his deep even breathing as she gazed up at the carving over the fireplace. The winged unicorn mare was bathed in the moonlight that shone down into the room from a window high up on the wall. Her mind, nearly numb with exhaustion, Curry wondered about the carving. Was this a magical castle, like Beast’s? Were all those sculptures and carvings actually ancient lords and ladies waiting for the curse to be lifted? Maybe the carving over the fireplace was the princess who belonged with the castle. Turned into a carved wall ornament till she could be freed. Would she step down from the wall as a Unicorn still? Maybe she’d give Curry a ride among the stars? The small girl’s eyes drooped and her breathing became slower. The strain on her face eased and a small smile quirked the corners of her mouth as she slipped into a deep slumber.
As the youngsters slept, all curled up together, a faint glow began to grow at the point where their bodies touched each other, getting larger and larger till they were both encased in a soft glowing cocoon of light.
**********************************
After some thought, Luna made the decision to visit the suspected location of the Alicorn foal in the Dreamscape. There were disadvantages. She would be unable to see anything that had not been rooted to the same spot for several weeks for one thing. That meant she would be unable to see the physical bodies of the people she was looking for. But it was late, the mare had just experienced a difficult birth. The stallion, if present, was also likely worn to a knife edge. All of them would, in all likelihood, be asleep. And that meant dreams. Not the babe, she, or he, would be far too young to dream coherently. Though Luna might spot the unformed blobs of color and sound that made up the dreams of infants.
With any luck, she would be able to enter into a conversation with the parents. This would grant her critical information, and they would wake with at the most only vague memories of the conversation. Unless one of them was an experienced unicorn mage they were unlikely to imagine her visit was anything more than a dream. So there was no way that her big sister could claim she was interfering. Twilight and her friends would still have the privilege of making the first contact. Luna was just going to make sure there were no unexpected problems.
But first, Luna decided, she needed to make sure the area was safe for the suspected foal. The old wards on the palace itself were still active. Those would last as long as one stone stood on another. So there was no risk of any danger inside the old palace. She just had to make sure the surroundings were safe. Both for the newly born foal and its parents and for Twilight and her friends.
Keeping high in the sky, hidden in the darkness, Luna flew a circuit around the ruins of her old home, scouring the area. For the most part, she maintained a certain amount of detachment, but old scars twinged in her mind when she flew by the blasted out wall of her old bedchamber. She averted her eyes and focused on the grounds.
The only danger Luna located was a rather wet and bedraggled Cockatrice that gave a loud squawk of terror when she thumped down on the ground inches from its beak. It took off like a shot and she followed just long enough to make sure it was well away from the castle. Only then did she let herself fade into the dream realm.
Finding a dreamer was not all that hard. All you had to do was look for the landscape of the dream world being altered to fit their dreams. When she spotted a large chunk of the castle fading away to be replaced by a sun-drenched meadow she flew straight toward it and then hovered in the air overhead as she took in the scene coming to life before her dream vision.
A large black Earth Pony stallion was running through the fields, kicking up his hooves and tossing his head in the air in an exhibition of sheer jubilant elation. Luna smiled. That would be the proud Papa now. Her eyes were drawn to a roan filly standing by the fence watching the earth pony. As she watched the pony details became clearer. A horn appeared on the mare’s forehead and russet wings spread out from her shoulders. Her straw blonde mane and tail rippled in the wind. It was like looking through a veil at a summer field. A pattern resembling swaying grain and flowers decorated the flowing hair.
For a moment Luna felt anticipation. An Alicorn of the harvest. This would be very good for the empire and very good for the earth ponies. She dampened her enthusiasm quickly, applying a cold dash of rationalization. The foal was far too young to present such an image in the dreamscape. What she was seeing was the father’s image of his young daughter as a filly. It was only natural an earth pony would see her as a harvest-themed Alicorn. Luna reminded herself to remember that the filly she was seeing existed only in the mind of the Earth Pony kicking up his hooves in the field.
Luna gently floated down to the field, placing herself in the path of the happy stallion. Her eyes widened. Goodness, he was huge. She didn’t think she’d ever seen a pony so big. Was this a result of his pride at becoming the father of an Alicorn? His newly inflated ego reflecting in the dream realm? An interesting question to study on. Some other time perhaps.
‟Our congratulations on your most happy event, good sir,” she called out. ‟Might thou stop and tell us of thy new child?”
That should get him. New parents would wade through lava to sing the paeans of their newborns.
To her disgruntlement, however, he paid her no mind at all. Merely continued to gambol in the field like some great colt. She drew in a breath, prepared to use her royal Canterlot voice.
‟Are you the enchanted princess?” asked a youngish, but rather brash, voice from behind her, causing Luna to choke on her own words. She whirled in place and found herself staring down at the young roan Alicorn she had seen by the fence. The filly was looking up at her with wide-eyed wonder, but not a trace of fear. The former was not uncommon, the later, much to her regret, was rare.
Luna was nonplussed. What was going on here? This filly had to be at least ten. Even if she were younger and dreaming herself older there was no way she had just been born. How had she kept hidden for so long?
‟So, I guess you don’t talk,” the filly sighed. Turning away she resumed staring at the frolicking earth pony.
‟We do talk,” Luna said in a quiet tone. The roan filly turned to look at her eyes widening slightly.
‟We?” Curry asked, looking around for the beautiful winged unicorn’s companion.
‟My pardon. I used the royal we. We, I, am Princess Luna.”
‟A for real unicorn princess? Or a person turned into a Unicorn?” Curry said, looking pleased that she’d guessed right about the carving.
‟Do you not know me?” Luna asked in surprise, putting aside the puzzling comment about a ‘person’ for the time being.
‟Nope never heard of you. You someone special?”
‟Someone?” Luna repeated, drawing out the strange word. ‟Doth you mean, Somepony?”
‟You sure do talk funny. And why would anyone say Somepony?” That sounds like something those stupid girls at school would use. Always going on about how special this pony is, or that pony.”
Luna broke in, trying to regain some control of the conversation. ‟Ah, you attend school. Where might that be?”
‟Down the mountain,” Curry started to gesture in the direction and then stopped. She looked around. For as far as she could see there was nothing but an endless sea of grass and flowers. ‟This is a dream, I reckon. You’re part of it.” I saw a big carving of you over a fireplace.” Curry’s brow furrowed. ‟We went to sleep there. Guess I’m still sleeping. That carving, it looked like you. Don’t know why I’m dreaming you all black and spooky though. Really like your mane though. Reminds me of laying back on the grass and looking up at the stars through a wispy cloud.”
Luna was listening to the filly with half an ear. She was thinking about the remark, down the mountain. Could she be from an isolated mountain village? It might explain how she had remained hidden for so long. Many mountain ranges had crystal outcrops that could block or distort magic. If she had grown up in a valley lined with them. Yes, that might explain things.
At the same time, Luna made a mental note. The filly was in her old bedchamber.
The little roan reared up on her hind legs and hooked her hooves over the rail of a fence that was now separating them from the field where the big earth pony was running. ‟Guess I’m going to have to say goodbye for real,” she whispered, a tear trickling down her cheek.
‟What is the matter, child?”
The filly did not answer her directly but continued to look out at the black stallion. ‟I was so bucking stupid. I figured all I had to do was run away from home with him and everything would be just fine. We’d be able to stay together. Yeah, right. More like freeze together.”
‟Thou ran away?”
‟My uncle, Old Ben, died,” The filly sniffed, and wiped her nose with a foreleg, drawing a grimace from Luna. ‟They were going to take me away from Jake. Said I needed to go to the big city. Learn how to be all girly. Dress in stupid dresses and talk all nice and perlite. Take a bath every day whether I need it or not.”
Luna nodded to herself, things were starting to come together. The filly had been born in the mountains. Her magic shielded from detection by crystal outcrops. No mention of her parents, only her uncle. Possibly her mother had passed away. The uncle may have tried to shield her from the consequences of her nature. Just as Celestia wanted to do. He passed on, and the village mares had decided to take her to the city to be raised as they thought was proper for an Alicorn. Luna could not fault them for that, though she did wonder at their motivation. Were they concerned for the filly? Or, for their own standing?
The big stallion was a crush on the filly’s part, no question. Luna blushed slightly as she remembered her filly feelings for the head of her guard detachment so long ago. And the earth pony in the field was prime crush material, no question of that.
But what was the stallion’s feelings in the matter? Did he see her as a little sister? A responsibility? Or, as a golden prize that would gain him power and wealth? That would have to be very carefully investigated.
Things were starting to come together. She knew exactly where the filly was. She knew why she was there. She had a very good theory as to how she had grown up without detection. One last thing before she retired from the filly’s dream.
‟What is your name, child?”
Curry flushed slightly, ducking her head. She darted a look at the incredibly beautiful creature next to her, feeling unusually shy. Never in a million years would she have revealed the truth normally, but, this was a dream after all. Not like anyone would be able to tease her about it.
‟Moonlight On Water,” she whispered.
‟Tis true?” Luna exclaimed, taking in the bright roan coat of the filly. Not a name she would have ever guessed.
‟My mom was a moon worshiper. A Wiccan, Old Ben called it. He said I was born high in a mountain valley, beside a little lake. There was a full moon in the sky and she made him hold me up to it and ask for the Moon’s blessing.”
Luna was overcome with a sense of joy. It was not uncommon for a newborn to be shown to the sun, and for Celestia’s blessing to be asked, but she could not remember a single time when the same had been asked of her. She reigned in her pleasure, however, as she recalled that at the moment of this filly’s birth she was still Nightmare Moon. That lent a rather darker potential to the mother’s actions. What sort of person worshiped that dark aspect of her?
‟I never knew my Mom. Old Ben raised me. He said there was no way he was going to send me to school with a moniker like Moonlight. He told me that almost as soon as I could walk I started trying to use a currycomb right alongside him. Screamed like crazy when he tried to take it away. So that’s what he called me. Curry Comb. Curry for short.”
Luna blinked. Not exactly the most appropriate name for a princess, but she was yet a filly. Her true name was much more appropriate. Hopefully, she would not object to using it now that her life was about to change. Still. ‟And how do you feel about your true name?”
‟I like Curry. And I just know how the girls at school would act if I tried to use Moonlight. But I guess because I had that name I’ve always liked the moon best of all. I always liked it when the last thing I saw before I went to sleep was the Moon up in the sky through my window. Makes me feel like maybe my mom is up there, looking down on me.”
Luna was starting to feel choked up.
‟Old Ben, he used to say that the Moon was much more important than the Sun.”
Luna stood up a little straighter, trying to look truly regal.
‟On account of the Sun only shining in the day when there’s a lot of light, while the Moon shines at night when you need it.”
Luna looked at the filly in shock. ‟But child . . .”
‟Uncle Ben sort of liked corny jokes.” the filly said with a grin and a shrug.
‟Ah, yes, a joke, of course. Most droll.” Luna would have liked to continue the conversation but did not wish to absent herself too long from the real world. ‟I will take my leave of you now . . . Moonlight?” Luna made a question of the name.
‟It’s ok. It sort of sounds fine coming from you. I know you’re not laughing at me when you say it.”
‟I would never. So, till we meet again, Moonlight. May the moon always light your path and guide you.”
Luna turned away to leave but remembered one last thing. She looked back over her shoulder. ‟There are friends coming. You may trust them with your life.”
And with that, she faded away.
‟Ok, that was weird,” Curry said to herself. She looked over at Jake and said, ‟You know, I bet you’d look really cool with wings and a horn,” and just like that Jake had them. Curry used her own dream wings to fly over the fence to join Jake playing in the field. The mysterious flying unicorn slipped from her mind as she lost herself in the joy of running with all her might across the summer meadows with her best friend in the world.
**************************
Sneak Peek, a formerly mottled brown unicorn, with a half-concealed eye for a cutie mark, loathed Ponyville. He despised it right down to the bottom of his smoke stained and alcohol-drenched soul. His lungs regularly threatened to abandon his body if he inflicted any more crisp clean country air on them. His eyes watered in the unfiltered sunlight he was forced to endure because the town rolled up the sidewalks after sunset; the very time he was used to finally rolling out of bed. His soft comfortable bed at the boarding house made his back ache, his cigarettes continually vanished and there were none for sale in the town itself.
Worst of all, he had been forced to abandon his dingy brown trench coat and dirty beige fedora. In Canterlot they had been as good as a don’t-see-me spell, able to deflect any attention that might have come his way. In Ponyville they gathered attention, offers of a few bits to tide him over, the promise of a warm home-cooked meal, a coupon to the spa and an offer to do his laundry. Worst, the very worst, the offer of some good honest labor until he could get his hooves back under him.
Everyone was just so, bucking, nice! It made him want to retch up all that apple cobbler his landlady kept stuffing down his throat, along with the all those disgusting savory vegetables and creamy mashed potatoes. He’d gained a good twenty pounds since starting the assignment six months ago.
If only he hadn’t shot off his mouth. It had been foolish to boast about how he was going to have an exclusive on the Elements of Harmony splashed all across the front page of the Equestrian Tattler within the week. Sneaky, as his associates called him because he certainly did not have any friends, wished his sense of pride would allow him to give the whole mess up as a bad deal.
It had been unbelievable. As far as he could find out, they were all virgins, even the faux sophisticate, the white unicorn with the fine, fine, flanks. Buck, he was pretty sure two of them didn’t even know what sex was. He blamed it on the local stallions. Six fine mares like that and not a single player was trying to get between their sheets. He despaired for the future of Equestria if this was an example of the stallion-hood of the new generation.
There were times he almost envied his more traditional colleagues. They had it easy. Ursa Minor rampage, Parasprite invasion. The stories practically wrote themselves. But, he was better than that. He went for the hard news, not the stuff that happened out in front of every Jill and Trigger. He dug in and came up with all the juicy bits that everypony tried to hide. Only, this time all that was down there was a big old nothing.
He’d tried, oh, how he’d tried. He’d gotten his coat and himself shredded by a cat. Freaked out by a toothless Alligator in a drawer. Whacked upside the head by a flying tortoise. Mugged by a cute little bunny and his gang of furry thugs. Questioned incessantly by an overstuffed bug-eyed bird, who kept demanding he tell it who he was, and the one time he’d tried to use his illusion magic in the countryside to disguise himself as a bush, used as a rest stop by a mangy mutt.
Then, to add insult to injury, he’d had his coat sewn up as good as new, without his favorite rips and tatters, and his own hide bandaged. Given a party. Been carried to a nearby doctor, by a filly. Apologized to by a contrite Pegasus as if it were her fault he got waylaid trying to sneak into her house to look for incriminating evidence. Offered a library card, gratis, and finally, offered a garden hose and a chance to clean up plus a nice slice of warm apple pie when he was finished.
He was now a pale plumper shade of the intrepid reporter he had been. His brown coat had regained the shine it had lost back during adolescence somewhere, the greasy mottled appearance giving way to a deep chestnut hue, and his hooves fairly gleamed with a spa-induced glow on top of new shoes. He could walk more than a block without needing to stop to catch his breath. He was greeted with friendly shout-outs wherever he went, no matter how hard he tried to keep to himself. Everypony knew his name, or at least the one he was using. He had even been asked out on a date by a cute barmaid with great flanks and a local weather pegasus with the most perfectly formed wings he’d ever seen.
If he didn’t do something soon, his career would be in the dumpster.
Then fate, that fickle mare, had taken him by the hoof.
Sneaky had been strolling around town in the early evening, wondering if he should just chuck it all and take Berry Punch and Cloud Kicker up on their offer to give domesticity a try when he had spotted Twilight Sparkle, the ringleader of his tormentors wandering the town, apparently gathering up her friends. He had crossed his hooves that this was going to be actual news and not yet another instance of the six of them saving all of Equestria from some dire peril. ‟Please, please, let them be heading out to the woods to dance naked in the moonlight and get down and dirty in the dirt,” he muttered to himself as he trailed along behind them at a respectable distance.
**************************
[1] Twilight’s habit of having Spike read her correspondence from Princess Celestia to her started when she began using the letters to teach Spike to read. As her studies became more and more difficult she developed a morbid fear of opening her letters from the Princess, convinced that it was only a matter of time before she failed and the letter would contain negative news of one sort or another.
Possibly an order for her to return to magical kindergarten for a refresher course in the basics.
During one such panic attack, an impatient Spike opened the letter and began to read it out loud. The relieved Twilight handed the duty of reading all future letters over to Spike.[1a]
[1a]There is no truth at all to the rumor that Twilight has Spike read the letters so she can bask in the glow of someone else speaking Princess’ Celestia’s praise out loud.
(2) It was a silly worry. The Timber Wolves never returned Pinkie's invitations.
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Fun story so far. Looking forward to more.
A human in equestria story that is well written and actually managing to avoid all the horrible cliché that so often seem to plague the genre. Loved the interaction with Princess Luna, and its a real shame that this story hasn't got a bit more recognition. The footnotes are also a nice touch and remind me of Terry Pratchett's style at time.
Oh my god, this is the best thing I've read in months. Thank you so vary much; you are a god among pony-writers
Sneak Peek works in yellow journalism, then?
Eh, what?
Why is Curry saying buck? She is human, or i think so.
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I know this comment is super old, but for any who see it, she uses pony terms because of Joe Sedgwick, the guy in the first chapter who was aware of Equestria.
Quote:
I'll admit, it took me longer than it should have to realise this was talking about Owlowiscious. (Apologies for the misspelling.)
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Thanks. Also changed one wandering to strolling
Ma'k'e
Remove
That's what I found here in chapter 3
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Thanks
I hope that Sneaky won't have to be saved from the wildlife of the Everfree. I wonder what is going on with Curry or Moonlight but I do get the impression that she's special in a way.
Pfff. Y'all need to look harder, lassie. The Organ to the Outside is but the tip of the iceberg in that old place...
Aside from waking up piled with enough snow for it to slide down the back of your neck, anyway, right?
But that could have come from anywhere...
Why, Princess! I wonder what Jake would think, were he to hear such of salacious thoughts!
Why would Twilight send an invitation to TIMBERWOLVES ?!
They can't read! 
) Her milk tastes good . ( Yes she nursed me she still does. 
But I don't mind I know she loves me as her own. You're asking "How did that happen? I somehow was transported to the Everfree Forest ? From where my planet planet earth.
More on that story later .
Oh just so you know. I was adopted by the Timberwolf Queen. She adopted me as her little pup.I was transported into the Everfree forest? ( I ain't so little really
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It was Pinkie's invitations they never replied to.
I'm not a fan of big chapters, and there's a reason, I'll start with that. I feel that a story should be told with the minimum amount of words. In the almost-25,000 words of the first three chapters, there has been precious little story about the titular characters... Jake and the kid. Instead, I'm left to wade through paragraph after paragraph about other topics, such as: Lyra and Bon Bon's personal relationship, Equestrian politics, a batpony OC, and the mental health of a cockatrice (which was only written for a dumb throwaway joke!). None of these things are either Jake or Curry. I guess you're trying to set up a larger world with more subplots... but it really comes off as you trying to shoehorn in as much... stuff as possible. It makes (the first 3 chapters, anyway) so dense and miserably boring that I have absolutely no interest in reading any more.
I was admittedly skimming the bit about the batpony, because at that point I was trudging through the story. But it really seemed like it was written as a ham-fisted attempt to introduce a character. 'Here's my oc. They are this color. This is their backstory.' If you want to introduce a character, put them in a situation with the other (main) characters. Let their personality be shown (as opposed to told) through dialogue and interactions (that actually involve the story at hand). Have their backstory hinted at, and revealed slowly, thus intriguing the audience.
There are nuggets of good story here. Jake and Curry were interesting on their own. It's a compelling story! A young girl in a tough situation, and her best friend is a gentle giant of a horse, whose thoughts are revealed by the narrator. And they're dropped into Equestria. Princess Luna peers into their dreams and has a chit chat. That's good! For that little bit of good story I got, it could've been the whole first chapter, on its own, and it might've been 4,000 words. Short and sweet, probably really enjoyable. Hell, it could've been 6k, 10k, who cares? Word length means little when the words are telling a compelling story.
Is that what you meant to write?
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Yes, it's an anime concept. Fan Fiction writers use it to describe a visual you see in many light-natured Anime where the character develops a huge sweat drop to indicate long suffering, or dumbfounded, reactions.
Did he go “here he here he?”
You mean journalist? Reporters stick to the facts journalists don’t and post whatever they want weather it’s news or not or will hurt somebody.