Severance

by StealBox

Welcome to the Neighborhood

I flopped into the small bed I had within the cave. The red haired pony was safely tucked away in another cocoon. *groan* Transporting the new ponies is always the most taxing part of this job. Long distance teleportation had proven to be either far too taxing or simply impossible for me to do, so my cargo is transported by stringing together small teleports. Over nice clear terrain I could get about half a mile per shot. And while Dodge Junction isn't all that far from the forest, relativly speaking, especially when compared to Baltimare, it still left me exausted. Once my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light.

---

At some point I was awoken by the throbbing in my forelegs, the miracle cream must've finally worn off. I looked over and saw Zecora muttering something over her little cauldron, occationally switching between stirring and adding more things to the pot, she had also taken her cloak off at some point. I must not have been sleeping too long, she's not even done making her potion yet. Of course I don't know how long it takes to make, and now that I think about it I don't remember seeing another cot either. Craning my neck to see past the tree above me, I caught a glimps of sunlight. Too bright to be from the same day as I fell asleep. Damn you Zecora and your unquestioning selflessness! I'm going to feel in your debt for a while.

I must have let out a sigh when I wasn't paying attention because Zecora turned and gave me a harty 'good morning', or at least that was the jist of it. She seemed surprisingly chipper for having stayed up all night. Probably had some equivalent potion to five hour energy. Ha, I wouldn't doubt that she can make pepper up potions.

And so I continued to lie there, listening to Zecora's gibberish and just looking at things. Eventually my eyes settled on her cutie mark, bringing up the question of whether or not it actually was a cutie mark or just some tattoo. It seems to be implied that only ponies get cutie marks, though zebras are basically just re-colored earth ponies, from a purely visual perspective anyway. I wonder if tattoos even exist here? They would need a chemical or potion with the ability to permanently change the root color of their fur for it to work, so I doubt it.

When she started to get up I quickly redirected my head, I didn't need her thinking I was checking her out or anything. Not that she isn't check-out worthy. In this situation symmetry seems as good a judgment of attractiveness as any, and she is quite... symmetrical.

"The potion is ready, drink this and it will fix you up in a jiffy," she said while holding the bowl over my face as I prepared to have it poured down my throat. A few quick gulps later and I was ready to see what it feels like to have my bones instantly nit themselves back together.

It was surprisingly unpainful, meerly a powerful tingling feeling that sent shivers through my whole body. Once the feeling had passed I couldn't feel anymore pain so I immediatly got off the cot and started stretching my legs. "Oh that feels so good. It's funny how you don't realize how stiff you are until you start moving again." I gave a couple quick jerks to pop the joints in my neck before turning back to Zecora. "Thanks for going through all this trouble for me Zecora. I won't be able to pay you back for a while though, I'm kinda broke right now."

"There is no reason to fret, I did not do this to aquire your debt. I will always be here to help those in need, I desire no reward for a good deed."

"Well, if your sure I guess I'll be out of your way then. I hope to see you again sometime Zecora, take care!" With that I headed off into the woods. I had noticed a small dirt path on our way to the clearing yesterday. If i could find it again, I could follow it into town.

I can probably introduce Zecora to the town early as a thank you. Her hut from the show had a much larger cauldron, an actual bed, a front door and, of course, walls. That'll all be a lot easier to get if she can actually go into town and buy stuff, and I doubt this one event will be too earth shattering, not that cannon really applies anymore.

Sooner or later I had successfully found my way out of the forest and into the rolling hills of the countryside outside Ponyville. Right, to the library! Like hell am I going another minute without knowing how to use this stupid horn. Now to brush up on my excuses.

As I continued to trot towards town I held a few conversations in my head, mimicing the curious ponyville citizens and thier inquisitive librarian. Hi there, I've never seen you in town before. My name is Cotton Hill, I'm from Manehatten. I got some vacation time and I heard Ponyville was a nice place and thought I'd check it out. Manehatten, huh? what do you do there? Easy, I'm a chemist. I work with chemicals to make things like artificial flavoring and perfumes. Why do you want to see books on stupidly simple magic? Simple, my little sister's birthday is coming up and I wanted to teach her some magic as a gift, so I thought I'd take some notes for a lesson plan while I was here.

I walked across that little stone bridge and was now officially in ponyville. The library is the only building made from a hollowed out tree, so it should be easy enough to find. After about ten or so minutes of searching I found it and began knocking on the door.

"Come in! The door's open!" Called the voice of a clearly older female pony.

Eh? Is Granny Smith in there or something? It took me a few seconds to figure out how to turn a doornob without fingers. It's like, instead of gripping it, you just press your palm against it really hard so when you turn your wrist the friction is strong enough to turn it. While it got me into the library, that probably isn't how ponies open doors or else they couldn't open ones that swing outword. Not wanting to look stupid on my way out I was sure to carefully rest the door back so it wouldn't fully close.

"Hey there young stallion, welcome to the Ponyville library. What can I do ya fer?" She was an old pegasus mare, light brown with an aging mix of white and gray mane, pulled into a bun just like Granny Smith's.

That must be an old person thing, my grandma always had her hair like that too. I wonder what time period I've landed in, just how long before the start of things am I? "Um, yes, I would like a book on beginners magic, if you have something like that."

"Beginners magic, hmm? Well let me see here. Oh where was it..." She started walking around the library, which looks just about the same as I remembered, swinging her head up and down like she was looking at every title. Eventually she seemed to find it as she started flapping her wings, which squeaked like they needed some oil, and grabbed a book off an upper shelf. Setting it down on a table by the door she said, "Well there you go youngin', a magic starter guide."

Looking down at the book it's full title read: Mastering Magic, a Starters Guide. Looking back up to her I waited for the obvious question, preparing my vocal cords to deliver the lie i'd whipped up earlier.

She just stared at me. And I stared back. After about five seconds I realized she wasn't going to ask me anything and I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed that my clever story was a waste of time.

"...Well, uh... Thanks. Is there anything I need to sign before checking this out Miss..."

"Oh! Thanks for reminding me young feller, here's the checkout book." After pulling an abnormally wide book out from a drawer in the wall she flipped it open to the first page. "And the names Arial Ace, It's nice to meet you."

Ponyville must not be big on reading, or this is a new book. I carefully signed my new name into the fourth space on the page using my mouth. "My name's Cotton Hill, it was nice meeting you miss Arial. I'll see you later." With that I took the book in my mouth and left to find a secluded place to get started reading.

Well, I've officially been in Ponyville proper for about thirty minutes, and no sign of Pinkie. Either she's busy or her Pinkie Sense doesn't have a 'new friend' setting. Fingers crossed for the latter. Figuratively speaking. I eventually found a nice field with a few trees and some flowers. There was no one around, but before I could find a spot to read in my stomach reminded me I hadn't eaten for at least a day. And I don't have any money, or even a job... Taking another look around the field I took special notice of the flowers this time. I am a horse now, so technically I'm surrounded by food. And, well... when in Rome I guess...

I grazed on some flowers for a while, and while they didn't really taste bad per sae, I definately wasn't looking forward to living on them for however long it would take me to find a source of income. Once my hunger had been sated I finally got to start reading my book. Unfortunatly, the peace and quiet didn't last long. I got through about twenty pages and learned how to use my horn as a flashlight when I began to hear the unmistakable bouncing sound. *sigh* As the locals might say: ponyfeathers. I couldn't just luck out and be left alone could I? Soon she crested one of the nearby hills and, immediatly spotting me, began hopping even faster while frantically waving and yelling her greetings. Just grin and bear it Cotton, grin and bear it. Resisting will only drag this out

"Hey! Hey! I don't recognize you, you must be the new pony I've been hearing about!"

So her Pinkie Sense doesn't have a 'new friend' setting, but she does have an extensive gossiping spy network. "Yeah, that's probably me. Name's Cotton, and you are?"

"I'm Pinkie Pie and omigosh, it is SO nice to meet you! *overly dramatic gasp* I have to throw you a 'welcome to Ponyville party'! I'll invite everypony in town and so you can make lots of friends and then we'll ALL be friends and it'll be SO much FUN!" And I just kept up an amicable smile, waiting for her to either leave or wind down, when suddenly, quick as a whip, she was holding my book looking at the title. "Hey! What is this your reading! Ooohh a starters guide to magic! Hehahaha, that's silly, why would you need a starters guide, don't you already know a whole lot of magic?"

At that moment I realised I had underestimated how long Pinkie would spend talking and getting to know me before running off to prepare a party. This is going to test the boundries of my preparedness. "Yes, well, I was reading it to help me come up with a lesson plan, you see my little sisters birthday is coming up-"

"Omigosh you have a little sister! Her birthday is coming up! *gasp* Is she in Ponyville too! YAY a double party!" She began hopping in a circle around me chanting 'double party'.

"No! No she isn't, My family lives in Manehatten, I'm just here on vacation for a few weeks and I thought-"

"OH, your on vacation? Vacation from what? Is it a hard job? Is that why your on vacation? Or is it a boring job? I remember having a boring job! When I was little I worked on a rock farm, and let me tell ya, it was boring there all the time! Especially before I found the joy of throwing parties!" As she paused for breath I took my chance to interject before she could get rolling again.

"I'm a chemist there, I make things like perfumes and artificial flavorings. It-"

"Ooh! I know ALL about artificial flavors! We use that for all sorts of things at Sugarcube Corner! Things like cotton candy, candy corn, candy canes, rock candy, lollipops, OOH! And frosting! What would a cupcake be without frosting? It would just be sweet bread! Wouldn't that be silly if all we sold was sweet bread? That would just be TOTALLY-"

Her endless lip flapping descended into a rant on the superiority of cupcakes over sweet bread, gradually branching off into other topics as she went. I just tuned her out and waited for her to stop so I could get back to my reading. As she continued unabated, no end to her talking in site, I allowed my mind to ponder an odd bit of cartoonyness I'd noticed while walking around town.

No pony anywhere is ugly. That made perfect sense when it was a show, why draw ugly characters? But this is all real now and still no ugly ponies anywhere. Every pony I've seen is perfectly good looking, and perfectly in shape, with the exception of Arial, but even she wasn't that bad looking. She wasn't as wrinkly as Granny Smith, probably younger too, but no fat ponies who overeat, and no skinny ponies who undereat. No physical deformities of any kind either. Maybe Celestia has some strict rationing laws, and magically prevents any genetic aberrations, but this perfection really leaves a certain unreal quality about the place.

"Hello! Equestria to Cotton! Come in Cotton! Are you in there?" My gaze had drifted downward while I thought, and now that I refocused my eyes I could see Pinkie laying on the ground looking up at me and waving her hooves infront of my face. "Oh good, your alright. I tried telling you when the party was going to be but you wouldn't respond and I was getting a bit worried there for a second."

"Oh, sorry Pinkie. I got a bit wrapped up in my thoughts."

"No worries, but I have to get back to work now. Don't forget, the parties gunna be at eight O'clock at Sugarcube Corner! See ya Th-!"

"Wait Pinkie! Before you go, what time is it right now?"

"Hmmm... well, it was two thirty when I left to come find you so... three O'clock! Now remember, eight sharp!" And like a pink road runner, off she was in a cloud of dust.

Well, that gives me about four and a half hours to learn levitation. I don't want to be the only unicorn at the party who can't lift his punch glass with magic. So I layed back down and returned to the chapter on simple levitations. I was only reading for a few more minutes when I had an absolutely brilliant idea. This is how I can introduce Zecora to the town! What better way to alleviate their fears of the 'evil enchantress' than by enjoying a nice party with her? Oh brain, you are so clever!

With this plan in mind I returned to my studies, content in the knowledge that I was on the fast track to repaying my debt to Zecora. Soon I would be completely unfettered by the strings of guilt telling me I had merely taken advantage of her kindness while checking out her ass- *record scratch sound fx* Uh, I mean... just the... taking advantage of her kindness part... and nothing else.

Yeah...

---

Well, I thought, staring at the glowing red flower floating before me, it's not much, but I should be able to lift a punch glass at least. maybe swing a pinata stick if I really have to. I wasn't sure what time it was, but the sun was sugnificantly lower in the sky than it had been. Getting off the ground and stretching my legs a bit I started towards Zecora's, eventually, hut. I was keeping the book levitated just in front of me, currently producing a slightly uncomfortable pressure on my forhead, like some old man shoving my head with the tip of his cane. The pressure was worse the more things I tried levitating at once, and presumably with heavier things aswell, but according to the book, that would only go away with continued practice. Like excercise for my magic muscles. I doubt I'll be lifting any Ursa's anytime soon, but still, being able to see my progress in action is so much more rewarding to me than getting A's on my chemistry tests in college had ever been.

After explaining my plan to Zecora, and telling her why the shops had been closed the other day, she agreed to accompany me to the party without argument. Not that she had any reason to argue, she was as eager to sort out this missunderstanding as anypony. We started heading off to the party location without delay, Zecora didn't have a clock either, so we could have been late already for all we knew.

The sun was down low on the horizon now, probably only another hour of light left. The walk through town was quite uneventful, the streets were abandoned, but a quick flash of my horn through some windows didn't reveal any hiding ponies. I guess Pinkie literally invited the whole town. we're probably late then if everyone's already there. When we finally made it to Sugarcube Corner and saw that the lights were off, I immediatly knew what was going on. Oh, Pinkie. You and your surprise parties.

"Are you sure this is the right place? Of a party, there seems to be no trace."

"Oh, this is it alright." Using my new bad ass TK powers I opened that door, like a baws! And motioned for Zecora to go in first while I came in next and closed the door. we were only in the dark for about two seconds before all the lights came on and the whole town shouted at us:

"SURPRISE!!!"

"Wema Mimi!!!" Shouted Zecora with a hoof raised as if to ward off a strike.

Her shout drew the attention of the cheering ponies and immediatly silenced the room. When the noise stopped she lowered her hoof and raised her eyes to the gathered ponies of the room. The stalemate lasted almost five seconds before Pinkie Jumped to the center of the room and started shouting.

"It's the evil enchantress! She's come to curse us all, RUN!!!" Instant pandemonium.

Unfortunatly, Zecora and I were blocking the front door, so no pony could actually leave without jumping out the windows. Deprived of their only obvious means of escape, they just ran around screaming like a bunch of headless chickens. Soon two ponies came out of the crowd and assumed aggressive stances as defenders of the group.

"Now ya'll just be gone from here and no pony'll have ta get hurt!"

"Yeah, what she said!" shouted Applejack and Rainbow Dash, respectively.

Zecora just kept looking back and forth between me and the chaos in front of us with horrendous confusion, and a little bit of fear. Before anypony could start charging I braught my hoof to my mouth, temporarily forgetting I don't have fingers anymore. Despite this fact the gesture worked anyway and I was able to loose an ear piercing whistle that ground all the activity to a halt and gave me everyponies attention.

"Oi! Stop being stupid! Nopony's cursing anypony. Zecora here's just your friendly neighborhood zebra! Now lets settle down, have some cake, enjoy the party and love and tolerate the shit out of eachother like good ponies should!"

They remained standing in place, now staring at me though. Granted, they weren't screaming anymore, but this wasn't quite what I was hoping for.

"Zecora, this is Everypony. Everypony, this is Zecora... now say hello!" Which I punctuated with a hard stomp on the floor.

Like a class full of kids greeting a new student they all chorused a rather monotone, "hello Zecora."

"Good. Now that we all know eachother, let's get back to this party."

At that moment Pinkie shot out of the front window display case, tray of cupcakes on her back and a cake balanced on her head. "Wohoo! Wasn't that fun! Now let's PARTAY!"

And the party commenced like nothing had ever happened. Luckily for me, though I hadn't planned on it, this became more of a welcome party for Zecora, allowing me to sit unbothered in a corner for the most part. I was getting in a bit of excercise, holding a plate with a piece of cake on it, a cupcake, and a punch glass all at once.

"Ya know, after all that, ya never did tell anypony who you are." I didn't need to look to see who it was, the accent gave it away.

I think I'll mess with her a bit. just this once. "Nnope." Keeping my face as blank as possible.

"...Are ya gunna tell us who ya are?"

"Eeyup."

"...Are you sure ya'll's new ta Ponyville?"

"Eeyup."

"Your doing that on purpose ain't ya?"

"Nnope."

She smacked my chest with a hoof, "now I know ya'll's doin' that on purpose."

I couldn't hold it anymore and my mouth broke out into a shit-eating grin that I couldn't force back down. "It's Cotton Hill. Nice to meet you lady-" I turned to her at last, extending a hoof for a shake, when I spotted Fluttershy hiding behind her. "-Ladies."

She gave my hoof a firm shake, which I really didn't understand. She touched the side of her hoof to mine, and then it was like we were connected by a magnet or something until she let go. I hope that didn't just make me seem to have a limp wristed hoof shake. She never gave me any wired looks, so I don't think she noticed anything off.

"Well I'm Applejack, and this here's Fluttershy." When Applejack shifted out of the way to give me a better view of her, I stared strait into her eyes, about to say hi when she jumped back behind Applejack again. "...Ya'll have to forgive her, she's a might... shy."

"So I noticed."

Over the course of the rest of the party I was approached by the other two present members of the main six who introduced themselves. Rainbow thought the way I had taken control of the room earliar was 'pretty cool', and Rarity tried to get me to let her style my mane, which she found to be atrocious. Not very surprising given the last few days. I let her comb it down, but firmly refused anything more.

After a few hours the party ended and everypony went their separate ways. I bid Zecora farewell as she walked down the path to leave town, leaving me to think on the subject of housing. There wasn't really much I could do, being a penniless hobo and all, so I wandered back to the field I practiced magic in, made a pseudo pillow for my head out of some leaves and layed down under a tree.

Author's Note:

I use Google Translate, I can not vouch for how accurate they might be.

Comments

[The Watcher 509]

I Love How You Made Aerial Ace Into Arial Ace :D

I Await More Epic Chapters.I Am A Bit Sleepy Before Reading This But"SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK!"

[Razzy]

I wonder if doctor Whooves will complain about him fucking up the timeline.