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A Long Way From Home1,706 words
Waking Up3,379 words
First Steps3,312 words
Plans in Motion2,707 words
Chance Meetings3,636 words
Letters from Canterlot4,170 words

Plans in Motion

Edward sat up in his bed, his back pressing against the headboard. He gazed out the window, looking upon Ponyville with curious eyes. It was amazing looking out on this world; these ponies were more like humans than Ed had expected. Looking out the window, he had been expecting a small village, something like Resembool, but to his surprise, Ponyville looked almost as big as East City. From his position in bed, he could see the town square, where what seemed to be a market was taking place. Ponies were selling all sorts of things, fruits, trinkets; one pony even had an art stand up.

Ed spied a large building that looked like it was made entirely out of gingerbread! He laughed at the sight of something so ridiculous, but was cut short by a very unwelcome sound; his own stomach. Edward groaned, reaching around his midsection, “It’s been nearly a day since I got something to eat,” he grumbled. Thinking back to the morning, he remembered Twilight saying she’d gone out to find her friends. Just great, Ed thought, I’m stuck in a bed, no auto-mail, and the only person—er, pony who can feed me could be anywhere.

Aloud, Ed shouted, “Damnit! I’m starving!” He hung his head, utterly defeated by circumstance. Ed was thinking of just going back to sleep; let Twilight wake him up when she came back. She’d already been gone for nearly an hour, according to the little clock on his bedside table. For a moment, Ed even considered trying to find his way to the kitchen on his own. After a few moments’ consideration, his stomach got the better of him, and Ed began to peel back the sheets covering his body.

The few seconds of preparation could have been the most intimidating times of Ed’s life. He glanced from his useless lack of auto-mail, down to the floor. After quickly estimating the distance, Ed leapt off of the bed! His hooves hit the ground at the same instant, but it wasn’t enough; Ed’s knees buckled, sending his legs sprawling outwards, and landing him smack on his belly.

Ed grumbled, shifting his weight through his legs, slowly this time. After a long struggle, and two failed attempts, he was finally standing. Well, sort of. It looked a bit awkward, a pony on two-and-a-half legs, and Ed sure felt awkward. He began to very carefully go about finding a way to gain some forward momentum.

Eventually, he settled upon a method of shifting his front leg forward, then pulling his rear end back to a standing position. This awkward sort of crawl slowly brought Edward across his room and out the door, leaving him at the top of a tall staircase. Groaning, Ed carefully dragged himself to the edge of the top step. After a few seconds to prepare himself, Edward began his descent.

Unfortunately for the young alchemist, that was as far as he made it. Lifting his hoof and stepping lower than the rest of his form was more than enough to topple his precarious balance, and he began tumbling head-first down the staircase, which turned out to be a lot bigger than it looked!

At the lowest level of the Ponyville library, the front door was beginning to creak open. Twilight and company had returned and were eager to meet this new pony, Twilight leading way, followed by Rainbow Dash, and the rest of the gang.

“He’s upstairs,” Twilight began, “let’s head up and—”

“Look out below!”

Edward’s tumbling descent had brought him careening right towards the group of ponies by the doorway. He crashed right into Twilight, the two smashing into a bookcase, promptly dislodging several of the tomes resting on top of it. Only her quick reflexes saved Rainbow Dash from a similar fate, and she sure wasn’t going to stay quiet about it.

“Bahahahahaha!” Rainbow cackled, falling over onto the library’s floor. She rolled around, clutching her sides, “He was upstairs alright, ha-ha!”

“Rainbow!” Applejack scolded her, “There ain’t nothin’ funny ‘bout ponies gittin’ hurt.”

“I must say though,” Rarity chimed in, “that is one way to make an introduction.” She and Rainbow shared a little giggle, before receiving a cold glare from Applejack.

By the bookshelf, Twilight was desperately digging through the texts, “Edward! Are you alright?!”

Ed poked his head up from a pile of tomes a few inches from Twilight, “Oh yeah, I’m alright,” he assured her, slowly working himself back to his hooves.

Sighing, Twilight motioned to the crowd, saying “I brought my friends along. This is—”

“I’m Rainbow Dash!” called a spunky cyan mare. Her chromatically-correct mane streaked with the radiant colors of a rainbow, with a tail to match. Ed could easily see the fire burning in her determined rose eyes.

Looking her up and down, Ed responded with, “You sure are! Let me guess, you must be the fun one,” he joked, earning a few disapproving glances.

“Oh yeah,” Dash replied, “way more fun than egghead over here,” she laughed, mussing up Twilight’s mane, prompting Twilight to shoot Rainbow a mean glare of her own. Attempting to light the mood, Dash said, “If you’re looking for a really fun pony though, that title goes to Pinkie Pie.” Rainbow made sure to put a lot of emphasis on the “really,” partly to honor her friend, but mostly to warn Edward.

Standing in the crowd, a very pink pony was having a very hard time containing herself; she was practically bouncing in place! No, scratch that, she was bouncing.

“That looks fun,” Ed said, “and you sure are pink. That must make you Pinkie Pie, right?” He laughed, although nopony else thought it was very funny.

Nopony but Pinkie Pie! She happily bounced up to Edward, giggling madly, “Yup, that’s meee!” She grinned wider than Ed had ever seen before. In fact it was getting a little bit disturbing. Finally, her mouth opened up again, “How long do you think it’ll take you to get better, huh? I hope it’s soon because I really want to throw you a party!”

“Pinkie Pie,” A.J. snapped, “t’ain’t no way to talk to our guest.”

Edward stared blankly for a minute, pondering the nature of what Pinkie had just said to him. “A…party?” he asked quizzically.

“Well, DUH,” Pinkie exclaimed, “I throw parties for every new pony in Ponyville! So when should I schedule for?!”

“Pinkie,” Twilight began, but Ed waved her off with his hoof.

“That all depends on you guys. After all, you’re here to help me out, right?”

“Right,” Twilight smiled. “Now, Edward, let me introduce you to the rest of my friends.”

As she walked over to the remaining three ponies, she was stopped by a delicate white hoof. The hoof belonged to an elegant ivory unicorn, her violet mane and tail expertly curled, and her eyes accented by just the right amount of baby blue eye shadow.

“I appreciate the offer Twilight, but I’m quite certain I can introduce myself,” she announced. Taking a few steps towards Edward, she extended a hoof, “I am Rarity, and it is a pleasure to meet you,” she smiled.

“Likewise,” Ed responded, awkwardly glancing at her outstretched hoof.

Taking note of his lack of legs to stand on, Rarity hurriedly withdrew her hoof, apologizing for such a silly gesture. With that, she stepped aside for the next pony in line, eager to hide her embarrassment.

A pale yellow pegasus was now to come. She trotted over to Ed, barely making eye contact. Her flowing pink mane did a very good job of obstructing her face; all that Ed could see was the circles she was tracing in the floor with her hoof.

“Uh…hi there,” Ed began, “what’s your name?”

Ed blinked. Twice. “Come again?”

A few of the others let giggles escape their mouths, and all that Ed could do was mull over a strategy to crack this shy pony’s shell.

“This is Fluttershy,” Twilight cut in, tipping her timid friend’s head up to match gazes with Edward. “She helped me bring you back here and treat your injuries.”

Ed smiled as warmly as he could, trying not to scare the poor filly, “Thank you Fluttershy. From the sounds of it, I owe you my life.” Blushing, Fluttershy quickly retreated into the crowd of familiar ponies. Finally, the last pony in the bunch broke out from the pack.

Ed’s newest acquaintance was the southern pony who’d spoken up before. Her orange coat looked a bit worn, like she’d been working on a farm or something. She strode over to Edward, and tipped her brown Stetson hat.

“Welcome ta Ponyville,” she said, “a pleasure makin’ yer acquaintance. Ah’m Applejack.”

Pointing to the three bright red apples that Applejack bore on either of her flanks, Ed joked, “I can see that.”

A.J. blushed, “Ah suppose that does sorta blow my cover, huh?”

“Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask; what exactly are those? You all seem to have them.” This latest remark from Edward elicited a loud gasp from all of the ponies in the room.

“You don’t know what a cutie mark is?” Pinkie gasped.

“A cutie what?”

“Cutie mark,” Twilight interrupted. “It’s a mark that appears on a pony’s flank when they find out what their special talent is. Even you’ve got one, Edward,” she said, pointing to the marking on his flank.

Craning his neck, Ed could see that he did, in fact, have a cutie mark. A cross, wrapped by a snake, two wings and a crown hanging above it; the insignia of Izumi Curtis proudly stood out, jet black against his pure white coat. He chuckled, “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

“What does?” Rainbow inquired. She was now eagerly studying this strange symbol, trying to make sense of it, and not having a very good time of it. As she stood back up, she began to notice…Edward wasn’t very big for a colt. Resting an elbow on his head, she laughed, “A better question would be, ‘how did you get so short?’” Rainbow Dash burst out into a fit of laughter, unaware of the little switch snapping inside of Ed’s brain.

“WHO ARE YOU CALLING ‘SO SHORT HE CAN’T EVEN REACH THE TOP OF THE BOOKSHELF TO FIND THE RIGHT BOOK?!” Ed thundered, lunging at Dash. Fortunately for her, he couldn’t make it more than a few inches before losing his balance, causing Rainbow to laugh even harder.

Still getting over the shock of Ed’s little outburst, Twilight decided it best to get back to the main conversation, “so, Edward, what is your cutie mark?”

“That’s the symbol of my teacher,” Ed stated plainly, returning to his hooves once again.

“Teacher?” Twilight asked, her eyes lighting up. As everypony else groaned in disapproval, Twilight continued, “What did you study?”

Edward’s eyes narrowed, his mouth curving into a sly grin. “Alchemy,” he replied.

A.J. looked extremely puzzled, “Alkuh-what?”

Twilight was having just as hard of a time, “I’ve never heard of that before, what exactly is ‘alchemy?’” she asked.

Laughing, Edward told her, “It’s not the easiest thing to explain on its own. Once I’ve got my auto-mail, I might be able to show you.”

“All the more reason to get to work,” Twilight smiled.

“Right,” Ed agreed. Turning to the group, he began his rallying call, “Listen up; I’m going to need all of your cooperation to do this.”

“RIGHT!” the six ponies called out, assuming a military style formation, complete with salute. I’m liking this…Ed thought.

“First off, we’re going to need to get our hooves on some steel and electrical cables,” Ed began, taking control of his lineup, “any ideas?”

Twilight spoke up, “There’s a place in Ponyville that sells building supplies; just write down the specifications and we can get some from there.”

“Excellent!” Ed exclaimed. “Next, we’ll some tools; hammers, screws; things to help shape the auto-mail.”

“Ah’ve got a heap o’ tools back down at th’farm,” Applejack chimed in.

“Perfect,” Ed went on, “Next, I’ll need somepony to design and assemble the auto-mail itself; someone who pays close attention to details and knows a lot about the pony’s form.”

“I’m just the pony for the job,” Rarity said proudly, “I design pony fashion; I’m sure a few legs won’t be too difficult.”

“Alright, if you’re sure you’re up to it,” Ed reluctantly agreed. “Now, onto the surgery…” A few of the ponies froze when they heard “surgery,” but quickly resumed their attentive stance. “Pinkie Pie,” Ed began, “I want you and Fluttershy to oversee the operation. Fluttershy can monitor the procedure, and Pinkie can be ready to run and get help if anything goes wrong.”

“Yes, sir!” Pinkie Pie called enthusiastically, saluting once more for emphasis. Fluttershy looked nervous, but took the responsibility on all the same.

“Thanks,” Edward said, “I’m counting on you two.” Moving on, Ed asked which two of the ponies were strongest. The unanimous conclusion came down to Applejack and Rainbow Dash, and Ed told them “I’ll need you two to hold me down during surgery. I’ll be in a bit of pain, and I don’t want to end up ruining the operation because I was flailing around.”

“I’m on it!” Dash assured him, she too saluting again.

“Don’t worry, pardner, we won’t let you move an inch.”

“Great, thanks you two,” Ed said, “lastly, Rarity and Twilight; I’ll need you two to connect my new auto-mail to the cables that are already there. They need to be connected at the same time, so make sure you two are in sync.”

“Of course,” Rarity said.

“That doesn’t sound too hard,” Twilight noted.

“Glad you think so,” Ed told her. As he went to make his final statement, Ed’s stomach cut in with a ‘statement’ of its own.

The sheer volume of Ed’s rumbling tummy was enough to send the six ponies to the floor laughing. Despite being a little embarrassed, Ed began laughing himself, enjoying the moment simply for what it was.

During all the ruckus, Spike had entered the library, returning from his zip lining session with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Seeing everypony rolling around on the floor laughing, Spike couldn’t help but ask, “Would anypony mind telling me what’s going on here?”

Wiping tears from her eyes, Twilight managed to stifle her giggling long enough to say, “Good, you’re home Spike. Could you start a dinner for all of us?”

“Sure thing, Twi,” he replied, and set out for the kitchen.

Noticing the small new creature, Ed asked Twilight, “Who’s the little guy?”

“That’s just Spike,” she explained, “He’s my baby dragon assistant!”

Edward was little put off by this new information. Truly, this was a puzzling place he’d landed in. Puzzling, but not without its niceties. As he looked upon the still-giggling entourage of a full spectrum of candy-colored ponies, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh. He was lucky to have landed in such a friendly place.

That night, Twilight sent the Princess a very enthusiastic friendship report. It read:

Dear Princess Celestia,

I’ve made a new friend today. A strange colt from outside of Ponyville, Fluttershy and I met him last night, and he’s quickly taken a liking to all of my friends, as they have to him. Although this pony isn’t without his own troubles, we’re all trying our best to help him out.

The lesson I’ve learned from this experience is that ponies come in all shapes and sizes. At first, they may seem strange, or even scary, but deep down, we’re all ponies, and friendship can always find a way to prevail.

Always Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle

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Zeryurijin

Zeryurijin #1 · Feb 10th, 2012 · · ·

Just about lol'd given I'm reading this in Edward's voice specially after Rainbow Dash's. . *ahem* comment on his height. This came to mind

"ErrrrrrRRRRRR I RIP THOSE DAMN WINGS OFF AND STICK EM ON YOUR HEAD!"
Also add much Edward flailing cause. .well that's what he does when he blows a gasket over his height.

dirtdog1996

dirtdog1996 #2 · Feb 10th, 2012 · · ·

I love a good laugh I3

Elastas

Elastas #3 · Feb 10th, 2012 · · ·

Good work with Fluttershy's introduction there. This really does look good, a few errors here and there, but overall, you are making wonderful progress.

And yes, I lol'd at the short joke.