Homesickness and Festivals
Tommy waved back at Tubbo and Micheal, who were happily sitting by the window as he and Ranboo started making their way towards the outskirts of Snowchester. Snow crunched under their feet as they fell into a comfortable silence. This was one of the things Tommy missed most about his and Ranboo's friendship. Just being able to read each other in ways very few creatures could. Tommy loved to fill the silence with some type of noise, whether it be jokes, snarky comments, or Tommy's favorite, laughter. However, there were times when Tommy just wanted quiet but felt lonely on his own. He needed company.
Ranboo had always been the first one he gravitated to when it came to these moods. Tubbo, as much as Tommy cared for the boy, would always try filling the silence, expecting Tommy to feel the same way. Wilbur would always rant about how Schlatt was stubborn about one thing or another. Sometimes he would start humming, even full-out belting a song. Techno, while the piglin-hybrid appreciated silence, Tommy found it awkward and tense when it was between the two. Even Phil struggled to sense when Tommy wanted quiet, but Ranboo? Ranboo just always knew.
Ever since they were kids- well, everyone would argue they were still kids, despite the fact they had been adults since age 15- Ranboo had always been one to know what he was thinking. A nostalgic smile crossed his face as his mind drifted to memories long past, memories of a place very few know about. Memories of his home, his true home, began to drift through his mind. Don't misunderstand, Tommy thought of Snowchester, L'Manburg, and the Dream-SMP as a whole, as his home. But no matter where he went, if there were one place worthy of that title, it would be Equestria.
Images of Canterlot and Ponyville filled his mind, eventually drifting to the late-night walks he and Ranboo would take. Whether the two would trot through the white and purple castle halls, down the stone brick roads of the city, or even the bridge over the lake in the village, it always felt the same—safe, quiet, and, no matter the temperature, warm.
Tommy was broken out of his thoughts by a chuckle. Tommy’s gaze shifted from where it had been gazing aimlessly at the ground to Ranboo. The Enderman-pony-changeling-whatever else-hybrid was smiling softly, gazing up at the sky. “You thinking about Equestria too?” He asked softly.
Tommy smiled, looking up at the stars and drawing constellations in his head. “Yeah… I miss it, you know?”
Ranboo sighed, “Yeah, I do… the midnight talks, early morning study sessions…”
Tommy giggled, “The Afternoon ‘late to the test’ freakouts?”
Ranboo let out a laugh, “Yeah, not to mention the cutie mark crusades?”
“Oh, sweet Celestia, don’t remind me.” Tommy snorted before they both started laughing. After a moment, Tommy’s smile faltered before falling away completely. “I-” Tommy began before pausing to gather his thoughts. He felt Ranboo’s patient gaze on him as Tommy struggled to form the words. “I miss being free.”
Tommy watched Ranboo stiffen out of the corner of his eye. Despite himself, Tommy continued, “I miss flying… I miss being able to walk into a room and not being worried your transformation’s gonna slip… I just-” Tommy teared up, closing his eyes as the two slowed to a stop in the snow. “I miss Celestia. I hate feeling homesick for a place no one thinks exists. I don’t want to lose what we have here, but I want to go home, even if it’s for a little while.”
Tommy felt a pawed hand on his shoulder, and he opened his eyes to see Ranboo giving him a melancholy look. Ranboo opened his arms, and at the edge of Snowchester with no one to see, Tommy immediately leaned into the embrace. Tommy felt his magic flare slightly as a pair of red, fluffy pony ears appeared on his head. Ranboo hugged Tommy to his chest, extending black and white leather-skinned wings. They curled around the two like a dome, protecting them from the outside world. Ranboo’s pawed hand reached up to run a hand through Tommy’s hair and scratch at the equestrian ears.
Tommy chuffed softly before sighing. “I want to go home, Ranboo.”
“I know. I do too.”
⧫ ⧫ ⧫ ⧫
“Thanks for walking me home, Ranboo… you didn’t have to do that, you know,” Tommy said, looking at his friend.
Ranboo rolled his eyes, “You’re right, I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. ‘Sides, Tubbo won’t mind.”
“Hey, Ranboo?”
“Hmm?”
“Do- do you want to, umm, I dunno, do something to honor Equestria after the festival tomorrow? Like, maybe try and sing a harmony song with the others? I know that we’re not that close anymore, but I think Bad, Quackity, Karl, and Skeppy miss it as much as we do.”
Ranboo smiled, “I think that’s a great idea, Tommy. Hey, maybe I could ask Dream if I could do the fireworks show. Show everyone a piece of our home even if they don’t know it.”
Tommy couldn’t help but grin. “Yeah. See you tomorrow?” Ranboo nodded, waving goodbye. Tommy waited until Ranboo was out of eyeshot before he turned around and entered his house. He smiled at the dark oak and stone brick interior. Ranboo and Tubbo pestered Tommy until he let the pair help build it. The two kept saying that even if the house looked like a pile of dirt from the outside didn’t mean it had to look like that from the inside. He was kind of glad they bothered him about it so much because now he had something to smile at every time he entered his house.
Tommy immediately started getting ready for bed, exhausted after a long night playing with Micheal, hanging out with Tubbo, and having emotional talks with Ranboo. If Tommy were honest, he wasn’t sure how he felt about the festival. While he thought it was a good idea from the start, he knew it meant something different to him than everyone else.
Parties and events, in Tommy’s opinion, always seemed cursed to go wrong. Everything from the Summer Sun Celebrations back before Tommy was born to the Friendship Festival when he was two years old. The Celebration of the Two Sisters when he was seven, Bad’s Coronation when Tommy was twelve, and even the Festival of Manburg had all gone wrong. Granted, the outcomes were worth it, but still.
The festival tomorrow was deemed The Festival of Peace, seeing as it was in honor of a year of peace between the countries. Tommy was very thankful for Dream stepping in during the Festival of Manburg. Who knows what would have happened if Techno had been on stage any longer. Everyone knew that Schlatt was drunk off his ass that day, and Quackity had tried to stop him from saying something he would regret. Despite Quackity’s efforts, Schlatt almost got Tubbo killed. While Tommy knew Schlatt didn’t want the boy dead, the ram-hybrid was furious and, although he wouldn’t admit it, felt betrayed by Tubbo working with Pogtopia.
Tommy had only forgiven the man after Tubbo did, knowing that as much as he wanted to hold a grudge, one of the first friendship lessons he learned from Celestia and Luna was forgiveness. If Tubbo could forgive Schlatt and get close enough to the man that they started thinking of each other as father and son, Tommy could suck his petty grudge up and forgive him.
Now that he thought about it, Tommy had a more difficult time forgiving Wilbur than he did Schlatt. The fact that his brother wanted to blow up L’Manburg after all the work they’d put into it had made Tommy furious. Again, Tommy was incredibly thankful for Dream stepping in and knocking some sense into the man. After some much-needed therapy with Dream’s adoptive mother, Puffy, Wilbur had begun to see the error in his ways. He still apologized to Tommy sometimes, each being dismissed with the usual “Already forgave you, Will.”
Tommy sighed, shaking himself out of his thoughts as he climbed into bed. He pulled the blankets over his torso as he curled up with a book. It was a simple brown fake leather cover with a golden horse emblem and detailing. The eyes of the horse were small turquoise gems. He smiled as he opened it to the first page, starting with the classic words of ‘Once upon a time…’ as it began telling a story once thought to be an old mares tale, a tale of two royal sisters fighting, written in a language that only he and a few others could understand. Tommy fell asleep only halfway through, but that was alright. He knew it by heart already anyway.
⧫ ⧫ ⧫ ⧫
Tommy awoke to the chirping of birds and the sun shining through the window. The boy yawned, stretching his arms outward as his wings did the same. Wait. Dammit. Tommy groaned softly. The center of his forehead glowed golden for a moment before his wings and pony ears disappeared with a golden flash. He pursed his lips for a moment, brow furrowing as he tried to think of how that happened. Strange. Usually, I have better control of my magic.
Tommy huffed, dismissing the thought as either having a dream where he was flying or an influx of magic in the area, causing his own magic to flare. The latter was probably impossible, though, considering that the last time that happened, Dream freaked the fuck out. It was as if Dream had never heard of community-activated magic. Then again, Dream probably hadn’t heard of it. It happened with ponies and their harmony songs all the time, which had led to Tommy having more than a bit of experience with it.
Tommy began going through his motions of getting ready for the day. He paused in front of his closet, however, as he pondered what to wear. Tommy’s eyes drifted over to the box in the back of his closet, a somber smile appearing on his face as he recalled what was hidden inside. The box contained old regalia, not even from his time in the Antarctic Empire with Wilbur, Techno, and Philza, but from Equestria.
He took the box in his hands and brought it over to his bed, setting it down on top of the sheets. Tommy removed the lid and set it to the side. He proceeded to gently untie the twine and pull back the tissue paper that wrapped around the regalia. The items were somewhat simple. Golden chest piece and shoes fit for a new teenage pony sat inside. At the top, there was another wrapped item. Tommy took his time unwrapping it. Removing the tissue paper revealed a small crown with a flaming heart carved into it. His eyes watered as he clutched it to his chest. Fuck. He missed home.
Tommy sighed, setting the crown on his bed before putting away the box. He might not have a use for the chest piece and shoes, being way too small for an adult pony, let alone a human, but that crown had been too big on his thirteen-year-old self. Then again, he wasn’t supposed to have it until he was fifteen, but his mischievous younger self decided he was too impatient to wait for his coronation.
Tommy began going through his clothes, picking out a dark-red turtleneck sweater, silver shoulder pads, a thick silver necklace laid over the top, and black pants and boots. Tommy retrieved the crown from his bed and stepped in front of the mirror. He combed his hand through his fluffy blonde locks before positioning the crown atop his head. Tommy bit his lip as he concentrated on getting it just right. When he succeeded, he smiled triumphantly, stepping away from the mirror, ocean eyes shining.
Tommy left his house and began making his way towards the center of L’Manburg, where a large group had started to gather. Tommy grinned as his eyes caught on a half black, half white figure as he made his way over to his friend. He tapped Ranboo on the shoulder, making the Hybrid turn around.
Ranboo seemed to eye Tommy for a moment before a smirk spread across his face. “Haven’t seen that crown in a while.”
Tommy giggled, nodding his head. “Yeah. Thought it was appropriate, considering Equestria’s theme of peace and friendship.”
Tubbo seemed to pop up from nowhere, throwing his arms around his friend. “Tommy!” Tommy laughed, hugging his friend back before the smaller pulled away. “Oooh, what’s with the crown? Did you get that from Philza?”
“Not quite. Let’s just say it was from before I met Wilbur.” Tommy said. Tubbo’s eyes widened before he accepted the answer. While the older boy looked curious, he didn’t ask any more questions, knowing that Tommy didn’t like talking about it. “Anyway, why don’t we go have fun! It is a festival, after all!” Tommy chirped, getting grins from both Ranboo and Tubbo as the two nodded.
“Sure! Micheal is hanging out with Puffy and Michelle right now, so we’ve got some free time!” Tubbo said as the three, dubbed as The Bench-Trio, set off to find what to do first.
⧫ ⧫ ⧫ ⧫
Dream stiffened, eyes widening as he felt the air around him pulse. He felt a wave of power and could barely keep his wings contained, thankful for the lime-green hoodie hiding any glow. A chill went down his spine as he excused himself from his friends, saying something about needing to do something or another. He barely stayed long enough to hear George’s, “Whatever, just come back soon! Will and Schlatt are gonna do their speeches.”
Dream immediately opened his Admin controls as soon as he was in a place where no one would be able to see. Fingers sped across the floating, semi-transparent keys as he started looking into what had happened. Unfortunately, hardly any information other than a confirmation on a random wave of magic. Nothing to explain why it happened or its source.
Dream’s face contorted into a snarl behind his mask. He huffed, trying several other commands before finding that nothing was working. Dream’s chest tightened, and his breathing sped up slightly. His hands trembled with anxiety as he found himself helpless. This had never happened before. He had never been stuck without a single option.
Dream swallowed around the lump in his throat, taking a deep, albeit shaky, breath. The only thing he could do is prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Dream’s fists tightened as he stood up straighter, setting off in search of Wilbur and Schlatt. Maybe sending everyone home would piss some people off, but there would always be another festival. People’s lives could be at stake.
That thought made Dream pause. Since when had he become so cynical? Dream winced as the answer made it clear in his mind. Because kids were practically turned into soldiers under your guidance. Because if you hadn’t broken through the Dreamon’s control, those kids would have been good as dead. Because it was your fault for letting the Dreamon control you in the first place, and you need to make up for it.
⧫ ⧫ ⧫ ⧫
Bad’s wings twitched in discomfort, catching Skeppy’s attention as the crystal pony-hybrid gazed at Bad in concern.
“Are you alright?” Skeppy whispered.
“Uhm, yes?” Bad hesitated. Skeppy gave him a blank look before raising an eyebrow. “Alright, I- I don’t know. It’s just that; you know how I get strange feelings sometimes? A kinda sixth sense for weird magic? Like how I knew about that egg… thing before it became a problem?”
“Yeah, why?” Skeppy asked, nose scrunching up in worry, clearly not liking where this was going.
“Well, I felt a large pulse of magic last night. I have for a few days. At first, I thought it was just a fluke, or maybe Dream was fixing something with Admin magic. But every single time I feel it, it’s more potent, more powerful. It just happened again, and this is stronger than anything I’ve felt since we left Equestria.”
“That…” Skeppy tailed off, concerned expression growing a little fearful. “Is it a bad sign that I’ve been feeling it too?” Bad’s eyes widened as he ducked his head, eyes seeming to examine something Skeppy could not see. Bad began looking around to the best of his ability without catching anyone else’s attention. Skeppy knew that far-off look. Bad was using magic sense. A type of ability only mastered by a few sorcerers and sorceresses, one that allowed you to see magic, their matrices, their color, their origin, and more. Almost like controllable synesthesia.
“This isn’t good,” Bad said, terror growing.
“Bad. I can’t see what you see. Not without my MCS. What is it?”
“Skeppy, the air and the ground are filled with magic. It’s everywhere. If we were in Equestria, it’d be fine, but I haven’t seen anything like this in eight years. The worst part is, I can’t find the source! Nothing is casting a spell. No one is doing a harmony song. There’s nothing that can explain this! Even the harmony between everyone for so long and everyone being here at the festival wouldn’t cause this!” Bad was very quickly working himself up into a panic attack.
Unfortunately, one of the things Bad seemed to inherit from the princesses was panicking over magic-related problems. Thankfully, Skeppy had inherited an understanding of how to calm others down from panic attacks, courtesy of Princess Cadence.
“Hey, hey. Look at me.” Skeppy spoke softly to get Bad’s attention without scaring him. “Take a deep breath.” The pair began following through the motions of what Cadence had taught them. “One, two, three, four, five. Hold it. Okay, now let it out slowly, one, two, three, four, five.” Bad put his hand to his chest as he breathed in before pulling it away slowly as he breathed out.
“That’s it. Better?” When Bad nodded, Skeppy gave him a comforting smile. “Whatever is going on, we’ll figure it out. We always do.
Bad sighed, “Yeah. I hope you’re right.”
⧫ ⧫ ⧫ ⧫
“Quackity, did you just feel that?” Karl asked, turning to his fiance, a worried look in his eyes.
“Yeah. Yeah, I did.” Quackity said, shuddering. “Do you need to leave again?”
“No. No, I don’t think so. That happened just now. Nothing caused it either. At least nothing I know of. Which makes this all the weirder.” Karl huffed, bringing a hand up to his chin in thought.
“Should we be worried?” Quackity asked, gripping his beanie with nerves as he walked closer to Karl and away from the stage.
“I’m… I’m not sure….” Karl trailed off, shaking his head.
⧫ ⧫ ⧫ ⧫
Tommy, Ranboo, and Tubbo all started making their way toward the podium for Schlatt and Willbur’s speeches. The three laughed brightly at one joke or another before Ranboo and Tommy abruptly stopped in their tracks. Tommy felt a wave of magic crash into him like a flood. It took every bit of self-control and rarely used practice he had to keep his equestrian appendages from showing. Tubbo’s laughing quickly faded, unsettled by the silence of his two best friends.
“Are you two okay?” Tubbo asked in worry.
“That- Ranboo, you felt that right?” Tommy asked, not entirely sure of himself.
“Uhm, yeah. Yeah, I did.” Ranboo replied, head dipping slightly in confusion.
“What? What happened?” Tubbo questioned, not understanding what the pair were talking about.
“We’re not sure. It’s probably nothing….” Tommy trailed off, the three coming to a stop by the stage, where just like that morning, a group had gathered. People were whispering to each other, words unintelligible to even Tommy’s equestrian hearing.
Tubbo looked like he wanted to argue, but a loud squeal and a pair of tiny arms throwing themselves around Tubbo’s legs stopped him. “Why, hello, Mikey!” Tubbo cried, leaning down to pick his son up.
Puffy made her way over with a smile, “He was so excited to see you. He and Michelle had so much fun! Isn’t that right, honey?” Puffy turned to the tiny piglin hybrid in her arms, who squealed in delight.
“I’m glad! Sorry, you had to deal with both of them all day.” Tubbo chuckled sheepishly.
“It’s not a problem, Tubbo! You’re barely eighteen. You should have fun sometimes. You know, without worrying about a child.” Puffy replied with a grin.
Before anything else could be said, the light feedback from someone tapping a microphone grabbed everyone’s attention. “Hello, citizens of L’Manburg!” Wilbur spoke proudly into the mic. The words got cheers from everyone as he smiled. “We have gathered here today to celebrate one full year of peace between the nations!”
“It certainly hasn’t been easy,” Schlatt spoke up next. “Not always willingly either.” That got a few laughs. “But in my opinion, it was worth it, because now? We’re safe. We’re at peace. No more wars. No more soldiers. No more fighting.”
“I couldn’t be more proud of not only the country of L’Manburg but everyone, from every country. It wasn’t just me and Schlatt who built this place. It was all of us. Together.” Wilbur shifted in front of the podium, a bright grin on his face. Wilbur’s eyes locked with Tommy’s, the man giving his younger brother a nod. Tommy blinked in surprise but couldn’t stop the smile spreading on his face or the tears brimming his eyes at the acknowledgment. Tommy’s heart felt like it was about to burst from pride for his country. Pride for how far they’ve all come. Pride for how far he’s come. Pride for his friends, no, his family.
Tommy’s breath caught in his throat as a wave of magic so powerful it made him stumble crashed into him. His wings and pony ears appeared for a moment, Tommy finding himself unable to control it. However, no one noticed that as everyone’s eyes focused on the ground beneath Wilbur, that began to crack and shatter. Wilbur screamed as the ground beneath him gave way to bright white and purple light. Schlatt rushed forward to grab Wilbur’s arm, barely keeping himself from falling into the white and purple void as well.
Tommy gasped, wings opening as he lunged forward. His extra appendages disappeared after a moment, but they had given him enough thrust to jump onto the stage and grab Wilbur’s other arm. The ground beneath him felt unsteady as he watched glowing purple cracks spider out from the collapsed floor. Tommy watched in horror as the ground broke open underneath his friends. Tubbo and Ranboo screamed, the former clutching Micheal to his chest, the latter opening his wings as they grabbed onto each other.
Ranboo seemed to try and fly them out, but the hybrid’s wings faltered, sending them spiraling down into the glowing white with twin screams. “TUBBO! RANBOO! NO!” Tommy screamed out, but it was barely heard over the cries of his other friends. Tommy watched with mute horror as Fundy, Bad, Skeppy, Dream, Sapnap, and more succumbed to the glowing ground. It seemed like it was swallowing everything. Everyone.
Tommy could only scream out as the ground gave out from underneath him and Schlatt. White filled his vision before everything went black.