The life of twins living in the Philippines are about to meet new friends from another world.
Twins Luke and Maggie Santos have been living in their old family's house in Subic, Philippines ever since their parents and younger triplet siblings decided to buy a new house further from them. Though these twins have good jobs, they also like doing small businesses for fun during the summertime only. Things will change for them when new tourists arrive in their lives and, well....let's just say they are not on this planet.
But hey, it shouldn't be hard making new friends from another land, right?
The morning rays hit my eyes as I groan in tiredness. Usually, I'm a morning person but today, well....let's just say I'm not much of a morning person. Oh shit! Where are my manners? I forgot to tell you my name.
My name is Luke Santos. I'm 24 years old just like my twin sister, Maggie.
Our parents on whom they're names are John and Minerva had just moved into a new home and decided to let us twins have our family's home instead. So we were a bit happy on that but also a bit upset that they decided to buy their dream house near Subic Bay and that they also had to take our younger triplet siblings: 2 boys and 1 girl on whom their names are Millie, Kenny,& Andres. Though we were upset by the change, we were already adults and now it was up to us to take care of this house like they've taken care of it when we were young.
We may be different but sometimes, we like the same things such as cooking, reading, organizing, and others as well. I work as a marine biologist at Ocean Adventure whilst Maggie works as a zookeeper at Zoobic Safari.
However, it was our break and we decided that we still want to work, so we set up a small eatery that serves only merienda, which was perfect due to summer heat of April and with Holy Week over, we decide to let customers cool down with our country's traditional desserts like Halo-Halo, Mais Con Yelo, Samalamig, Ice Candies,& Sorbetes (we actually made our own Sorbetes cart which is bigger than most of it when it can hold 10 flavors).
But we weren't ready for what's about to come this day.
Maggie was working on the counter whilst I was preparing the food that the customers were about to eat when we heard some loud voices. "Guys!" said a female voice which is almost like a mall girl. "Let's try and eat here."
"Traditional Filipino desserts?" another voice came but this one was a male's voice that sounded like a bit chill and laid-back. "Yeah we can try that."
"We've been into so many restaurants lately that we never bothered trying the small ones." A third voice said and this one was another female but a different tone than the first female voice.
"There's no bother in trying the small ones". A fourth and final voice came and it was another male but the tone was mysterious. "So all in favor of trying this one?". The 4th one asked.
"YES!!" They all replied in unison.
The voices died out and what we saw was nothing out of the ordinary. Four ponies! As in four ponies which consist of a unicorn stallion, a Pegasus mare, an Earth Pony mare, and a bat pony stallion. All which they entered our store and headed towards the counter.
"Holy shit!" Maggie silently cursed. "Now that's something you don't see everyday".
"This just got interesting". I thought in my mind.
About those ponies if I may say so myself
It was not long ago that we heard in the news at the UN in America that the a purple alicorn named Twilight Sparkle on whom she called herself the Princess of Friendship was also the current ruler of Equestria ever since her successors, Princesses Celestia and Luna stepped down as rulers and she was their successor in line. She made a grand speech about wanting to spread the Magic of Friendship not just in her world but to our world as well. Leaders from around Earth listened to this and agreed to the motion that they will open portals for them whether it's for finding jobs, schooling, or just vacation stuff like that.
Since then, so many changes were seen in the world. Ponies and other creatures from Equestria have been visiting every country and ever since then, so many pictures were seen online. I've honestly seen a few of them such as a pony family that consisted of unicorns and Pegasi in South Africa having a wilderness tour in both land and sea. Another picture, I've seen were ten creatures in the forms of a griffon, a hippogriff, a yak, a zebra, a changeling, a kirin, a Diamond Dog, an Abyssinian, an Ornithian, and a dragon taking a picture in Disneyland at California, USA. But to be honest, we've only seen glimpses of them in person but to go face-to-face in front of them was well....a bit complicated.
Upon reaching in the counter, the bat pony stallion took out a Filipino phrasebook and looked at us whilst looking back at the book at the same time. "M-Magandang uh...uma-umaga p-po, ginoong at binibining-"
Maggie raised her hand to stop him. "Okay lang po". She said "It's fine with us that you don't speak Tagalog that much, we mostly speak English in here."
"Wait!". said the Earth Pony mare. "So you speak Ponish? Sorry! I mean English?"
"Yeah". I said due to the fact both Ponish and English are like the same which of course stumped both great minds of Human Science and Equestrian Mages alike. "It's much better to speak English than Tagalog especially when our mother tongue is basically English". I told them until I realized something. "Oh pardon me! Where are our manners? My name is Luke Santos".
"Maggie Santos". She said her name whilst we shook their hooves as a greeting gesture.
After shaking hooves and hands, it was their turn in greeting. "So now we know your names, it's time you meet ours!" said the bat pony stallion as his friends bunch together. I knew they were going to do this knowing about their nature. "I'm Bright Crescent!" I take a good look at him: He had a light brown coat with a mane and tail of the colors, orange and dark blue along with cerulean eyes and a cutie mark of a crescent moon.
"My name is Citrus Delight". Said the Earth Pony mare who had a light strawberry pink coat with a mane and tail of the colors, blue and pink along with light pink eyes and a cutie mark of two orange slices with a rainbow on the center. It reminded us of some fruits that can be used for a good fruit shake
"The name's Melodic Nimbus and it's a pleasure to meet you both!" the Pegasus mare said. She had a dark magenta coat with a mane and tail of the colors, light green and cyan along with yellow-green eyes and a cutie mark of a lyre.
Which left us with the last pony. "And I'm Clockstruck Hour". Said the unicorn stallion with a light tan coat with a mane and tail of the colors, red and black along with orange eyes and a cutie mark of an hourglass.
So when introductions were finished, they decided that they want a picture of us so we decided to do that and afterwards, Maggie decided to break the silence. "So what are your orders then?". She asked them.
"Oh yeah! We forgot about that!" exclaimed Bright Crescent to his shock. "Alright then, we've made up our minds and I will say the orders. We'll have two regular size halo-halo's, two regular size mais con yelo's, and two large samalamig of the flavors, strawberry and mango."
"Alright, that'll be two hundred twenty pesos." Maggie told them. Citrus Delight handed them the amount which is three hundred pesos and in return, she handed them eighty pesos back. "Keep the change". She said in delight.
They went to their vacant table as I started out preparing their orders with quick precision with the samalamig drinks already finished quickly, I easily made it quick yet careful with the halo halo's and the mais con yelo's. The choice of evaporated milk and condensed milk we choose is Alaska Evaporada and Alaska Condensada because it's like their jingle: "Wala pa rin tatalo sa Alaska!". When it was finished, I went over them and handed out their orders to them. "Here you go!" I told them
"Salamat po." said Citrus Delight. While some new customers were waiting patiently outside waiting for their next sitting. We watched the four ponies eat and it was somehow romantic after they finished two of the most popular Filipino desserts in the Philippines, we watched them both having fun with their samalamig, the unicorn and the Pegasus in the strawberry drinking together like it was romantic for them while the Earth Pony and the bat pony eating the jelly mango just like the scene in Lady and the Tramp where Lady was eating the spaghetti noodle with Tramp whilst the chefs sang for them. After eating, they left considering the fact that they were somehow the last customers here in the first place. We decided to clean up the mess afterwards knowing that it was 5:30 pm and it was time for us to close.
"Something tells me we may see them again". I thought silently.
But little did we know that it wasn't the last time.....
Like any other day, it was just another day to start the morning up bright and early. After using the bathroom, I headed downstairs and it turns out my twin brother, Luke beat me there first. We had a chat whilst eating our breakfast and he told me that we need to do a bit of groceries for our little merienda eatery since some of the ingredients are starting to run out. I wrote down a list on what we need to buy and afterwards, we headed towards the car with Luke on the wheel as we headed towards the mall.
Every Filipino and other foreigner visiting our country knows that no trip is complete without a bit of shopping in some of the best malls in our country especially when one of them is the biggest one in the Philippines called SM Mall of Asia in Pasay. But here in Subic, we have some good malls too. Not that massive but still big to have many stores to go and browse or do shopping and it's just like they say: "You shop till you drop".
After parking the car in Harbor Point mall, we decided to withdraw our money and head towards our first destination which is the most important thing of all: buying the ingredients we need. We got ourselves a cart and bought everything on the list I wrote before we left and after heading back to the car to put our groceries in the back, we decided to hang out and do ourselves a little hangout at the mall. We decided to check on a bookstore when all of a sudden, we heard some voices that sounded all too familiar. And what familiar if you may ask? Well....
It was those same ponies from yesterday.
"Kumusta na po kayo!" said the Earth Pony mare if i recall her name was Citrus Delight with a cheerful singing voice.
"Hey, let's go there!" the bat pony stallion named Bright Crescent (Yes! I remembered his name) pointed at the bookstore where me and Luke were.
And with that, the four ponies entered the bookstore and whilst doing that, I nudged Luke in the shoulder and he looked at me as I pointed with my lip on what I was pointing and to his surprise were the ponies we saw from yesterday. Those Equestrians kept looking at some of the books that are some covered in plastic while others weren't and when they saw us, their eyes grew wide and their ears perked along with their bright, shiny smiles grew big too as they headed towards where we were in order for them to say hello to us again.
"Hi there!" Citrus Delight chirped up in excitement. "We didn't think we'd see two familiar faces again!"
Luke chuckled, "And we didn't expect to see you guys again. So what bring you guys here?" he asked them.
"Well, we wanted to hang out at the mall since we've visited some of the places in our first destination: Manila." said Melodic Nimbus" We've already visited some of the well know landmarks in the country's capital and yesterday, we visited some of the best destinations here in Subic, Zambales before we met you guys in your eatery!"
"You did?!", we exclaimed in unison on what we heard from them.
"Yes siree!" Clockstruck Hour told us in delight. "And we have some proof to show you twins." he handed us a phone fit for Equestrians like themselves as we looked at them. "There were so much beautiful places that we went whilst we were there like historical buildings, museums, libraries.....
He continues rambling about it while me and Luke were looking at the photos And holy shit, we did not expect them to have good shots at our country. The first batch of photos was when they were in Manila and there they were at places like Intramuros, Luneta Park, Manila Zoo, Manila Ocean Park, National Museum, Manila Bay, and more. The next batch of photos is when they were in Subic yesterday as he told us that they were staying in a hotel during their visit in our country and what we saw is that they were in Ocean Adventure, Zoobic Safari, President Ramon Magsaysay's House, Adventure Beach, and finally Subic Bay
"Wow!" said Luke in a surprised voice. "That's a ton of landmarks you fellas visited."
"Thank you." Citrus Delight told us as Luke handed the phone back to Clockstruck and that's when she told us something. "Oh, we'd better get going then, see ya!"
They headed towards the door and when they did that, it attracted the attention of a family that consisted the parents as always and their two children with the oldest being their son and the youngest being their daughter and that said daughter of theirs saw those ponies, she exclaimed in delight, "Mommy! Daddy! Kuya! Tignan ninyo, o. Mga kabayo!"
Me and Luke watched some videos of unfortunate Equestrian tourist being helplessly chased by young kids especially little girls due to the fact they are cute and cuddly as well as them looking like they got out of a fairytale dream. So now, we watched as the parents nervously wanted to just leave whilst the ponies allowed the siblings to cuddle them and somehow, it attracted attention to some mallgoers too. I looked at my watch and the time read 12:10 PM and we realized that we were hungry so we left the bookstore not before Luke bought a book and when we left the bookstore, we decided to eat at an 8cuts where I ordered a Chick 'Wich with Onion Rings and a Strawberry Fields Milkshake while my twin brother ordered a Cheeseburger with Salt and Pepper Wings, Fat Fries, and a Royal Tru Orange Soda. When we were done eating and paying the bill, we left the mall and headed straight to our home and brought the groceries inside in order to begin our restocking again.
It took more than a lot of minutes but in the end, we were done and soon enough, it was time to open our eatery and when that happened, many customers entered and guess who were the first ones to order?
If you may have guessed about those ponies we met, then your answer is correct, Reader! Those same ponies were the first ones to order and this time, they were going to do take-out in which the ponies wanted to try our sorbetes ice cream and they gave us their orders: Clockstruck wanted a chocolate one, Melodic wanted to try an ube flavored one in a pandesal, Citrus wanted a queso ice cream, and last but not the least, Bright wanted a mango one in a cup. I told them it's a total of eighty-eight pesos. They gave us a one-hundred peso bill and I gave the total amount of their change which is twelve pesos in coins and Luke got to work straight away with quick precision in which he gave them their orders at once. They left the eatery ready to hail a taxi that will take them back to their hotel.
When it was already closing time and whilst we were cleaning the place up, I couldn't help but think about the new changes in our world. It makes you wonder what is reality and what is fantasy considering the fact that we have creatures from a magical land like ours only different and yet here they are in the flesh and blood of everybody's eyes and some are close friends while others....well....not so much.
But I have to remember that this real and there's nothing that can change forever.
Can you say that I'm crazy for this new change? The answer is a big "Yes!"
The Santos Twins were back at work ever since summer ended for them and it was alright for the two to be back at their respective jobs. Luke was back dealing with his routine at Ocean Adventure and the same thing goes for Maggie who is also back in dealing with her routine in Zoobic Safari. They've been working in those places since the twins turned 22, and ever since then, the twins knew how to deal with the simplest to the most disgusting tasks that their bosses have done. And if you want to ask on what the grossest things they've done, then I'd suggest that you do not ask so that we wouldn't want to gross others. Thank you very much!
Likewise, as we continue forward on the story, when the time was done, the twins packed up their stuff and headed towards to their house. You might be wondering if they were in their car, then the answer is no. No, if you may ask? Well you see, they decided to take a taxi and insisted them to be dropped off to their routes and when they were done, the twins took a jeep and told the driver to drop them off nearing their house, and whilst walking back to their home, you might wanna guess on what happened next, dear reader.
Alas! Those same ponies last summer that Luke and Maggie saw were just trying out local street food and we all know that they cannot eat meat due to them being herbivores, c'mon, kids; you know this in your Science class, right? Yeah. But any who, back to where we need to be, those tourists were just wandering and goggling at the sights when they saw the Santos twins again much to their delight once more.
"Well! Fancy seeing you twins again!", said Clockstruck who sported a wide grin on his face.
Luke chuckled, "And nice to see you ponies for the third time in a row!"
"I know right?!", beamed Melodic. "Who knew our paths might cross again not once, and not even twice, but thrice! Can you believe that?!"
Maggie smirked, "I noticed. By the way, don't you have enough money to return home?"
"We do, and we have a friend who works here along with our other friends considering have some jobs in Subic while some of our other friends are visiting", assured Citrus.
"Who are your other friends?", the Santos twins asked in unison.
Bright volunteered to tell them on who they were, "We have five friends who work and settle in here and they're in the forms of a female Diamond Dog, a male Abyssinian, a female Ornithian, a male changeling, and a male dragon while our other five friends are in the forms of a female griffon, a male hippogriff, a male yak, a male zebra, and a female kirin on whom we along with them visit our working friends if they have the time.", he finished it off to Luke and Maggie until he had a question to ask on them. "Say, what are your jobs anyways?"
Luke decided to answer his question, "Well, I'm a marine biologist working at Ocean Adventure"
"And I'm a zookeeper at Zoobic Safari", Maggie told them
"Wait!", exclaimed Citrus in shock, "You both work in those places?! How come we never see you guys?"
"Well, our bosses told us that we needed a break and they'll cover up for them and we accepted that so that's the reason you didn't see us, during summer.", Luke told them until he decided to ask the ponies an important question, "Now it's our turn to ask a question this time. What are your jobs in the first place?"
"Oh-ho-ho!", said Melodic with a sly smirk, "You two wanna know our jobs, huh? Our cutie marks are a hint on that, buster."
The twins knew about this one before. You see, the first Equestrians they met was a couple in the forms of a unicorn mare and a Pegasus stallion in which the mare had a book and quill for a cutie mark and the stallion had a cocktail shaker for a cutie mark. It was an easy guess due to the fact that the unicorn is a best-selling author in Equestria and the Pegasus was a bartender which was enough to say the least.
Bright Crescent and Citrus Delight were easy since the bat pony stallion is an astronomer and the Earth Pony mare is a seller of the best citrus-only juices such as oranges, limes, grapefruits, and well....you name it! The tricky challenge is the Pegasus and the unicorn which is somehow confusing, Maggie's first guess that Melodic is a singer and her answer was no, her second guess was a composer, not even close, finally, she decided that it was somehow a maker of musical instruments and she was right. Luke decided to guess about Clockstruck's job; his first guess on him is that he makes clocks and that was a nope for him, the second guess is that he was a clock-fixer and that was answered by a big yes in which he smiled in delight having relieved of himself answering that guessing game.
"Say", Clockstruck pondered, "Have you both visited Equestria before?"
"Actually yes", Maggie answered, "It was a long time ago before we met you....."
Flashback
The twins were just getting used to it back in October of the year 2023, when their parents decided that they will test them out but their triplet siblings couldn't come since they were staying with their aunt and uncle in Antipolo City, Rizal for two whole weeks. So when they both entered the portal, they braced for their forms when the family arrived in Equestria
Luke turned into a unicorn stallion with a gold coat along with pink eyes and a mane of the colors red and black as well as a cutie mark of an orca and a great white shark in a yin and yang form, Maggie turned into a Pegasus mare with a light emerald-green coat along with olive eyes and a mane of the color yellow-orange as well as a cutie mark of a lion's pawprint, their parents turned into the respective forms of a unicorn mare and a Pegasus stallion.
I guess you could say, dear reader on who inherited who, right?
Back to the story, readers! The twins along with the ponies continued walking and chatting on they way until they finally stopped at the destination where Luke and Maggie needed to be, their home. Before departing, the Equestrian tourists asked them for their address and without thinking twice, they decided to give them to it knowing that they can trust them after all. The four ponies waved goodbye and goodnight to them as they headed towards their home in order to relax and then end the day with a good night's rest.
Busy worktime with their chosen jobs can halt their relaxation and time with their friends old and new, but it doesn't mean that the fun things are just around the corner, only that if they want it, then they must focus on the important things first rather than the fun things last.
Everybody around the world knows about this one date, and it only means one thing: Christmas, and in this archipelago, they celebrate it the Filipino way. The Santos twins like to do it differently and ever since they woke up on that morning, they were bombarded by tons of greetings in the Messenger app via their phones. However, they didn't go to today's evening mass and you may ask, why? Well it's because they've already went to mass on Christmas Eve, so there was no need to go to church anymore. While most Filipinos do what they call, "Simbang Gabi" or Night Mass in English, the twins prefer not to due to the fact that the lines are massive and it's quite hectic if to say so themselves.
Luke and Maggie we're busy setting up the table and using the money they earned during summer with their eatery, they have managed to order some food in their nearest fast food restaurants whilst their family will bring their homemade food like Lechon Kawali, Pancit Canton, Crispy Pata, anything Filipino and they'll do it considering the fact that their parents' cooking still beats going outside to eat and like what Dorothy Gale said in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz: "There's no place like home!".
After preparing the table, the guests had arrived and the first ones to greet them were their parents and their younger triplet siblings as they traded hugs, manos, and kisses to each other whilst they placed their home-cooked meals on the table, next came their relatives which consisted their aunts, uncles, cousins,& grandparents from both sides of their family which they too traded kisses, manos, and hugs along with one occasion having their cheeks pinched by their grandparents from both sides of their parents, making a bit embarrassing to say the least, then came some of their friends at their old school and college in which they greeted in hand shakes, hugs, fist bumps, shoulder pats, and the like.
It seemed like everyone was ready to tuck in until the doorbell rang, so the twins decided to answer it and who couldn't have thought when they opened the door, they were in for a real treat this Christmas; It was none other than their four pony friends and they brought along their own friends from different Equestrian races with them to celebrate this holiday.
"Ay!!", exclaimed Maggie in excitement, "Oh my God, it's good to see you guys again!"
"It's good to see you twins once more before we leave next year", Melodic said with a chuckle.
"Wait! You guys are leaving for tomorrow?", Luke asked in a surprised tone.
Clockstruck nodded, "Some of us are heading back to Equestria while some of our friends remain in here to continue earning money for themselves and to others as well. So we might as well join you guys for this years Christmas and Hearth's Warming Eve and can you believe it? Double this festive season with us and yourselves! May we come in?", he asked afterwards.
"Come on in, then!", they exclaimed in unison.
The Equestrian group entered and the twins introduced them to their family, relatives, and old school and college friends. Of course, they were all shocked to see that Luke and Maggie made friends with these Equestrians and that some were seeing them in the flesh and blood. The twins noticed that when they greeted, they were using "Po", "Opo", and "Mano Po" along with the traditional hand blessing and they knew one thing; the group had learned more from their culture and got used to talking with them in Tagalog via the phrasebook upon observation after their greetings to them.
"Okay, everyone! It's time to eat, so wash up before we start.", Maggie told them in an instant and suddenly, everyone was doing that and when it was done, they headed towards the table and said their blessings and afterwards, the feast began with everyone grabbing food along with the Equestrians getting food appropriate for their diet, the herbivores got Filipino-based vegetable meals, the carnivores decided to get some food that contained a ton of meat, and the omnivores went all mixed food, with the sounds of the joyous chewing and laughter mixed in the air of the Santos Twins' house.
Once everything was cleaned up after eating, they decided to have a bit of chat, a few games, and even letting the four tourist ponies let the younger ones pet them so that they can show the little ones that they are harmless. Suddenly, someone announced that it was time for presents and that caused everyone in the house to be excited for it. Some of the gifts were toys, books, clothes, and sometimes cheap or expensive jewelry as well as others. When it was the tourist ponies' turn, they turned towards the twins and handed out two rectangle-shaped presents to them.
"Here you go, you two. Our presents to you twins who we first met last summer!", Citrus told them.
"What is it?", Luke asked them with curiosity.
"Guess we'll have to open it and see it for ourselves, bro.", Maggie told him.
Without asking anymore questions, the twins decided to open the wrapper and what they saw surprised them in an instant. The presents turned out to be photo albums and when they opened it, they could see the photos of their pony friends along with their Equestrian friends and what also amazed them is that there were also photos of themselves with them too. These ponies worked hard in creating these special presents for them they almost can't speak due to it.
"So....do you like it, you two?", Bright curiously asked them.
"Like it?", they asked in unison before they gave them their answer, "No, we love it!"
The ponies cheered in delight on the gift that Luke and Maggie received from them as they tackled the twins in order to give them a massive hug and in return, they gave them back the hug to the group. Everyone who was watching can't help but be touched by their hearts on what the twins received from their equine friends and it was something that they'll never forget.
When it was already getting late, everyone headed back to their destinations but not before the ponies and their other Equestrian creature friends decided to give one last hug to Luke and Maggie as well as promising them that they will see each other again someday, and the twins returned the favor that they would also love to see them too and visit Equestria some other time. After leaving, the two humans decided to look at their gifts before calling the holiday off.
The twins never thought that they will be friends from otherworldly lands and it was a memory they will never forget, and even though they may not be able to see them sometime again, the memories with these Equestrians will live on forever, and their country, The Philippines is a country they will cherish no matter what. "Mabuhay Pilipino at Mabuhay Pilipinas!"
