Chapters Tale of Two Bronies
Prologue
STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA
“Hey Twilight. What's soaking wet and clueless?”
“Fluttershy, I've had just about enough of-”
“YOUR FACE!”
When Fluttershy slammed the bucket down on Twilight's head, I had to quickly take the bowl of cereal away from my mouth while I nearly choked on what I had swallowed in laughter. My best friend Brady, sitting on the other bed in the hotel room, likewise failed to contain himself.
The season 2 premiere of Friendship is Magic continued on regardless of our bout of laughter, and we soon got ourselves under control so as to not miss any of the plot. Even in light of our lack of sleep the night before, we were still up dark and early on this Saturday morning in the small double bed room with a 27 inch television on the adjacent wall between the two beds.
“Who would've thought a year ago that we'd be planning time off around ponies?” Brady joked at a commercial, finishing his breakfast.
“Just imagine if I hadn't pushed and nagged you constantly for a week. Don't think I've forgotten your reaction when I told you I first started watching. 'Jake, are you crazy? Have you lost your mind? It's for little girls!'” I recited in an all-too-mocking tone. Brady leered at me.
“But that doesn't compare to the THREE weeks that it took you to finally read Cupcakes.” I continued, finishing up my cereal, and getting up to wash the bowl before the show returned from commercial break.
“Yeah, and here was your thought process for The Cupcake Chronicles: 'I'll take the goriest thing I can find and make it all sad and sappy!'
“Ha. Correction, I took the goriest, most well-written thing I found and made it all sad and sappy. You don't see me writing any alternate endings to Sweet Apple Massacre, now do ya?”
All these wisecracks were in good fun. Brady was grateful for his conversion to the Bronydom; he quickly got over his initial shock of Cupcakes, whilst I was completely aware that the success with my most popular fanfiction was mostly due to the coattails of Cupcakes.
The premiere finally wrapped up, complete with the obvious homage to Star Wars, and the credits began to roll.
“Too bad it doesn't say 'To Be Continued' again. I wanted to see you rage.”
“Oh? And you didn't rage last Saturday?”
“Well, no. I was expecting the same thing as the Season 1 pilot. Besides, what's the use of To Be Continued if you're gonna continue it in 30 seconds? Oooh, that was a long wait!”
“Shut up.” Brady replied, leering at me again. “Go write a sappy alternate ending to Sweet Apple Massacre.”
“I don't think so. Massacre wasn't even close to believable. Cupcakes was at least in-character and believable.”
“Pinkie cutting ponies up and baking them into treats is believable???”
“Well yeah, if you give her a bit of psychotic schizophrenia.”
“Psychowho schizowhatia?” a new voice sounded in the room.
We turned surprisingly towards the source of the voice, the television.
There was Pinkie, in front of the rolling credits, her front hooves on the edge of the screen. She climbed up, placing her front hooves higher on the glass, raising her bottom hooves to the bottom edges of the screen, and with the glass stretching with her like it was cellophane, Pinkie somersaulted out of the television with a pop, and landed with a soft thud on the hotel room carpet.
“PONY!” we both exclaimed simultaneously, before going into a state of dumbfounded shock.
“Hi!” she greeted friendly, and got no response, as we sat there on our respective beds, staring stupidly in shock at the now three-dimensional pink pony standing in front of the television set, which had apparently not been altered or damaged in any way.
“Wha-wha...how...?” was all I could muster from my agape mouth. Our bodies and minds were on the verge of going numb at the unexplained event that just took place. Pinkie didn't seem to react to our dumbfounded state.
That is, until she saw Brady's hoodie.
“Ooh! Balloons! Oh, more than balloons! My cutie mark!”
She bounded forward, ignoring physics as only she could, leaping up on Brady's bed, and came to a halt in front of him, inspecting his hoodie, her three-balloon cutie mark front and center on the chest. It had been his high school graduation present from me, the same time I got my cutie mark hoodie.
“And you have Dashie's! She'd love to see that!” Pinkie exclaimed, seeing mine as well, hopping over from bed to bed, and taking an equally closer look.
The two of us were at a loss for words as Pinkie Pie hopped off my bed and began looking around the room excitedly. Finally, it occurred to Brady to rush over and close the curtains to our room's window. And after he made sure no peering eyes could see inside, he went for the door.
“Jake, be right back.” and with that, he bolted out the door with the speed of an Olympic sprinter.
My mind still barely functioning, my gaze went from the shutting door back to Pinkie, who had, quite literally this time, broken the fourth wall.
Her form having expanded upon exiting the TV, she stood quite tall; taller than I thought when compared to a human. From her hooves to her back, she was about 4 feet tall, and her head came up to five, and with her cotton-candy-like hair, she nearly came up to my neck.
“How did you do that...?” I was finally able to ask her, fighting through my stupor, while she sniffed and inspected my luggage in the back corner by the bathroom.
“Oh it's nothing. I see you creatures all the time! Only this time I wanted a closer look, and pop! I guess I came too close, haha! What are you guys, anyway?”
“Um, humans.” I answered.
I'm sure if she was able, Pinkie would have unzipped all of my bags, and gone exploring through them. Who knows, maybe she could have, what with Applejack being able to hold sticks to roast marshmallows and carry a hobo sack without actually holding on to it. Perhaps her curiosity had already been satisfied.
I heard the card lock of our hotel room door click open, and for a split second, my mind went into panic mode. When the door opened, there stood Brady, out of breath, and holding two items.
A plate of a half dozen cupcakes, and a bottle of hotsauce.
“What are you...”
“We have. To try this.” he said, catching his breath.
Her attention also grabbed at the opening door, Pinkie's curious gaze snapped away from my small pile of luggage, and was now locked, and focused with the concentration of a laser beam, on the pile of cupcakes and hotsauce.
“I remember these are your favorite, Pinkie.” Brady said with a smile.
“Oh, absolutely posituvley!” Pinkie said, rhyming in her typical mannerism, sitting anxiously in between the beds as Brady sat opposite from me on his bed, setting the plate on the center nightstand while he popped open the glass bottle of hotsauce and proceeded to pour hotsauce on the six treats. After all six were well-covered with the red spicy liquid, he offered the first one to Pinkie, and the second one to me.
Taking it in my hand, I bravely took a bite and swallowed. Thirty seconds later, I found myself at the bathroom sink with my tongue directly under the faucet current, trying in vain to douse the fire in my mouth.
Pinkie had finished hers, and Brady had actually managed to eat his hotsauce-covered cupcake, and when it was apparent I wasn't going to be finishing the one I started, the pink party pony had no objection to finishing it off for me, drawing it in with her tongue and swallowed it with one gulp. By this time, I had made my way back to my bed, my tongue still protesting what I had tried.
“Mmm-mmm! That was super-duper-delicious! If only you two could taste the treats we make at Sugarcube Corner in Ponyville!”
Her eyes immediately widened, and we could've sworn we saw the lightbulb above her head blink on.
“Hey! Would you two like to come back to Ponyville with me? It's like, the most super fantabulously fun place ever!”
Here, our brains froze yet again. No, it wasn't enough strain on our perception of reality that Pinkie just happened to pop through the TV and land in our hotel room. Now, she was offering to take us back with her.
“How can we go back with you? Is that even possible?”
“Oh it's easy! It's the least I can do to thank you for the cupcakes! And you can meet my friends!”
Why it took us the better part of five seconds to answer that question, I'll never know.
“Yeah, sure! Let's go!”
“Allllright!” Pinkie exclaimed. She scampered towards the television, and waved for us to join her. We stood on either side of her, and she leaped up, reaching around our necks with her front hooves, and brought us down to our hands and knees when she fell back to the ground.
“Might want to hang on. I'm not sure how the trip feels to hoo-mahns!” she warned, and with that, she started for the television with one, long leap, her marshmallow hooves around our shoulders, dragging us with her.
Fast approaching the screen, we had no idea what to expect. The last thing I remember doing before Pinkie hit the television, was squeezing my eyes shut and holding my breath. I felt myself get lifted off the carpet, and I felt resistance to our momentum at first, which soon gave way, and a bright white light fought through my closed eyelids, enveloping me completely. I opened my eyes, but didn't let out a breath yet, afraid that in this white space, there was no air to breathe back in.
Pinkie and Brady were nowhere to be seen, and I felt myself falling, yet I still felt the party pony's foreleg around my shoulders.
“Wahooooo!” Pinkie's voice echoed in the boundless space, and unable to hold my breath any londer, I drew in a breath, and waited for the landing.
If it was ever to come...
Tale of Two Bronies
Chapter 1
When feeling slowly began to return to my body, I felt soft ground beneath me, and heard the distant chirping of crickets. Leaves and tree branches bristled in the soft breeze. Sitting up, I had that feeling of waking from a long, deep sleep. I opened my eyes, and hazy shades of green and brown filled my retinas. Blinking to clear my vision, I quickly got my bearings; a thick, dark forest.
“Dude, we're here. We're actually here!” a familiar voice said. I turned, and there was Brady, already standing, seven feet from me. Looking around one more time, I realized where we were.
The Everfree Forest.
The key difference was that it looked a bit different. It was a cross between the flash animation of the show, and the realistic appearance of our own world. As I continued to take in my surroundings, I noticed that someone, or rather, somepony, was missing.
“Where's Pinkie? And how do we know which way is to Ponyville?” I asked. Brady joined in taking in the trees and plants around us, and pointed to our left.
“Look, over there, just before the clearing.” he said. I glanced over, and there was a cluster of small, blue-leafed plants on the forest floor.
“The poison joke!”
“Yep, and I'm guessing it's the same cluster at the entrance to the forest.”
We approached the clearing, and taking great care to not come in contact with the Poison Joke, we made our way out onto the dirt path. It was hard to recognize anything in the now slightly realistic-looking Equestria. Judging by the sky, it was also quickly approaching dusk. How long had we been laying there in the forest?
After five minutes of walking, we came across a bridge next to a literal treehouse. After a moment, we recognized it as Fluttershy's house. Brady ran up the front walk and gently knocked. We heard some scurrying of small animals on the other side, obviously disturbed by the knock, but otherwise, no one came to answer.
“She must be in Ponyville.” he said, and we continued down the path.
As we slowly approached town, with the sun getting lower and lower on the horizon, we caught the suspicious eyes of some ponies out for evening strolls. They looked rather identical to the way they looked in Garry's Mod. And we guessed they seldom saw humans in Equestria, if at all. Continuing to walk towards the center of town, we began to hear lively music coming from none other than Sugarcube Corner. A rather panicked pony ran inside, and moments later, a pair of balloons and confetti popped out, instantly followed by a pink head with curly poofy hair. Pinkie Pie.
“Oh THERE you are! Geez Louise, what kind of welcome party is it if the guests of honor don't show up!”
Pinkie sprang out of the door and happily took hold of our arms and dragged us inside. We barely managed to stay on our feet. She firmly placed us on the welcome mat just inside the front door. Sugarcube Corner had been spectacularly decorated, in typical Pinkie Pie fashion. Streamers hung all over the ceiling, confetti was scattered everywhere over the floor, and balloons had been strung up wherever something could be tied.
“Hey everypony, they're finally here!” she announced, and we were met with the gaze of about two dozen ponies in the main lobby.
Five of whom, we instantly recognized.
A few of the ponies shared whispered murmurs.
“Well don't be shy, introduce yourselves to everypony!” Pinkie encouraged.
“Um...hi everybody, err- everypony. My name's Jake.”
“And I'm Brady.”
We sheepishly waved, still dealing with the overwhelming sense of awe, and barely managing to contain our enthusiasm.
“Isn't that shirt just the greatest?” Pinkie said, pointing at Brady's hoodie. “Dashie, look at Jake's!”
The all-too-familiar cyan Pegasus pony poked out above of the crowd, her wings flapping gently, keeping her aloft, she leered at me, and gasped upon seeing my hoodie. I expected accusations of being a spy, but what I received was quite different. She zoomed at me, coming to a halt directly in front of me.
“Ohmygoshohmygosh! That is SO AWESOME! I have a fan from another world!” she squeed happily.
“Just one of many, I can assure you.” I said.
“So you actually exist.” another familiar voice said, Twilght Sparkle coming up to greet us. “Everything I read in my studies said humans were mythological creatures.”
“If it's any consolation, most of us think the same thing about Pegasi and Unicorns.” Brady said with a chuckle.
“Pinkie said you knew us! You must, with those somewhat fashionable shirts. How?” Rarity asked.
Hmm. How to explain this one?
“We have a...um...magical box called a television. We've watched several of Twilight's adventures with you guys.” I explained.
“Yeah, just before Pinkie came through the television, we saw you guys defeat Discord.” Brady continued.
“We did that just this morning. Actually, this party was going to be a celebration of that, and then Pinkie came back and said she had some surprise guests. To be perfectly honest, we had no idea what she was talking about.” Applejack said.
“Yeah. I was expecting you guys to drop down right next to me, but I guess we got separated somewhere along the way. Where did you guys land, anyway?”
“The Everfree Forest.”
Some of the party's other guests gave a shudder.
“That place just isn't natural.” Applejack said.
“Well, it's perfectly natural where we come from. Maybe it's a sliver of our world. After all, I don't think Princesses raise our sun and moon.” Brady interjected.
The idea was incredibly foreign to Ponyville's residents.
“You mean they do it by themselves?” Rarity asked.
I shrugged.
“No one's sure.”
“Who knows, maybe Princess Celestia and Princess Luna raise your sun and moon too!” Twilight suggested.
“If they do, we have no idea that they do it.” Brady answered, deciding to entertain the idea.
“Somepony's missing...” Pinkie said, eying the room.
“Ah-ha! Fluttershy, come say hi!”
“Um...okay.”
Brady and I truly had to strain to contain our inner squeeing as Fluttershy slowly made her way up to us with the rest of her friends. She came up to us and barely managed to look at us from behind her hair. It reminded both of us with her first encounter with Twilight.
“H-hi. Nice to meet you.” she said, offering a small smile.
“Nice to meet you too, Fluttershy. Quite a few humans back home are fans of yours.” I greeted.
“Oh? That's nice. What do they like about me?”
“A lot of 'em think you're the cutest one in Ponyville.” Brady answered.
“Oh, no. My animals are much cuter than me.” she answered modestly.
We had no intention of embarrassing the animal caretaker, so we made no mention of the incident at the Gala, or when she was 'Discorded'.
“Man, I'm hungry. I haven't had a bite to eat all day.” Brady said.
“Then let's beat feet and get somethin' to eat!” Pinkie lively announced, zooming into the kitchen and coming immediately back with a tray of hot, fresh cupcakes. These, in particular, had light blue frosting. We each took one, and my mischievous side took over. I waited until the precise moment that Brady took his first bite.
“Gee, I wonder what's in these.” I said, taking my first bite and watching Brady nearly choke on his. I giggled and smiled at him with a mouthful of the dessert. He leered at me.
“Oh, making cupcakes is super easy! ~All you have to do is take a cup of flour add it to the-”
“Pinkie! You have been singing that from the kitchen for two hours!” Rainbow annoyingly said.
“~Then add a little something sweet not sour, a bit of salt, just a pinch!” Brady continued, surprising Pinkie and the annoyed Rainbow.
“We...we saw that part too.” he said, blushing just slightly.
“At least the Hoomahns like my singing, Dashie.” Pinkie shot back, giggling.
“Humans, Pinkie. Hu-mans.” Twilight corrected, trying to get the proper pronunciation into the party pony's head.
“Seeing as you are Ponyville's newest guests, I would be thrilled to see if I can make you two some stunning new clothes over at Carousel Boutique. It'll certainly be fun to experiment! I've never tailored for anything other than ponies.” Rarity offered.
“And if you ever want to go for a nice quiet walk, I know the nicest gardens around Ponyville. I'd be happy to show them to you. That is, if you want to...” Fluttershy timidly suggested.
“And don't forget about comin' on down to Sweet Apple Acres. It'd be swell to give you two a tour of the farm!” Applejack added. So it would seem that our itinerary was filling up fast, and that there would be no shortage of things to do. As we continued devouring all manners of sweets, we thought the sugar high would go on forever.
But soon, surprisingly, as the sun went below the horizon and the party began to die down, we felt tired; as if we'd been awake all day. As the music was turned to a quieter level, we found two comfortable chairs, sank down into them, and drifted off to sleep.
Tale of Two Bronies
Chapter 2
SUGARCUBE CORNER
I slowly came to from where I had fallen asleep the night before; in the soft roomy chair in the corner of the room, albeit in a slightly more slouched position. However, when I moved to get up, my stomach protested.
Painfully.
With a groan, I slouched back down, letting my gut throb in defiance. And I pretty much knew the cause: too many sweets. We had got caught up in partying with ponies. Next to me in another chair, Brady was getting up, and was too feeling the painful sugar crash.
“I...I think we overdid it...” I moaned over to him. We heard a rapid trotting on the floorboards above us, and seconds later, Pinkie was bounding down the stairs.
“Rise and shine, you two! There's so much to do toda-. Hey, you two don't look so cheery.” Pinkie surmised. She quickly came closer for a more thorough inspection, looking at us from all manner of angles.
“What's the matter? Not morning ponies? I mean, well, you know what I mean. How about some breakfast? Yeah, that'll get you going!”
She zoomed off to the kitchen, and after about a minute of clattering pans and utensils, she returned to us with a plate of hayfries and daisy sandwiches. Normally we would've objected to flowers and hay, but seeing as how the only other option in the building was probably sweets, we were willing to give it a shot.
It turned out exactly how you would expect it to for two people who had never eaten a flower or crispy hay before. With the way we were feeling, we couldn't stomach more than one bite of each.
“Hmm. I'm not sure what else I can do. Maybe a visit to Nurse Redheart would be best.”
We managed to get up, slowly, and follow Pinkie outside, and uneasily walked with her to Ponyville Urgent Care. It was a small clinic in the middle of town. To our surprise, it was not the emergency tent set up during the Baked Bads poisoning, but more akin to what I had described in A Precious Rainbow. Pinkie went up to the front counter.
“How can we help you?” the receptionist asked.
“We've got a couple of tummy aches here.” Pinkie said, pointing back to us.
The receptionist looked at us quizzically, and then called the nurse. There weren't any other patients this morning, so Nurse Redheart came right out. Next thing we knew, we were sitting on an examination table, with thermometers in our mouths.
“I really don't know what I can do, Pinkie. I'm a nurse for ponies. I haven't the slightest understanding of human anatomy.”
“I really jush think ith was too many thweets last night, that's all.” I said, thermometer in between my teeth, and Pinkie seemed aghast at the suggestion.
“What?? How can you have too many sweets?!”
“Do keep in mind that they're not ponies, Pinkie.” Nurse Redheart said, to which Pinkie shrugged.
“It must be a human thing. But then if you guys can't have too many sweets or hay or daisies, what CAN you eat here in Equestria?” Pinkie wondered, placing her chin on a hoof, and then her eyes went wide, as the lightbulb came on above her head.
“That's it! Come on guys! To the library!” she exclaimed, and with that she zoomed out of Nurse Redheart's office. Brady and I exchanged brief glances, and handed the thermometers back to her, thanking her for the effort.
“I wonder if she waited for us, or if we have to ask where to find the library.”
Pinkie did indeed wait for us, somewhat impatiently. She bounded up and down outside the entrance, and once she saw us, she waved a hoof in her direction.
“Come on, follow me!”
She bounced down the center of town in her usual Pinkie Pie fashion, and we kept a steady pace behind her, and got several odd looks from ponies passing by on their various errands. Some shared whispers and murmurs about the two bipedal creatures in Ponyville.
After a few minutes of walking, we came to the Ponyville Public Library. Pinkie bounded through the door while we more politely saw ourselves in.
“Hey Twilight!” she gleefully greeted her friend, laying by a bookshelf with a book, sipping a cup of tea.
“Hey there, Pinkie.” Twilight replied, and then saw us enter the doorway. “Morning, you two. Sleep well?” she asked.
“Well, actually, we have a itty bitty problem, Twilight.” Pinkie informed her.
The unicorn then took notice of how unpleasant we looked.
“What's wrong?”
The idea was not as foreign to Twilight as it was to Pinkie, having ate more than her share at the brunch at Sweet Apple Acres during her first day in Ponyville.
“You two should go see Nurse Redheart, she could do something.” Twilight suggested.
“That's where we just came from, and no, she can't.” I told her.
“She doesn't know how to treat humans.” Pinkie stated.
“So now you're here. Because you think I can do something...?” Twilight assumed.
The realization and possibility hit us like a wall.
“Pinkie...are you crazy?” Twilight asked, bewildered at the idea.
“What, are you saying that out of all your magic books, you can't come up with a transformation spell?” Pinkie asked.
“Well, I s-suppose I could, but I don't know how safe it could be. I don't think any of my books have possible side effects on humans.”
“Twilight, you have to think of something! They haven't really enjoyed themselves so far. Half of what we eat they can't stomach, and ponies around town have been giving them looks. It'd be better for everypony if they could, you know, blend in.”
“Well...I'll give it a try. I can't promise anything more than that. Still, it's completely up to you two. I don't know if it'll be 100% safe.”
We nodded, still overly excited and nervous at the mere possibility.
“In the meantime, can you guys stomach some apples? That's the only thing I can think of, and I know Applejack would love some new guests.”
As our stomach pains were slowly dying down, and morning hunger replacing it, juicy apples sounded good to us.
“Yeah, that sounds delicious, actually.” I replied.
“Alright! Follow me, boys! To Sweet Apple Acres!” Pinkie announced, and then bounded out of the library.
“Thanks for what you're about to try, Twilight.” Brady said.
“No problem. I hope I'm successful, if you guys actually want to go through with it.”
With that, we followed Pinkie back out into Ponyville.
“You'll love the Apple family farm! I bet if she isn't busy, Applejack can give you that tour she offered last night!” Pinkie said excitedly.
“Right now I think we'll settle for some food and calm stomachs.” Brady replied.
It was a little bit of a hike to the outer edges of Ponyville where the Sweet Apple Acres farmland was. The weather, if it was the same time of year that it was in our world, was pleasant for mid-September. When the farm got in sight, the sun was high in the sky. It had to be close to noon. We were barely through the front gate before we were greeted by a friendly southern voice.
“Well, howdy y'all. Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres, you two.” Applejack greeted, approaching from a small patch of apple trees. We were half expecting the rapid hoof-shake, but she didn't, merely tipping her hat at us.
“Hey there Applejack. I brought Jake and Brady over for some brunch, if you have anything ready. Preferably something that goes easy on the tummy. They had a bit too many sweets last night.” Pinkie explained again.
“Well, ah' believe ah've got just the thing. Come on inside!” Applejack answered, leading us to the farmhouse. Inside, it was a warm, welcome atmosphere, nice, rustic, and homey. She took us to the kitchen, and sat us down at the dining table. She went to the fridge, and came back with two small cups of applesauce.
“Here we are. The famous Apple Family applesauce is good for what ails ya!”
The applesauce was of a consistency that we could easily drink it, as we weren't positive that ponies used silverware.
“So what else do y'all have planned for today?” Applejack asked, taking a sip of apple juice.
“Twilight's gonna try to turn them into ponies!” Pinkie excitedly announced.
This caused Applejack to nearly choke on what she was drinking, spitting her apple juice out, and coughed momentarily before regaining her composure.
“Can...can she do that?” AJ asked.
“We're not sure, but she's gonna try. That way these two can enjoy themselves a bit more, and everypony can stop giving them weird looks. I mean come on, what kind of a Ponyville welcome is that?” Pinkie answered.
“So...what kinda ponies do ya hope to become?” Applejack asked.
“I'd love to be a Pegasus. To see what it's like to fly.” I said.
“A Pegasus would be nice, but I'd also like to see what it's like to use Unicorn magic.” Brady added.
Pinkie and AJ seemed a bit put off.
“Why, 'ah'll have ya know that there are plenty of fine qualities that Earth Ponies possess. For one, we're stronger than anypony else. Ponyville was founded and built by Earth Ponies!”
“I didn't mean anything by it, honest. Besides, who knows if we'll have any control over it, or if it'll even work.” I said, taking another swallow of applesauce.
“It'll be exciting no matter what kinda pony you are!” Pinkie Pie said excitedly.
Once we were done with the applesauce, our stomachs felt considerably better, considering there was now something else other than sugar in them.
“Thanks for breakfast, Applejack.” Brady thanked the farmer.
“Ain't nothin. Mah pleasure. Would y'all care for a tour of the farm?”
We had time to kill, so we said we'd love a tour. So with that, we were off on a hike around Sweet Apple Acres.
Contrary to it's namesake, there was much more to the farm than apples. First up, was of course, the farm's apple orchards, followed by a group of orange trees, at which point I asked Applejack about the difference in fruit.
“The Apple family has farms and orchards all over Equestria. We're best known for our apples, but we grow all kinds of food and livestock. Usually, the bruised apples we can't sell, we collect up and feed the pigs.”
After the orange trees, there was a small grape vineyard, and a field of corn. Applejack and her family had quite a lot of land out here. Last but not least was the barn, which housed cows, pigs, and chickens. By the time the tour was over and done with, it was late afternoon, and before we headed back into town, Applejack insisted we sit down to a nice hot dinner; scrambled eggs, toast, and a delicious slice of apple pie for dessert. When we were good and full, we followed Pinkie back into Ponyville, and headed straight for the library.
We entered to find the ground floor occupied by a tired Spike.
“Hey Spike. Where's Twilight?” Pinkie asked.
“Down in the basement working on something. She's been down there all day.” Spike replied with a yawn, and then headed upstairs for some sleep. Meanwhile, we made our way to the basement door, and walked down the wooden steps circling the underground room. Twilight was surrounded by books at a table, which contained all manner of glass tubes and measuring devices.
“Any luck Twi-twi?” Pinkie asked.
“I...think so.” she replied, and that got our hearts racing. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, she stepped aside, revealing two glasses of glowing, sparkling purple liquid.
“I don't know how long it'll last, or even if I would have to make a potion to reverse the effects. But with everything I've read, I believe this is as close as I'm going to get. There's no way to test it, so are you guys absolutely sure about this?” she asked cautiously.
Brady and I exchanged glances. Clearly, we were both nervous.
“Yeah, we're ready to try it.” Brady replied. I nodded in agreement. Twilight nodded in return, with a barely noticeable gulp.
“Well then, bottoms up, you two.” she told us.
We approached the wooden table. We were visibly shaking with anticipation as we carefully picked up the sparkling potions. We brought them up to our faces, exchanged one last glance at each other, and then together, put the bottles to our lips, tilted them up, and swallowed the potion, trying our best to ignore what it would taste like.
To our surprise, it had a sweet tangy taste to it. As it made its way down our throats, we immediately felt a fizzling, tingly feeling spreading throughout our bodies, followed by heavy fatigue.
“Hey, I think...I need to go lay down.”
That was the last thing I remember saying before blacking out.
Tale of Two Bronies
Chapter 3
PONYVILLE LIBRARY
For the second time in a row since arriving in Equestria, I felt myself wake up from a blackout, feeling slowly returning to my body.
But this time, something was definitely not right. My neck, my arms, my legs; all of them felt a little 'off.'
I opened my eyes, and the blurry interior of the Ponyville Library greeted me. Looking around, or at least trying to, I noticed Twilight and her five friends surrounding me.
“Twilight...?” I asked. At least my voice sounded normal.
“It worked.” she replied.
I looked down, and finally saw my body.
Hooves. Dark brown coat. And a blue and purple tail.
Moving them around, I manged to get up, and after swaying for a few seconds, stay on my feet. I always assumed it would've felt like being down on my hands and knees, but it didn't. It felt like I had an extra pair of legs that I now had to use. And as for my arms...
They felt like they were coming out of my back. My eyes widened at the realization.
I turned my head nearly 180 degrees, and I saw them. Wings.
It was an incredible amount to take in; a nonstop assault on the normal human mind. As I continued staring at my wings, I tried to move them as I would my arms. Giving them a flap, I found myself unexpectedly thrust off the ground mere inches, before landing on the floor again, but losing my balance and falling forward on my chin. Rainbow couldn't help but giggle.
“You'll get the hang of it eventually.” she told me, as I got back up to my feet.
It then occurred to me to look down to my right, where Brady was now coming too. Or rather, I assumed it was Brady. A charcoal pony lay on the ground next to me on the main floor of the library, with two shades of brown in their mane and tail, and a horn rose from their forehead.
“Brady?”
The unicorn groaned in return.
“My head...” he moaned as he came to.
Twilight's horn glowed, and she levitated over a full-length mirror, and I stared, dumbfounded at the dark brown Pegasus that stared back at me. My mane could be considered a mohawk, as it curved up and forward from the back of my neck, striped in purple and blue. My large, cartoon-like eyes were a bright teal, and it would seem that I already had a pair of glasses to go along with them. I slowly stretched my wings out, taking care not to flap them too hard. I took the time to fold them in towards my body, and out, trying my best to get used to this new body.
Brady had finally gotten enough out of his post-transformation haze that he tried getting to his feet. Wobbling unsteadily for several seconds, he had less luck than I, and promptly fell to the ground. We might as well have been foals, for how foolish we looked. Twilight went over to him and helped him to his feet. Again, he had considerable trouble staying on his four hooves, and Twilight assisted him with a levitation spell while he found his balance.
“Thanks,” he said to Twilight with a smile, and slowly made his way over to the mirror, and stood next to me. His light-and-dark-brown mane was a little less 'wild' than mine, more traditional when it came to the inhabitants of Ponyville. His eyes were a shade of tan, and he also sported a pair of glasses more suited to the size of his eyes. As both of us looked ourselves over in the mirror, we both noticed one thing:
We had no Cutie Marks. In looking back at his flanks, Brady lost his balance once again, and fell over. I couldn't help but chuckle. He managed to get up on his own, though.
"So much for not getting noticed. We'll be the only two adult ponies in town with no cutie marks. Add to that, a unicorn that can't walk, can't use his horn, and a Pegasus that can't fly." Brady mused.
He was right. When it came to blending in, we were really kinda only halfway there.
"Who knows? Spend enough time here, and you might get Cutie Marks. And I'd be more than happy to get you walking with no trouble, and I can certainly show you the ropes of unicorn magic." Twilight offered.
"And if you need help flying, look no further! I'll have you tearing through the clouds in no time!" Rainbow declared.
"I think I'd enjoy that. If I weren't risking crashing into the ground or a mountainside.” I replied.
“Nonsense. Don't worry about a thing. I know what to do, come on!” and with that she flew out the door. The others present ushered me to go with her and have a good time, so a trotted out of the library and followed the flying Rainbow on the ground as best I could. She flew out of Ponyville out to the surrounding meadows. By the time I had finally caught up with her, she was busy grabbing clouds from the sky, and bunching them together low over a lake.
“Since Flight Camp isn't for another few months, I figure this is the best way to learn.” she said. Several minutes later, there was a wide clump of clouds 20 feet above the lake. She looked down at me from them.
“Alright, let's see what you've got. Fly up here!” she told me.
Giving my wings a good flap, I felt myself get lifted off the ground. It was still an unexpected rush, enough of one that I forgot to flap them again, and immediately fell back to the ground. Having only gained five feet on my takeoff, I managed to stay on my feet.
“Um, I'm not sure how gravity works in your world, but you have to keep flapping them.” Rainbow told me.
“I know, I'm just not used to having wings.” I replied. Trying again, this time, I stomached the upward rush and kept flapping, and likewise, kept ascending. Not knowing how to slow or balance my ascension, I again lost my focus, and was high enough up where I went into a dive, and went face first into Rainbow's cloud collection.
At least I had gotten up there. After giggling momentarily, Rainbow helped me to my feet, and I now had to get used to standing on clouds.
“Hmm, how to explain this...” Rainbow said, tapping her chin with a hoof.
“It's like this; you're flapping too hard. Look, watch.” Rainbow stretched her wings out, and gave them a light flap, and lightly lifted a few feet up off the cloud. Rainbow kept this light flapping constant, and hovered above the clouds.
“See, just...lightly. You're flapping them like...like...”
I stretched out my wings again, and gave them a light flap; lighter than I thought would be required to take off, and to my surprise, it worked. I felt myself gently leave the ground, and keeping the pattern steady as best I could, hovered alongside Rainbow. It was then that I had an epiphany; that Earth's physics didn't apply to some aspects of Equestria; like wings on a horse.
“Alright, you're getting it!”
As Rainbow got ready to move on to the next step, I couldn't help but wonder how Brady was doing in his opening minutes of being a Unicorn.
PONYVILLE LIBRARY
“Hmm, how to best explain it...try to think of it as another pair of legs, and not arms.” Twilight suggested, as Brady struggled to stay on his feet yet again.
“That's pretty much the problem. It's getting used to a whole other pair of legs, that has to work in tandem with the pair I'm used to.” he replied.
“Well, I'm sure you'll get it the same way everypony gets it.”
Brady stared blankly at her in response.
“Practice.”
“And my horn? Will I be able to use magic?”
“That, on the other hand, will require active teaching, and I'd be happy to show you some basics.” Twilight said, walking over to a bookshelf and browsed through the books, her horn glowing as she searched for the one she wanted.
“Ah-ha!” she said, telekinetically pulling a book from the shelf, and showing it to Brady.
“Born With A Horn, All The Basics To Levitation for Unicorns. Catchy.” he replied, reading the cover.
“I'm not sure how good of a reference this will be for a human-turned-pony but-”
Twilight was cut off as Brady's horn began to glow, and the cover of the book opened to the first page. It surprised him as much as it did her, as his eyes widened, the glowing ceased, and the book fell to the floor.
“H-how did I do that?” Brady asked in surprise.
“I don't know. How did you?”
Twilight looked down at the book on the floor, and then back up at him.
“Try it again.” she suggested.
And so he did. He thought about mentally reaching down with his arms, grabbing the book with his hands, and opening it up. In going through that mental process, his horn glowed, and mimicked his mind, the book floating up to him, and opening up.
“That's...amazing, how fast you learned how to do it!” Twilight said, ecstatic.
“I didn't learn anything, though. It just feels like...that the horn is an extension of my arms and hands.”
“Good thing too, because you're going to need to focus on staying on your feet.” she said with a light giggle.
“Well, levitation is one thing. What about, you know, actual magic? Mustaches, turning rocks into top hats, those kind of things.”
“Heh, you're as excited and anxious as I was when I first started learning. True, levitation and item manipulation is the easiest kind of unicorn magic. Actual tricks and teleportation are harder. But it all comes down to mentality. It's all about concentration.” Twilight said, her horn glowed intensely bright, there was a flash of light and a pop, and she vanished.
“Like this.” she continued, appearing on the other side of the room, on Brady's other side, startling him, and causing him to lose his footing again, but he managed to catch himself this time, replanting his front hooves on the library floor.
“And I think you need to get walking down before you delve into magic tricks, don't ya think?”
“I'm a fast learner.” he replied, and began to trot around the room, uneasily, but stayed on his feet. Twilight smirked.
“So you are.”
OUTSIDE PONYVILLE
Meanwhile, Rainbow had managed to teach me the basics of ascending and descending, so I could control myself in flight. The feeling was exhilarating. To quote Rainbow herself...
I liked it. A lot.
“You're not half-bad, Jake!” Rainbow complimented, “To be honest I figured you'd be like Fluttershy was at Flight Camp.”
“I was, for a few minutes at the beginning.” I countered, with no offense to Fluttershy, who was a fine flier by now.
“If you'd like to keep practicing, I have a few weather jobs to do around town.”
“I'll tag along, see how interesting a job on the Weather Patrol is.” I replied, following her away from the lake.
“Nothing to it, really. Every week, Cloudsdale sends me the weekly forecast for Ponyville, and it's my job to get everything ready. Sometimes I use help, other times I can easily do it myself.”
'Not bad for a Flight School dropout.' I thought to myself.
“So what do you do? I mean, what's your job back where you come from?” Rainbow asked me.
“Oh, me? I'm a truck driver.”
“Oh! Those flying moving vans! And you told me you never flew before!”
Rainbow shook her head.
“I'd find a new job if I were you.”
I shrugged.
“It puts food on the table, and I'm good at it. Yeah, granted it's not as exciting as flying, but I enjoy it.”
The mention of food caused my stomach to rumble. And although I had only been up for half a day, learning the ropes of flying had taken it's toll on my energy, and after a meal, I had the feeling I'd be ready for bed, seeing as the sun was already beginning to disappear below the horizon, and I was hoping for the first uneventful night here in Equestria. Just once, I wanted to wake up normally. Not with a stomachache, and not as another body I'd have to get used to. Yes, I was looking forward to tonight.
“By the way, where are you gonna sleep tonight?” Rainbow asked me, picking up on my train of thought.
“I guess wherever I can, either Sugarcube Corner or the library.”
PONYVILLE LIBRARY
Twilight had just finished sorting through a stack of books, while Brady came down the stairs for a third time.
“I think I'm getting it!” he proudly exclaimed.
“I told you. Practice makes perfect.”
Brady descended the last step, placing his hooves on the first floor again, and looked over at a box of books next to Twilight, as she finished her sorting.
“What are those books over there?” he asked.
“Hmm? Oh, those are my last books to come down from Canterlot. Problem is, I don't have anywhere to put them currently. I've been meaning to get another bookshelf built for my room upstairs, but I haven't gotten around to it.” Twlight explained.
“Well, I've dabbed a bit in carpentry back home. I'd be more than happy to put together a bookshelf for ya.”
Twilight relented.
“If you really want to, absolutely. But you'll most likely have to wait until tomorrow to go get everything you need.” she said, motioning to the starry night sky that now hung over Ponyville.”
Brady let out a yawn, and Twilight began ascending the stairs.
“You can stay here if you want. I have a second bed up in my bedroom. First, I have to send a letter to Princess Celestia, letting her know what's happened here. I'm sure she'll be interested, and will want to meet the two of you.”
He nodded, and followed her up to the second floor. He hopped up onto the bed adjacent to Twilight's, and much akin to Rarity, slipped underneath the covers, and plopped his head down on the pillow with an exhausted sigh. It felt good to be accustomed to this new body.
And likewise, was looking forward to our first 'full' day in Equestria tomorrow.
He took one last glance at Twilight preparing a scroll and quill for her letter, and drifted off to sleep.
Tale of Two Bronies
Chapter 4
RAINBOW DASH'S HOUSE
It had been quite awhile since I last remember sleeping as soundly as I did on Rainbow's cloud couch that night. I was so out of it that I was slow to respond to Rainbow's pokes and prods as I clearly slept in past her usual waking hour. And as I knew, Dash wasn't the patient type.
So my alarm clock wound up being a thunderbolt just inches above my head.
“Waaahhaaahhh!” I jolted awake, my wings flinging out as I rolled off the couch, onto the likewise soft cloud floor below.
“It's about time, sleepyhead! Come on, we're burning daylight!” Rainbow exclaimed.
Blinking to clear my vision, and rubbing my ringing ears from the stormy wake-up call, I followed Rainbow Dash out the front door and down into the bustling morning marketplace of Ponyville.
“So how do you usually start off your morning?” she asked.
“With the first truck stop restaurant that comes up on the interstate.” I mumbled, not a morning person, or, pony in this case.
“Well just wait until you try a Pony Joe doughnut with a grass-and-daisy bagel and a side of hay fries!” Rainbow stated, licking her lips.
“Isn't Pony Joe's up in Canterlot?” I asked.
“Yeah, Joe runs his main store up in Canterlot. He's recently expanded to Manehattan, Appleloosa, and Ponyville. Just wait, you'll love it!”
From my first taste test of Equestrian delicacies, I was somewhat skeptical of Dash's praise of what was probably her usual breakfast, but I kept in mind that I was a pony now. So perhaps my taste buds had adjusted to the local foods as well.
The small restaurant, not far from Sugarcube Corner, already had a small crowd of ponies inside waiting in line or sitting at tables eating breakfast. I took a quick glance at the menu, but it seemed Rainbow was intent on ordering for both of us. After all, she was a regular here, and she knew what was good. The employees working in the back were on the ball, so before we knew it, we were at the front of the line at the register.
“Two Pony Joe Specials, please!”
The cashier rung us up, Rainbow slid him the correct amount of bits, and in a matter of minutes, we were were sitting with two specials; a fresh donut with frosting and sprinkles, two halves of a bagel with grass and daisy topping, and a small side of crispy hayfries. I went for the doughnut first, as it was the only food on my plate I was familiar with. After that, I tried a bite of the grass and daisy bagel, and was satisfied with the flavor, proving my taste bud theory correct. Rainbow saw my immense satisfaction with the meal.
“Told ya” she said with a smirk, starting into her doughnut.
A moment later, Twilight, Pinkie and Brady came in for the morning meal as well, and spotted us at our table. Pinkie and Brady came over while Twilight went to order.
“Morning!” Pinkie greeted happily. “Ah, we've got our ponyriffic tastes aquired, have we?”
I nodded. “Yep, and I like it” I said, finishing off the bagel, and trying some hayfries.
“How's the flying coming?” Brady asked me.
“He's quite the learner! Finally, a Pegasus around Ponyville who loves it as much as I do!” Rainbow answered for me.
Twilight came over to the table, three plates hovering in front of her. Pinkie and Brady move out of the way, and the five of us crowded around the table.
“So how's the walking and magic coming?” I asked Brady in return.
Twilight smiled at Brady, and with a smirk, and Brady, his plate set in front of him, his horn glowing, levitated the doughnut to his mouth and took a bite.
“That answer your question?” he asked in return.
“He picked up on it quicker than I ever thought he would.” Twilight added, beginning with her bagel.
“So what's everypony doing today? Now that you two finally have a whole day here in Ponyville!” Pinkie asked, swallowing her bagel whole.
“Well, I'd like to help Rainbow with the weather. I could always use more practice. Just because I'm starting to get flying down doesn't mean you can't teach me some aerial maneuvers.”
“Now you're talkin'” Rainbow said, liking what I had in mind.
“I'd be more than happy to go to the lumber store and get what supplies I need to get started on that shelf.”
“If you want to, sure. But I thought you'd want to take today to enjoy yourself.” Twilight said.
“That would be. If I can put a shelf together using my horn, I can only get better at it!”
“Well, sounds like you two certainly have your day planned. Hey, if you guys have time, stop by Sugarcube Corner, and we can do some baking! Now that you're ponies, I can't wait to show you all the sweets I can make!”
We told Pinkie that we'd certainly try to make it, and with that, we were on our way. Brady returned to the library with Twilight to get a wagon to pull the lumber, and I took off into the skies above Ponyville hot on the trail of Rainbow Dash.
PONYVILLE LIBRARY
Brady stepped into the harness, and Twilight gently set it on his back, and he was ready to pull the wagon. After that, she put a hoof-ful of bits into his small saddlebag.
“There. I can't imagine it'd be anymore than that for the lumber you need. It's just down that way on the east end of town.” Twilight said.
“Thanks. See ya in a few.” Brady replied, and he was off, the wagon wheels softly creeking. He still got some looks, but the majority of interaction was just friendly greetings. Not many ponies took into account his lack of a Cutie Mark.
That is, until, three familiar fillies spotted him coming down the street.
“Ooh, look, there he is!” Scootaloo said.
The three Crusaders came galloping towards him.
“See, I told you he didn't have one! See?” the ruby-haired Pegasus exclaimed, pointing a hoof at his flank.
“It'll be FOREVER before we get our Cutie Marks! Imagine how long he's been waiting!” Sweetie Belle whined. Brady wanted to quell this as soon as he could.
“Girls, girls, settle down. I've only been a pony for two days. I'm not even sure I'll get a Cutie Mark.”
All three Crusaders gave him quizzical looks.
“Then...what were ya three days ago?” Applebloom asked.
“A human.” Brady answered with a chuckle.
“Maybe you could help us get our Cutie Marks! A human might know more about it than us!”
“Girls! Settle down!”
As the Crusaders fell silent and looked up at Brady, he contemplated his options. He had to admit, he was tempted to end this debacle and tell them what their obvious talents were. But then again, that would take the fun out of earning their Cutie Marks.
But it would save Ponyville some headaches.
In the end, he decided to do tell them what Twilight had.
“Girls, you just have to work at what you're already good at. If you do that, you're Cutie Marks will be well on their way. And as much as I'd like to go crusading with you, I've already got plans, so have fun!”
With that, he was on his way.
“So what do we try next?”
Brady just shook his head.
'One day...'
He got to the lumber store, and dropped the carriage just outside.
“Hey there. I'm looking for some wood to build a bookshelf.”
Brady set the bits Twilight had given him on the counter.
“Whatever kind that that's enough for.” Brady said.
The salespony counted up the bits, and took him down one of the aisles.
“I'm guessing you're gonna want some tools, nails, and finish too.”
When everything was said and done, Brady selected oak boards, and got nails, a hammer, and got everything loaded onto the cart outside. After making sure everything was properly secured and wouldn't fall out, he made his way back to the library to get to work.
And then he stopped, realizing what he was doing.
“Wait. What am I thinking? I can't go to a library and begin hammering away! Where to go...?”
He took a moment to look around, and then got an idea.
“I bet Applejack would loan me the barn for a few hours!”
With that, he set off out of Ponyville towards Sweet Apple Acres.
WEST PONYVILLE
Flying around Ponyville, watching Rainbow zip around with the clouds, the only thing I could play in my head was Flight of the Bumblebee. I honestly couldn't tell if she was this erratic and fast because she was used to doing this, or if she wanted to get it done as quickly as possible because, you know, she took like four naps a day. And yet, even with how fast she was moving, I was still itching for her to get done faster so I could learn some new tricks. So far, I had gotten flying forward, left, right, up, and down.
That was it.
“So what are ya gonna teach me today, Rainbow?”
“I'm gonna show you what's it's like being part of the weather patrol.” she replied, pulling a scroll seemingly out of nowhere, coming back to be and unfurling it.
“This is today's forecast. Mainly it's just getting the clouds to the right places, except if there's rain, and no rain today!”
The “forecast” was a simple top-down sketch of Ponyville, with simple puffy clouds drawn in various areas of the town.
“After I place them, the wind takes care of the rest. So it never takes long if I move fast.”
“Huh? What about the spins and loops? When do I get to those?”
Rainbow chuckled.
“Speaking of moving fast, you're moving way too fast, Jake. This is only your second day. Practice what you've already learned. You don't want to move too fast. I've been flying for years and it's taken me this long to get some of these tricks down.” Rainbow lectured, moving another cloud into position.
“But I'm ready, I know I am! Come on, show me what ya got!”
When Rainbow turned to me with that slightly annoyed look in her eye, I immediately wish I hadn't said that. She zoomed down to me, flew directly above me, and wrapped her hooves around me.
“You asked for it.”
With that, we took off like a bullet from a gun.
“WhaaaahhhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHH!”
Rainbow, with a death-lock grip around me, spun, barrel-rolled, twisted, looped, and dove in a super-complex flight routine that I could not even begin to comprehend. Sky, Ponyville, sky, Ponyville. That's what my eyes were showing me.
Rainbow leveled out, zooming out of Ponyville in a continuous barrel roll.
“Okay! Okay! I believe you!!!”
She at last stopped the spinning, and then my hooves touched solid ground. When I dared to open my eyes, we were on the Sweet Apple Acres farmland, with the barn just 10 feet away. The front door opened, and Brady's horned head popped out.
“What's going on out here?” he said, looking at us curiously, as I struggled to keep my breakfast down. “Oh, nothin' just proving a point to our new overenthusiastic Pegasus here.” Rainbow said, a cocky grin on her face. “What are you doing back here?” I asked, shaking my head to clear out the dizzyness. “I asked Applejack if there was any place I could do some woodwork. She said just find a space in the barn.”
“If you two want to hang out, I have to get back to work.” Rainbow said.
“They could come to Sugarcube Corner and bake!”
The voice out of nowhere startled all three of us, causing us to jump off the ground. There stood Pinkie, head poking out from the barn door. “How does she do that?” Brady mumbled. Pinkie Pie bounded up and down in her usual fashion. “I've been so excited looking forward to having a couple new bakers in town!”
When we thought about it, breakfast was starting to wear off, and that sounded like the perfect place to get a snack. “Alright Pinkie. Let's go do some baking.” I replied.
“Wahoo!!!” and with that cheer, the physics-defying pony zoomed off back towards Ponyville. “Thanks for the, um...roller coaster ride, Rainbow.” I said over to Rainbow. “Hehe, no problem. Catch you two later.” the Pegasus replied before taking off again. Rather than fly there, I opted to trot back to town with Brady.
“So how's the bookshelf coming?” I asked him as we exited the front gate of the farm. “It's off to a good start. Got the edges smoothed down. After that it's just a matter of hammering it together and painting it.” he explained. “Anyway why did you decide to do this?” I asked.
Here, I noticed his cheeks changed by exactly three shades of red.
“Well, uh...I noticed Twilight didn't have enough room in the library for her books, so I offered to make her a new shelf.” he said sheepishly. I snickered. “Brady and Twilight sitting in a tree-”
“Hey!” he said, knocking into me, clearly getting embarrassed. I galloped ahead towards town, laughing, him chasing after me. “First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the filly in the filly carriage! Hahaha!” I chanted, laughing. I know by then, he probably wanted to buck me across the face for such a comment. We closed in on Sugarcube Corner, and I skidded to a halt, almost knocking over a customer just coming out of the bakery with a tray of sweets. Not wanting to cause a scuffle or a scene, Brady decided just to let it go for now and simply shot me a look. We headed into the bakery, and saw Mr. and Mrs. Cake busy with a few customers.
“Well, look who it is. Ponyville's two new ponies. How are you doing, dearies?”
“We're doing great Mrs. Cake. We're here to bake with Pinkie.”
“Yep, she said as such when she came zooming in here five minutes ago. The kitchen is in the back on the left, through the door.”
We passed the front counter, and went through the double swinging doors, and Pinkie was already busy at getting trays and spoons and mixers out.
“Oh there you guys are! I was wondering if you had gotten lost! What took you so long?” Pinkie asked. We walked up to the counter. “It's nothing, we just don't move at the speed of Pinkie.” Brady replied. “So, what would you like to make first, huh? Huh huh huh?” Pinkie said excitedly. How Twilight could ignite her mane with a little pent up frustration, and how Pinkie didn't spontaneously catch on fire from all that energy was beyond us.
“Hmm, well, being in a kitchen with this many utensils makes me hungry for pizza.” Brady said.
“Oooh! Yeah! We could make pizzas! Wait, um, what's a pizza?” Pinkie asked, giving us a quizzical look. It didn't occur to us that every food in our world would have an Equestrian equivalent. “Well, a pizza is usually a disc-shaped flatbread, covered in tomato sauce, cheese, and whatever toppings you want, and then baked in an oven.” Brady said. Pinkie's eyes went wide.
“That sounds like the GREATEST MEAL EVER! I'll get the ingredients for bread dough!” Pinkie Pie went enthusiastically through the kitchen, bringing more bags and cups and spoons to the center counter. “What else do we need? Tomato sauce? Cheese? I've got five types of cheese! And what toppings?”
Brady mulled this over. “Well, other than cheese, there's pepperoni, sausage, peppers, onions.” Pinkie Pie looked clueless. “Um, I don't think I have any 'pepperoni' or 'sausage'. What are those, anyway?”
And it hit Brady on the head. Ponies didn't eat meat.
“Uh, I don't think that would be available here in Equestria. But I've never made a pizza for ponies before. So we could put new toppings on. Hay, all kinds of flowers, veggies.”
Clearly, we were going to have our hooves full. Which was fine with us, we were plenty hungry. “You guys gather the toppings and cheese. I can make dough faster than anypony!” Pinkie exclaimed, grabbing the rolling pin, and was soon engulfed in clouds of flour dust.
“How's it coming in here, you three?” Mr. Cake poked his head through the doorway. “Just dandy, Mr. Cake. We're making a NEW recipe! It's called pizza!” Pinkie excitedly announced. “That sounds delicious. Give us a holler when it's done. We'll be your taste testers!”
We barely had the cheese and hay for one pizza crust when Pinkie had three rolled out already. “Looks like we have to pick up the pace.” I told Brady, who was using his horn as best he could to shred mozzarella and cheddar cheese. Pinkie Pie opened one of many cans of tomato sauce and expertly spread it evenly over the three unbaked crusts. “How hot should the oven be?” Pinkie asked. “Usually it's 350 degrees.” Brady replied. Pinkie Pie went over to the ovens and set the dials. She then took the cheese we had shredded and spread it evenly over her three crusts.
“Now what?” she asked. “Well, for variety's sake, lets keep one of them plain. The next one we can sprinkle hay on, and then the third, flower petals.” Brady suggested. By the time we had all the toppings good to go, we had three rather odd-looking Equestrian pizzas, and the ovens were pre-heated and ready to go. We slipped the unbaked pizzas onto wooden flat pans, and then played the waiting game.
“So what other toppings could we try?” Brady asked. “Dude, we have 3 pizzas in the oven, how much room do you think we have?” I asked in return. The timer set to 15 minutes went off, and we took the steaming pizzas out of the oven and set them on the counter to cool. They smelled incredibly inviting. Sure enough, it wasn't long before Mr. Cake poked through the doors again.
“My my, something sure smells good in here. Is that the new recipe?” he asked. “It sure is, Mr. Cake. Here, you can be our official taste tester!” Pinkie said. Brady had taken a knife and had cut the first pizza, just cheese and hay, into eight slices. Mr. Cake came over to the counter, picked up one of the slices, and took a bite. Chewing and swallowing, his face was one of immediate satisfaction.
“Mmm. Wow, that is delicious!” he exclaimed. He quickly consumed the remainder of his slice, grabbed a second, and took it out to his wife in the lobby. Moments later, Mrs. Cake came rushing through the door. “Pinkie Pie, this is exquisite! The customers have to try this!” she excitedly stated, grabbing the pan with the six remaining slices and going back out to the lobby. We slowly started to hear a commotion grow louder and louder out in the lobby. A minute later, Mr. Cake came back into the kitchen.
“Uh, hey guys? How many more of those can you make?” he asked. “Um, well we've got two more right here.” Brady said, levitating the other two pizza pans to the proprietor. Setting one on his back, and one on his head, Mr. Cake went for the lobby again. “This might get us through the next five minutes. I think all of Ponyville is going to want to try this.”
Brady and I gulped.
Pinkie went for the door. “You know what this calls for? A helping hoof! Or...maybe 12 helping hooves. Be back soon guys!” she exclaimed, zooming out of the kitchen.
Now I had had enough with customer rushes back in my three-year career in a mall food court. But these were ponies! How could I say no to them? “Okay, you know anything about making pizza crusts, Brady?” I asked. My best friend shook his head. “Fine. I did it once in high school. I can do the best I can until Pinkie gets back. You get more cheese and toppings ready.” With that, I grabbed the rolling pin and went to the mass of dough Pinkie had left on the counter, and got to work.
“Fillies and gentlecolts, please be patient. Pinkie just went for more help so we can get you more of this 'pizza' made.” Mr. Cake said out in the lobby. “That wasn't even five minutes.” I mumbled. Mrs. Cake came back into the kitchen to help us in Pinkie's brief absence.
“Oh, wow! Dears, I think we're going to break sales records today! A bit per slice, and they're going nuts out there! Here, let me help you with that, hun.” and I handed her the rolling pin while I went to get more tomato sauce. In five more minutes, Pinkie zoomed back into the kitchen, with Twilight, Spike, and Applejack.
“Whoo! I give you the Ponyville Pizza Cooking Staff!” she hollered.
“Yeah yeah, Pinkie. We gotta line out there that almost stretches to Canterlot, so lets get to work, yeah? I brought some more ingredients to use as toppings. Onions, carrots, daisies, celery, you name it.”
We surrounded the counter, and after a moment of bustled confusion in getting aprons and chef hats on, we each had a task. Pinkie handled the rolling of the crusts, I spread the tomato sauce, Twilight and Applejack did the cheese, Brady cut and administered the toppings, and lastly, when the ovens were full, Spike gave whatever pizzas that were ready to be cooked a brief toasting with his green fiery breath, cooking them almost instantly.
We were on our seventh batch, 25 pizzas in total so far, when Spike heaved, and belched up a scroll. Twilight went over to him, unfurled the scroll, and read it while we continued with the cooking. Her eyes went wide for a moment, and then she rushed over to Brady and briefly whispered in his ear, and he gave a curt nod, and started on another pizza.
We contently made pizza after pizza for an hour, when the lobby suddenly got very quiet, and Mr. and Mrs. Cake rushed into the kitchen and grabbed Brady and I, pushing us hurriedly out into the lobby.
And to the front hooves of none other than Princess Celestia. Our eyes quickly widened.
“These two told the idea to Pinkie, your highness, and, well as you can see, Ponyville has been just eating it up!”
Brady nudged me, and we bent our front legs and bowed in respect.
“Twilight sent me a quite detailed letter about you two last nigt. I'm relieved things have worked out so far, and you two are handling the transformation well. On behalf of Luna and myself, I bid you welcome to Equestria.” Celestia greeted.
“Thank you Princess. It's been very fun to say the least.” I replied. “So, this dish of yours is proving to be quite popular. Where might I get a piece?” the royal equine asked.
“A-actually, your highness, Twilight told me you were coming, and I prepared a special pizza just for you!” Brady said, running back into the kitchen. I heard one of the oven doors squeak open and closed, and Brady came out levitating a pizza pan, and set it on the table closest to Celestia before cutting it into slices. Upon looking at what Brady had done, I could not bring myself to speak, and my bottom jaw dropped slightly.
The pizza fit for a Princess had a light sprinkling of hay, and sliced bananas dotted over the entire dish.
Brady finished slicing it up, and presented a plate with one slice to the princess. Levitating both the plate and pizza slice, Celestia took a bite, and we bit our tongues in suspense.
“Oh my, this is delicious! And bananas! One of my favorite fruits. How did you know?” she asked. “Oh, just a hunch, your majesty. I'm glad you approve.” Brady replied. If looks could buck, Brady would have a couple of hoofmarks on his face from me right then.
Celestia finished her piece of pizza, and gave the plate back to Brady.
“I'm grateful that you've brought a little of your world to Equestria for us to enjoy. Sorry to eat and run, but I've other matters to attend to. I hope you two continue to enjoy yourselves.”
We each gave a respectful bow, and Celestia was on her way. When she was back on her chariot and on her way, me and Brady returned to the kitchen.
“I cannot believe you just did that...” I said to Brady, glaring at him. He chuckled. “What? Like there was ever going to be any connection to what the fanbase has made her out to be?” He had a point there. It was another 45 minutes of making pizzas, and at last, we had satisfied every customer. The six of us were now prepared to make our own personal pizzas. Mrs. Cake came in, also a little exhausted from making pizzas for over half a day.
“Oh my goodness. We haven't brought in that much in one day since...I can't remember! If you two ever need anything from here, rest assured, it's on us.” she said, thanking us for the business the bakery had, and now would probably continue to have if they kept making pizzas.
“It was our pleasure.” I replied.
Then, another new arrival came into the kitchen. “Alright Spike, now what did you want these spare rough gems for?” Rarity asked, coming through the door. “Ah, perfect! Thanks Rarity!” he said, snatching the small bag from her, and sprinkling the gems over another plain cheese pizza.
“What is that?” Rarity asked. “A pizza! Jake and Brady made a sample, and Ponyville went nuts for it! We've been making them all day!” Pinkie exclaimed. “THAT'S what that line was? Wow.” the fashionista replied.
“That line went all the back to your boutique???” Twilight asked, astonished. “Wow I wonder how many ponies we actually served today.” Brady wondered. “Any idea what kind of toppings Rainbow might like? She missed out on this, and I'd like to bring her one.” I said, as Spike broiled his gem-topped pizza with his breath.
“Oh you don't have to do that now. You can do it tomorrow for the party!” Pinkie told me.
Tale of Two Bronies
Chapter 5
SUGARCUBE CORNER
“Rainbow's birthday is tomorrow? Talk about perfect timing for our visit here.” I said, as we began to clean up from the hours of pizza making. “We've been planning it for months. I have to get started on a super-colorful rainbow cake I found a recipe for! It's perfect!” Pinkie announced, getting out an entire new set of mixing bowls and spoons. Even after everything we had done today, Pinkie seemed as ready to go as ever. Where all that energy came from, we couldn't fathom.
“Gee, I wish I had a gift to give her. I can't find anything on this short notice.” I mused. “Oh don't be silly! You can make her a pizza for tomorrow's party!” Pinkie immediately rebutted.
“Well, given the time, I'd prefer something a little more...thought out. More meaningful.” I said, blushing just slightly. “Jake and Rainbow sitting in a tree...” Brady began.
My blushing increased threefold. Ah, the joys of payback. I shot him a glance, and he snickered.
“Well, you've got a few hours of the afternoon and evening left. Go enjoy yourselves, you two.”
I grabbed one of the many various shaped boxes on one of the kitchen shelves, and put the last remaining half of a cheese, grass, and hay pizza into it. I put it onto my back and headed out of the bakery, with Brady on my hooves.
“Where are you headed?” he asked, when we were out in Ponyville's town square. “I'm up to give Rainbow some pizza.” I answered. “So you're going to completely ignore Pinkie's suggestion?” he asked with a chuckle. I just shrugged. “Come on, let's go give some to Fluttershy. I didn't see her at all today. She was probably much to busy with her animals to wait in line.” Brady suggested.
Relinquishing to his idea, I remained on the ground, following Brady to the edge of Ponyville, where Fluttershy's tree home and animal habitat. Once again coming up the front walk, he gave the door a gentle knock, and moments later, Fluttershy answered the door.
“Oh, um, good evening you two. What brings you here?” she asked. “We baked a new dish today, and we thought you'd like to try some.” Brady offered. “That'd be nice. Come in, come in” the animal caretaker replied, ushering us in. The interior of the tree cabin had a very cozy and welcoming atmosphere. Bird cages hung by the kitchen doorway, and the occasional critter scampered by, and we assumed that most of them would be out back in the habitat she had set up. I walked up to the table outside the kitchen, and gave the box on my back a soft bump up to the table, opened it up, and peeked inside.
“It certainly looks, different.” Fluttershy commented, picking up a slice. “Ponyville went nuts for it. We must have made dozens of pizzas. That's what they're called.” I explained. Fluttershy gave the warm slice a light sniff, then tried a small bite.
“I can certainly see why they did. This is delicious!” Fluttershy gleefully claimed. Another satisfied customer. Brady and I each grabbed a slice and chowed down, having made ourselves quite hungry from the insanity today.
“So what are you gonna put on Rainbow's 'birthday pizza', hmm?” Brady asked. This question prompted a pause in my dinner. I had no idea. Even with Rainbow as my favorite pony, I had no idea what her favorite foods were. In fact, in the show, most of the time she was shown eating apples.
“You're making one of these for Rainbow's birthday tomorrow?” Fluttershy asked. I nodded in return. “I had no idea her birthday was tomorrow, so it's the only thing I can think of on such short notice.” I told her. “Actually, I might have something. Hold on.” Fluttershy said, and with that, she trotted upstairs, and returned a few moments later with a plain white unsealed envelope, and gave it to me.
“What's this?” I said, flipping the top flap open, and took out the contents. Two blue and gold patterned tickets emerged in my hooves. Each said:
The Wonderbolts Cloudsdale Airshow Spectacular
My eyes widened.
“Where did you get these?” I said, astonished.
“I went up to Cloudsdale the first morning these tickets went on sale. Rainbow can't make it to a lot of the Wonderbolt events because she has to work. But I've arranged for a few Pegasus to cover for her next week, so we can go. Or rather, so you two can go. This was gonna be my birthday present to her, but it'd mean more coming from you, I think.”
“Fluttershy, I can't accept this. You should give this to her.” I argued, putting them back in the envelope. “No no, I insist. She told me how much she enjoyed flying with you yesterday. I've never been much of a flier, so if you give them to her, two people can go enjoy the show instead of just one. Besides, I'm already great friends with Rainbow. Coming from you, this would do wonders to build your new friendship.” I stared at the envelope again. “Are you sure?” I asked her again. She immediately nodded. “Absolutely. You two should go enjoy it.” she answered. “Well, if you insist, Fluttershy. Thank you.”
The Element of Kindness if I ever saw her. After we each had a couple slices of pizza, she took us out back and gave the two of us the grand tour of her animal habitat. She had all manner of creatures, and somehow, they all got along. It might as well have been a zoo in a back yard. Afterward, we thanked her for showing us around, and were on our way. Back on the outskirts of Ponyville, the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon.
“So where are you off to?” I asked Brady, as he turned to go towards the west side of town. “Back to Sweet Apple Acres. I'm gonna try and get some more work done on that bookshelf. It's not gonna finish itself. What about you?”
I honestly didn't know where I was going. I couldn't go and spend the night on Dash's couch again; with my luck she'd find out about the tickets early, and spoil the whole surprise. After a few minutes of walking back towards the town square, I figured a night in the library would be best. Heading in that direction, I came quietly through the front door. Night had fallen, and Twilight and Spike were already sound asleep. I quietly trotted up the stairs, and flopped down on the guest bed, exhausted from the cooking marathon we did today. Brady would just have to come shove me off the bed when he was good and ready.
SWEET APPLE ACRES
Applejack got up and made her rounds around the house, like she did every morning. Once everyone was in the process of getting up, she went outside to the barn to tend to the animals. There, she was greeted with an unexpected, and most amusing sight.
Brady stood at the table on the right side of the barn, chin resting on the edge, fully asleep. Nails and a hammer surrounded a finished but unpainted bookshelf. The cows in the barn mooed as Applejack gave out a chuckle and approached the sleeping unicorn.
“Rise n' shine there, Brady. Trying to pull a late-nighter, are ya?” she said, tapping him on the back. With a snort, his snoring stopped and his eyes fluttered open. Looking around, he realized where he had fallen asleep.
“Huh? Oh, sorry Applejack. Uh, yeah, I wanted to try and get this bookshelf for Twilight finished. Guess I fell asleep on the job.” Brady said. “Well, ah'd be lyin' to ya if I said that ain't never happened to me. Why last year, during the Applebuck Season-”
“Big Macintosh had hurt himself, and you had to try to buck the entire orchard yourself, and for awhile, you didn't accept help from anypony.” Brady finished. “Saw that too, did ya? Just how much of us have ya seen?” Applejack asked. “Twenty-two minutes every Saturday.” Brady announced proudly. “Heh, so every Saturday, you and Jake just huddle around that...that magic box of yours and watch us?” the cowpony inquired. “Yep. And a whole lot of others too, believe me.”
“Well, come on inside and get some breakfast. Then we're headed into town to get the pavilion decorated for Rainbow's party.”
PONYVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY
When I woke up the next morning, I was rather surprised to find myself still in the guest bed. More than that, Brady was nowhere to be seen.
“Hey, sleeping beauty, wake up. Where's Brady?” I heard Twilight ask, as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I shrugged. “Last night he said he was going to Sweet Apple Acres to work on that bookshelf he was making you.” I answered. Twilight nodded. “Then we just have to assume he's still there. AJ'll bring him along when she shows up to help with the decorating. Come on! Let's get some breakfast and get going!” Twilight ushered. I grabbed the envelope containing the airshow tickets, and followed her down the stairs. Spike was already up and had gathered some party supplies in a cart. No doubt Pinkie had the majority of them. The three of us went to Pony Joe's for a quick breakfast, and then made our way to the pavilion.
Upon entering, indeed, we had been beaten. Pinkie and Rarity were already in the process of decorating the walls and ceiling with rainbow banners. There was multicolored confetti cannons in the corners, ready to go off, probably at Pinkie's insistence.
“Good morning sleepyheads! Ready to get started?” Pinkie asked excitedly. A few moments after that, Appejack and Brady came in. Applejack was towing a cart with a large wooden bucket, no doubt for apple bobbing. “Fluttershy should be along shortly.” Twilight informed us. AJ brought in the cart through the door, and with Brady's help, got it set down in the proper area, and then went to go get the hose to fill it.
“So what can I do to help?” I asked. Pinkie zoomed up to me and put her front leg around me. “Jakie-wakie, you have the most important job!” she exclaimed. “Uh, I do?” I asked, a tad nervous. “Yep! YOU get to go wake Rainbow up, and keep her distracted for about an hour while we finish the decorations. Yep, should be about an hour, and then Mr. and Mrs. Cake should have finished decorating the birthday cake and have it here.” she said. I smiled, and gave a hoof-salute. “I'm on it.” I replied, much akin to Rainbow's own acknowledgment. On my way out, I slipped the envelope to Twilight, and asked her to hang on to it for me, that it was Rainbow's present. She happily agreed, and then I was off.
I exited the pavilion, and made my way to the west side of Ponyville where Rainbow's cloud mansion hung low over the town. I flew up to the front door, and quietly made my way inside. I silently flew up to Rainbow's bedroom, where the owner was snoring away.
In hindsight, I was wondering why Pinkie wanted me to distract Rainbow for an hour or so. Right then, it didn't really look like she needed distracting. She'd probably just sleep in right up until her party. But I was going to do as I was told, so decided to have a little fun. Here I was, silently hovering beside her. I quietly landed on the cloud floor, and stretched out my left wing so the tip was just barely touching her nose, and I gave it a wiggle. Unfortunately, for my well-being, my brain didn't set off an alarm that would give me any kind of hint that it wouldn't be the best of ideas to prank a sleeping Rainbow Dash.
After a quick snort, her knee-jerk reaction was to quickly spring up, whip around, and give me a solid buck to the side, sending me flying across the room into one of the cloud pillars in the corner. When she was fully awake, and aware of what she did, she flew over to me.
“Oh jeez, sorry Jake. I thought somepony was tickling me. Must've been in my sleep.” she mistakenly apologized. I slipped down to the floor, where I was confident birds were now chirping and flying in a halo above my head. My shape was now indented onto the pillar I had been knocked into. Rainbow gave it a few light taps, and like foam, it popped right back out to it's original shape.
“So, what will you be doing to distract me this morning?” she playfully asked. Astonished at how she saw right through me, I just simply stared. “Um....”
Rainbow just laughed. “Don't sweat it Jake. They do this every year. Pinkie usually sends Fluttershy up to chat me out for an hour before taking me down to the pavilion. I'm not as gullible as Pinkie. But don't worry,” she began, doing a flying back flip, landing back on her bed. “I'll act real surprised.” she finished with a wink and a grin. I had a feeling the next few hours were going to be torture. Not because of trying to keep ourselves busy, but because I couldn't wait to see Dash's reaction to the present Fluttershy had given me to give to her.
“And...well, I suppose I should apologize to you for my little stunt yesterday. When I first started out flying, I wanted to move just as fast as you did. So sorry if I made you sick yesterday.” she said. “It's alright, don't worry about it. So, it's your birthday, so how do you want to kill the time?” I asked. “Well, I've enjoyed showing you the ropes of flying, so I guess I can show you some basic maneuvers.”
With that, Rainbow and I went out to the lake outside Ponyville where she had first taught me to use my wings, and then, tried to figure out the best way of showing me somersaults and barrel rolls.
“Um, by pressing Z twice?” I asked. All I got was a clueless “Huh?” in return. “Never mind.” I said, reminding myself to keep the human jokes and memes to myself. “So anyways, it's just a matter of tilting your wings in the direction you want to roll while still flapping them.” she told me. By those instructions, I was fairly certain I was going to end up with my head in the clouds the first few tries, and sure enough, that's what happened. She was able to stomach her giggles until the third time. She immediately apologized, and said I was coming along great.
“When you get to the top of your loop, don't let that disorient you. Realize that you're halfway there, and keep going.” she instructed. With that advice, I did it again, and successfully completed my first loop. It was a bit of a rush, the second half of it. “Awesome! You did it!” Rainbow congratulated me. I was on my way to being an aerial acrobat in no time.
Sooner than I was expecting, I heard the unmistakable voice of everypony's favorite party pony.
“Wwwwhere's the birthday pony?” she asked. Rainbow and I popped our heads out above the clouds to look down at the ground. “There you are! We've got a surprise for you at town hall, Rainbow Dash!” she announced, and raced off. Rainbow turned to me, and with a wink, spread her wings. “Race ya there.” she said, and took off like a bullet. I followed suit, but wasn't nearly as fast. She had managed to actually wait for me at the door of town hall, and waited for me to land before opening the doors.
“SURPRISE!” the six ponies in the hall yelled in unison. Then there was a bang, and confetti and streamers began showering the room. “Wow, I had no idea!” Rainbow said, with a very convincing surprised smile. At the center of the room, there was a rather impressive, six-layer, rainbow-colored cake. Next to the cake, was a table with a small handful of presents. There weren't a lot; the mane six took Pinkie's philosophy to heart; birthdays were for having fun with friends. And it seemed that one of Pinkie's parties was a present enough for anypony. My envelope sat on top of the few gifts there. Twilight had taken the liberty of writing 'From: Jake' on it.
With Pinkie racing over to the record player to start the party music, the festivities began. Immediately after starting the music, she began a conga line, Brady and Twilight began slicing up the cake, and Rainbow challenged me to apple bobbing. Of course, having bobbed for apples only once in my life, she was easily able to beat me. After games and dancing, everypony had cake and rainbow sherbet ice cream. And then, of course, came the presents.
At this point it was late afternoon, and there were only three presents, mine included. Rainbow was promptly told that it would be saved for last. First up, was a medium-sized box from Rarity. Dash tore through the gift wrap and opened the box top.
“Aw, awesome! It's just how I thought it'd be!” Rainbow exclaimed, removing her Winter Wrap Up Weather Team sweater. The navy blue garment had undergone a redesign at the Carousel Boutique, and Rainbow was undoubtedly happy with the result.
Next up was a slightly smaller box, and had a tag on it that noted it was from Twilight. Likewise tearing through the wrapping, Rainbow came up with a book. “Sweet! Thanks Twi!” she thanked her unicorn friend. She held up the book so we could all see the cover.
History of the Wonderbolts
I immediately knew she was going to enjoy reading that. Lastly, there was my envelope, courtesy of Fluttershy. “What did you manage to get me on such short notice?” she asked. “Well, I admit, somepony else gave this to me to give to you. They thought you'd enjoy it more with me. So, happy birthday!” I said, handing her the envelope. She opened the envelope, turned it upside down, and the two tickets fluttered down to her waiting hoof. Her eyes widened, and an open mouth smile, a mix of shock and joy, slowly showed itself on her face. “Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!”
The next thing I knew, I was on the floor, a victim of a Rainbow Dash glomp. “VIP tickets to the airshow next week??? How did you get these?! Who gave these to you???” she asked happily. “It's a present. You're not supposed to know.” I laughed, groaning from her tacklehug. “Oh, this is gonna be SO AWESOME! We'll have the time of our lives next week, just you wait! Oh thank you thank you thank you!!!” she exclaimed happily, squeezing me again. “No problem!” I managed to say, short of breath. After another minute, Rainbow managed to calm down, we all had a good laugh at her level of excitement, and then we finished off the rest of the cake before getting everything cleaned up. Once that was done, we all wished Rainbow a happy birthday one last time, and we went our separate ways. She zoomed off to her house to put her presents away, and when I was halfway back there, she returned, empty-hooved.
“Hey Jake. Have ya got a bit?” she asked, flying above me. “Sure, why not?” I asked in return. “Cool, follow me.” she said, and made for the clouds. Stretching my wings out, I took flight, and followed her into the sky. As the sun began it's final approach to the horizon, Cloudsdale quickly came into view. Groups of Pegasi flew here and there, and still, Rainbow ascended. She finally came to a stop at one of the top most clouds above the Cloudiseum, and sat towards the setting sun. I came down next to her, sitting on the cloud to her left.
“I used to come up here all the time as a kid. This is the best sunset view you'll find in Equestria.” she told me, as we looked on to the dusk. Dash was never one for being sentimental. “So, you're not gonna fess up who gave you those tickets?” she asked me. I smiled at her. “Does it matter?” I asked in return. “I guess not,” she began with a giggle. “Whoever did saw right through me. I've really enjoyed becoming friends with you. I know we're gonna have a great time next week at the airshow.”
I sat there, watching as Celestia slowly brought the sun below the horizon, the beams of light splitting the clouds, and giving the Equestrian skies a brilliant orange hue.
“Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?” she asked me. I looked over to her, and and her spectrum mane almost glowing in the setting sun. Her magenta eyes dazzling in the dusk. “Yeah. Yeah I have.” I said. Her sentimental face turned to one of annoyance. “Oh yeah, and where have you seen something that stunning?” she said, looking over to me, and then she must have seen the way I was looking at her, because her expression changed again to surprised as her eyes met mine.
“You.” I said, plainly and honestly, and I knew I wouldn't be able to hide the blush now on my cheeks. Dash didn't speak. She just kept staring at me, that bewildered look not leaving her face. The only place I saw her get sentimental was fanfiction, so I was hoping against hope that I would see that side of her here and now.
And as fate would have it, that was not happening tonight.
“Ugh, way to get all sappy on me!” she said, sticking her tongue out, giggling. As I just sat there smiling at her, she gave me another look. “But...thanks. No one's ever said something like that to me” she said. As the sun disappeared completely behind the mountains, giving way to the stars and moon, she spread her wings and took off. “Come on, let's get back to my place before it gets completely dark.”
With that, we flew back down to Ponyville, ready to sleep another night away.
PONYVILLE LIBRARY
Twilight was finishing up some last minute chores around the library as the crickets outside began chirping. Stacking quills and scrolls neatly on one of the end tables, she was about to ascend the stairs to her bedroom when Spike began coming down, looking like he was about to belch. That could only mean one thing.
“Twilight, I...I think...” Spike heaved, and let out a belch of green fire and smoke, a scroll materializing as the fire subsided. Twilight giggled. “You think we're getting a late night letter?” she said with a smile, levitating the scroll up and unfurling it. As her eyes read Celestia's correspondence, her expression went from intent interest, to worry and despair.
“Oh...oh no...”
Like The Last Day Of Vacation
Tale of Two Bronies
Chapter 6
PONYVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY
When Brady woke up the next morning, he heard a commotion downstairs. As his head cleared from sleep, he recognized it as Spike, along with repeated knocking.
“Twilight, just tell me what's wrong! You're starting to worry me a little here!” he said, continuing to knock on the door. With that, Brady got up and went down to investigate. “Hey Spike, what's going on?” he asked. “Twilight's locked herself in the basement, and she won't tell me what she's doing down there. She's been down there all night! I don't think she's even gotten any sleep.” Spike informed him. Brady came up to the door and gave it a few knocks. “Twi? Everything okay?” he asked. He got no response. “Well, we need to figure out what she's doing. Let's go get Rarity, she can unlock the door with her magic.” Brady said.
With that, Spike hopped on Brady's back, and they went out into the Ponyville morning. They were halfway to Carousel Boutique when Rainbow and I came down from the skies.
“Hey Brady. What's up?” I asked. “Something's not right. Twilight's locked herself in the library, and she won't tell us what's going on. We were headed to get Rarity to help with the lock.” Brady informed me. Clearly, this was cause for concern. We followed them to Carousel Boutique, where Rarity was freshening up for the day, and we immediately explained the situation to her. Before we knew it, we were back at the library, Pinkie and Fluttershy having joined us on the trip back.
“Alright, stand back, everyone. I've only done this once before, when Opal locked me out of the boutique.” Rarity said, and her horn began to glow. Several seconds later, the basement door's lock began to glow, and then we heard a click, and the glowing ceased. Spike tested the doorknob, and it opened, and we all trotted down the stairs, finding Twilight at a table with an assortment of glass beakers and tubes.
Also on the table, was a single, unfurled scroll. Twilight looked at us with tired, worried eyes.
“Twilight, what is going on here?” Spike asked. Twilight fumbled with her words. “I...I...” She finally gave in, her horn glowed and she levitated the scroll over to us so we could all read it.
My dearest, most faithful student Twilight,
I'm afraid I have troubling news. The gateway that Pinkie found, and subsequently brought Jake and Brady through to Equestria from, is closing. It will only remain open until the morning after next. I know this is not what we were hoping, and that they could spend more time here, but I'm afraid the time has come for them to return home.
I need you to prepare a potion that will transform them back to their original forms, so that they can return to their home in the same condition they arrived. I wish you the best of luck. Again, I wish things could be different.
Her royal Highness,
Everyone's hearts collectively sank. Mine and Brady's, especially. “I didn't want to ruin your last day in Equestria, so...I kept this a secret. I'm...I'm sorry.” Twilight said. “It's alright, Twi. We both knew this would happen eventually.” Brady said sullenly. Rainbow remained silent, and without warning, turned and galloped out of the basement. “Rainbow, wait!” I called out to her, but she ignored me, reaching the front door of the library and took off into the morning sky. “Guys, I should go after her.” I told them from the top of the basement stairs. “It's alright. I haven't gotten the potion figured out yet. So please go enjoy yourselves.” Twilight said. I ran to the front door and took off after Rainbow. I figured she was going back to her house. Sure enough, by the time her cloud home got into view, I just manged to see her pop back into the front door. I flew up and sat on the front porch, if you could call it that.
“Rainbow...Rainbow come on out.”
“Go away, Jake!” she yelled agrily. Having spent several nights here, I flew around to the left side, to the bedroom window. I looked inside to see Rainbow laying on her bed.
“I said go away!” she said, immediately spotting me. “Do you really want to spend my last day cooped up in here?” I asked, trying to calm her down. Still angry, she glanced at me then laid back down. I took that as an invitation, so I squeezed through the cloud window and landed next to her bed. “I knew it was too good to be true. I finally had someone who shared my enthusiasm for flying who could come with me to an airshow, and now you have to go back home. I mean, I really, REALLY was looking forward to going with you. It's like nothing you've ever seen! And...and now you're not gonna be able to experience it.” she sorrowfully said. I sat down next to her bed. I had to entertain the idea.
“I could still go with you. I...I don't have to go back home.” I offered. “What?” she said, almost shocked at what I was implying. “I really don't know if I want to go home yet. I've loved it here, and I've loved learning how to fly with you. I don't want to leave that yet.” I said. “But who knows when the gateway to your world will open again? Who knows if it'll open again at all? No. No, I'm not going to let you walk away from your life back home just so you can go to an airshow with me.” she said. “I...I guess you're right.” I said, giving in. “But still, you don't want to spend today cooped up in here. I know you'll regret it if you do.” I said. “Yeah, you're right. Let's go get some breakfast. How about at Sweet Apple Acres?” she offered. “Sounds great.” I said, smiling.
PONYVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY
Brady sat in the basement, watching Twilight fiddle with the assortment of magical liquids. He noticed that her magical grip on the equipment was starting to wane, as the tubes and beakers wobbled in her grasp.
“Twilight, you've been up all night. You need some rest.” Brady told her. “I can't, not until I get this formula correct.” she countered. Brady approached the table, his horn glowing, and successfully wrenched Twilight's current beaker from her horn's grasp, showing further evidence of her exhausted state. “You're not going to help anypony if you're going to attempt to make potions while you're half asleep. Go get a short nap, and I'll go get some breakfast.” he said. Twilight considered objecting, but saw his reason. She smiled at him. “Thanks Brady, a nap would do me some good.” she agreed. “I'll be back before you know it.” he said, and walked up out of the basement, making sure the stubborn-minded Twilight came up to go lay down. He was about to walk to grab a quick couple meals from Pony Joe's when something else came to his mind.
“Oh no, the bookshelf!” he realized, and began galloping to Sweet Apple Acres.
SWEET APPLE ACRES
Rainbow and I were sitting with the Apple family at breakfast. “Well gosh, talk about short notice.” Applejack mused, also surprised at the sudden news that we would have to be returning home tomorrow morning. “I really wish you didn't have to go. You've become a really great friend.” Rainbow said. “That's fer sure, you two have been a breath of fresh air to Ponyville, absolutely.” Applejack added in agreement. At that time, we heard galloping coming towards the house. Brady came in, and excused himself for interrupting.
“I just came to get the bookshelf I was making. Thought I'd give it to Twilight, even though it's not finished. Better than having it sit in your barn.” Brady said. “No need to apologize, Brady. We were just finishing up. You want something to eat?” Applejack offered. “No thanks, I'm not really all that hungry, to be honest.” I brought my plate and glass to the sink, and followed Brady out to the barn. We opened the door, and he went over to the right side, where his nearly-finished bookshelf rested on the workbench. All it was missing was the coat of finish, and sanding down the edges to give it a little design. And I had the feeling Brady would want to spend his last day here with Twilight, and not working on the bookshelf.
“I really, really don't want to go back.” Brady told me, not even trying to hide the sorrow in his voice. I relented to my subconscious, and brought the possibility forth yet again. “We could stay...Twilight could not get the potion ready in time.” I told him. “But, you have your job, and I have school. We have to go back. We have lives back there. Family, friends.” he countered, repeating what Rainbow had essentially told me just an hour earlier. “Yeah I know...” I said, again coming to the same conclusion. But still, that possibility still hung in the back of my mind.
“But...what if...what if we didn't?”
In hindsight, it didn't really matter to detail what Brady and I did that day. I spent the day flying with Raibow, enjoying myself as much as I could, and Brady kept Twilight company in the basement as she worked on the potions as best she could in her sleep deprived state.
We couldn't imagine better ways to spend our last day in what we considered to be paradise, than with the ponies we had become such good friends with.
PONYVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY
Twilight came up from the basement with a saddlebag, and went upstairs. The sun had set an hour before, and Luna's stars and moon graced Equestria's night sky. The unicorn found her dragon assistant sleeping in his bed next to her bed, and she looked out at the balcony. There, she saw Brady at her telescope. She walked over to the patio door and opened it, stepping out into the cool, crisp night.
“Hey there Brady.” she greeted. He turned his attention away from the telescope's eyepiece to look at her, and he smiled. “Hey Twi. I take it everything's ready?” he asked. Twilight gently set her saddlebag on the patio. “Yep. Everything's ready. I just wish...” she trailed off.
“That we didn't have to go. I know. We've been feeling the same way all day. I was kinda hoping you wouldn't get the potion figured out, but everypony knows you're too smart to not do that.” he said, causing Twilight to blush lightly. “So what are you doing out here?” she asked. “Looking at the stars. I just realized today, that that's how we can remember each other. Our world and Equestria have the same sky.” he said. He turned back toward the eyepiece, adjusting the telescope. “Have any favorite constellations?” he asked, letting her look in it. Twilight took her place at the telescope and adjusted it a few millimeters.
“Well, thanks to the last few days, I think my new favorite would have to be...Orion.” she said. “It'll remind me of the time a human came to Equestria and became one of the best friends I'll ever have in such a short time.” Twilight said. Brady smiled. “Thanks, Twilight. You've become a great friend too. And...I have to admit. Even though I've been a pony for only a few days, I've...I've come to like you. A lot.” Brady said, not able to hide the red tint in his cheeks. “I know.” Twilight replied, smiling sheepishly.
“You do?”
Brady smiled, his blush increasing, and his horn glowed as he looked down behind the telescope's tripod. He levitated the constructed but unpainted bookshelf into view.
“I wish I had time to finish this. But I wanted to spend today with you instead.” Brady said. Twilight took the shelf in her own horn's levitation, smiling. She set it down next to her, and came in and gave Brady a hug. “It's perfect just the way it is. Simple and practical. Just like me.” she said. Brady returned the hug. “So, what other constellations can you show me?” Brady asked. Twilight smiled and stepped up to the telescope. “We could be here all night.” she said. Brady smiled in return.
“Nothing sounds better to me.”
THE NEXT MORNING
Due to how fast we had to get moving that next morning, everyone spent the night in the library. Brady and I especially found sleep hard. Neither of us wanted to let this place go. And it was getting harder and harder as we all got up and saw a royal chariot waiting outside the library to take us up to Canterlot.
“Celestia says the portal back is in the throne room, where Pinkie originally came through to you guys.” Twilight told us. We grabbed a quick breakfast, and we tried to savor it. For whatever reason, it felt like our last meal. With that, the eight of us gathered in the chariot, and we were off. During the trip, I looked over at Rainbow, who was trying her best to hide how visibly upset she was.
I wanted the chariot ride to last forever, but we were in Canterlot before we knew it. We were dropped off at the castle gates, and we all went inside. The throne room doors were guarded by two guards, who opened them for us, obviously expecting us. The closer we got, the harder Equestria tugged on our hearts to stay. This just didn't feel right.
The doors parted, and there stood Celestia in the center of the throne room, next to an otherworldly portal. We could see our hotel room on the other side. The portal itself was just beginning to visibly destabilize. We approached the Princess and all simultaneously gave a respectful bow.
“Jake, Brady. I'm sorry your time here had to be cut off so abruptly like this. I wish it could be different. It is my sincere hope that you both have enjoyed your time here.” she told us kindly.
'Why can't it be different?' I thought to myself. “Twilight, do you have the potions?” the royal sister asked. Twilight nodded, not able to hide the sadness, and opened her saddlebags, and took out two beakers of the purple sparkling fluid. She set them down, and the six of them came in for a group hug.
“I really hope you guys have had the time of your lives.”
Amidst the goodbyes, I was barely able to keep it together.
“Are you two ready?” Celestia asked, as Twilight brought forward the two potions.
Neither of us could answer her.
Twilight removed the corks off of both potions. Brady took his in his horn's magical grasp, and I took mine in my hoof. We slowly brought them up to our mouths...
...and in one last moment of doubt, we paused.
A/N:
Tale of Two Bronies
Ending 1
As the tip of the beaker touched my lips, a single tear fell from my eye, falling down my cheek. I looked over to Rainbow, who could no longer hide her sorrow, and tears flowed freely from her magenta eyes. I immediately felt an undeniable lump in my throat, and ache in my heart.
I removed the beaker from my lips, and looked over at Brady, who too was filled with hesitation. I set the beaker gently on the marble floor and turned to face Princess Celestia.
“Your Highness, please, I beg you to hear me out.” I said to her. She gave me a nod. Nonetheless, I struggled with my words, not because of whom I was speaking to, but the emotions churning inside me.
“I...I don't want to go home. I know we have lives, family, friends, and obligations back there but...but I keep on wondering. Out of all the hundreds of thousands of fans, out of everyone who wishes they could come to this place; why us? Why was it just the two of us? I can't believe that our experience here was meant to be this short. And...” I paused, looking over at the crying Rainbow. “And I don't want to believe that the feelings I've come to have for a friend here amounts to nothing.”
Rainbow blinked, staring at me, perhaps not believing what she was hearing me say.
“Jake, I...I said-”
“I'm...I'm not sure if I could handle living there, knowing what I've experienced here. So I beg you, your Highness, from the bottom of my heart. Please, let us stay.”
The royal sun sister regarded Brady and I with a compassionate expression. She turned to Brady, who had also set his potion down and had gone over to Twilight.
“Brady, do you share Jake's sentiments?” she gently asked. Brady nodded, also visibly crying.
“I do, your Highness.”
Celestia stepped away from the portal, and towards our group of eight.
“I will admit, I fail to understand why you two are so willing to abandon your previous existences for a life here in Equestria. But in my 1,000 years of rule, I have not turned away a single pony who wishes to live in my land; be they from another continent...” she trailed off for just a moment, “...or another dimension.”
Still teary-eyed, Brady and I began to smile.
“Are you two absolutely sure?” she asked us one last time. We both immediately nodded.
“Then I, Princess Celestia of Equestria, hereby decree that Ponyville, and therein, Equestia, bid welcome to their two newest residents. The unicorn Brady, and the Pegasus Jake, from a far away land.”
The portal home shuddered, and collapsed, and I felt a wave of relief unlike any I had felt before. I spread my wings and threw my front hooves around Rainbow, who mirrored the embrace. Brady likewise celebrated with Twilight. Then, we were all caught off guard by two flashes of light.
“What was that?” Brady asked. I too, was clueless as to what had just happened. Our confusion increased, as the mane six looked at us with looks of amazement and joy.
“Why, would ya look at that. You two just got your Cutie Marks!” Applejack exclaimed.
“WHAT?!?” Brady and I said in unison, looking back at our flanks. Indeed, there they were. Mine was a white cloud, with a golden wing fully spread on each side. It was a symbol of my love of the freedom of flying.
“Looks like somepony is gonna really enjoy the airshow next week then!” Rainbow told me, blinking away her tears.
Brady's was a hammer and a wooden plank in the shape of an X.
“A carpenter?” he asked himself. “Well why not? That's one of the best bookshelves I've seen!” Twilight said.
We were overwhelmed with joy. Cutie Marks were as official as it got. This was real. We were ponies of Equestria. Both of us rushed over to Celestia and nuzzled her appreciatively.
“Thank you so much, Princess.” I said. She smiled down at us.
“Welcome to Equestria, my little ponies,” Celestia began.
“Welcome home.”
CLOUDSDALE CLOUDISEUM
The six Wonderbolts flew overhead with a rush and a roar, splitting and scattering into a star formation, smoke trails in their wake, and the Cloudiseum was filled with cheers as the Wonderbolt Airshow Spectacular began.
Rainbow and I were nearly front and center.
As the wing of Wonderbolts came around for another aerial stunt, Rainbow looked over to me.
“Listen, Jake. I was thinkin' about, well, adding some cloud onto my house. In case, you know, you ever wanted to move in. I can't have you sleeping on the couch forever, now can I?” she offered with a smile.
The Wonderbolts zoomed overhead again with a roar, bringing a pause to our conversation for another few moments.
“I appreciate the offer, Rainbow. I really do, but...” upon hearing the start of the second half of my reply, her expression became one of an unexpected frown.
“Oh no no, Rainbow, it's not you. I like you, I do. I like you a lot. It's just that, well, I'd hate for all that hard work Brady is doing down in Ponyville to go to waste.”
PONYVILLE
Twilight came out of Pony Joe's with several lunch trays, and ten bottles of Apple Family Cider straight from the Acres. From there, she went to an open patch of land not too far from the library, that was slowly becoming less and less open, as Ponyville's newest carpenter worked with a small team to erect a house.
“Wow, Brady. It's coming along great!” she complimented, as the frame was complete, and they were now putting floorboards in to the two story dwelling.
“Thanks, Twi.” Brady replied, sweat dripping from his mane. “I've never understood how magic can make you sweat. Isn't it supposed to be...well, magic?” he asked, wiping the sweat from his brow. Twilight giggled in return. “Even as the Princess' protege, I don't have the answer for that one.” she told him.
Rainbow and I came trotting down the path to the construction site. Rainbow had a rolled up poster in her mouth.
“So how was it, you two?” Brady asked.
“It wash aweshum!” Rainbow said, not bothering to take the Spitfire-signed Wonderbolts poster out of her mouth. Realizing her haste, she removed the poster, and marveled at the under-construction house. “Wow! You've gotten this far in just 5 days???” she said, amazed.
Brady smiled proudly. “Well, clearly, I've had the best of help.” he replied, motioning a hoof to the construction crew. “I can't wait to see how it is when it's done. I might have to move right in with you guys!” Rainbow exclaimed. “What about your cloud home with the Rainbow fountain?” I asked. She only shrugged. “A few ropes and a team of Pegasi, and I can put it right above here.” she said.
“Well, now that you two are back,” Twilight began. “Brady, Jake, I think Rarity wanted to see you two in her boutique.” she informed us. “Did she say what for?” Brady asked. “Why else? Probably has some hot new fashion idea that she wants to try out on you.” Rainbow replied. Rainbow's opinion on fashion aside, we decided to give Rarity more credit than that. Brady let the construction ponies go for the day, and we made our way to Carousel Boutique. We arrived, and gave the front door a gentle knock, and saw ourselves in.
“Good afternoon, Rarity.” we greeted. “Ah, at last. I was wondering when you two would get done. How was the airshow, Jake?” she asked. “Fantastic. We loved it!”
“Anyways, I thought I'd call you here and get your measurements for the suits I'm going to make for you.”
We were interested, and mystified at the same time. “What would we need suits for?” Brady inquired. “Why, for the Grand Galloping Gala, of course!” she informed us. Brady and I exchanged glances. Ponies or no, we weren't much for formal events any more than the mane six were. “Why would we go to the Gala? That's not really our style.” I said. “Now come come, you two. I've seen the way you two have been courting Twilight and Rainbow Dash, and you simply must show them a night to remember!” she stated.
“Uh, Rarity. We saw the last Grand Galloping Gala. If we recall, all six of you hated it.” Brady countered. “Well, yes. But be that as it may, last year we were all hoping for individual fantasies to come true. The Gala is still the perfect place for a romantic evening.”
I thought about arguing that point with Rarity. A nearly-pointless party with the high society ponies hardly qualified to me as a romantic evening. What about a nice local restaurant? I knew from Brady's expression, he was equally skeptical. But the fact was, neither of us had been on anything remotely close to a date. So we'd give Rarity the benefit of the doubt.
“Don't worry, you two. You don't have to wait until the Gala to take them out for a nice evening. This visit is just for measurements. The Gala is several months away, and it'll will take me around that long to get your outfits absolutely perfect!” Rarity told us. While she was taking measurements, we thought she'd be the perfect pony to ask. “Speaking of a nice evening, do you know any local romantic restaurants?” I asked. “Do I ever! What kind of restaurant were you thinking of?” she asked us.
I had no idea what Rainbow's tastes were outside Pony Joe's, and that hardly qualified. “Well, um, good food, nice music, great view. Things like that.” I told her. “I know of this fantastic little place just outside of town, over by Fluttershy's and the Everfree Forest. Quiet, out of the way. Perfect for a first date!” Rarity chimed.
“Maybe Twilight would enjoy that too. Think we could do a double date?” Brady asked, as Rarity measured his forelegs. “Sounds like a plan to me.” I agreed. We let Rarity finish taking all her necessary measurements, and then made our way back out into the town square. We quickly came to another hitch; we had never asked anyone, or anypony, out on a date before. How did one go about doing that.
“Come on, Jake. If we can beg a Princess to let us stay in Equestria as ponies, asking a couple ponies out on a date should be nothin'!” Brady encouraged.
“A date? What, like the airshow wasn't a date?” Rainbow asked me when I asked her out approximately thirty minutes later.
“Ooh, I've never read anything about dates. What would that be under...” was Twilight's response when Brady asked her.
Once I had told Rainbow that a two dates in one day was perfectly fine, and once Brady had Twilight convinced that dating was not something that had to be strenuously researched beforehand, we had a time set of 7:00.
We opted for no clothes, as until the house was finished, we had no place to put them. So that night it was just four regular ponies going out for a bite to eat. The restaurant ended up looking like a very homey looking place, built just off the bank of the river that flowed through Ponyville into the Everfree Forest. The four of us went up the front walk, and the maitre d' greeted us upon entry.
“Good evening, and welcome to the Everfree Landing. How many tonight?” he asked. “Four.” I said. “Excellent, this way.”
We were seated at a booth that had a great view of the river. “May I get you ponies an appetizer while you decide what you want to dine on tonight?” he asked.
We whispered amongst ourselves for a few moments, and decided on smothered cheese hay fries. He took the order on a small notepad, and was off. I looked over to Brady, who was sitting across from me, and I couldn't help but notice that he looked a little nervous.
“Whats wrong, Brade? Nervous?” I asked, taking a bite of cheese fries. “Yeah, a...a little,” he admitted. “You didn't seem nervous at all when you asked me out today.” Twilight encouraged. “It's not that, well, it is...sorta. It's just that...” he paused, and knowing he had the entire table's attention, continued. “...are you two comfortable getting this close to...you know...humans?” he asked sheepishly.
After a moment, Rainbow scoffed. “What humans? All I see are two ponies.” she said. Twilight nodded in agreement. “But, we were” Brady said. “So? It doesn't matter what you were, it matters what you are, now. Besides, why should we care about what you look like on the outside? It's what in here that counts.” Twilight said, putting the tip of her hoof on Brady's chest. “Gee, I guess you're right.”
“I mean, I'm not saying I'd come right out and date somepony of a different species, but Twilight's right. It doesn't matter anymore. You're ponies now.”
We soon had the plate of cheese fries done, and were ready for the next course. It came soon enough, and our noses were greeted with some of the best aromas we'd experienced. Rainbow Dash and I shared a generous plate of spaghetti with a robust tomato sauce, with a side of Stormcloud Soup. Twilight and Brady opted for separate entrees of the Honeycrisp Apple Salad, each with a cup of Fancy Onion Soup topped with Provolone cheese and croutons. For the end of our dinner, we all shared a gigantic slab of double-fudge chocolate cake, meant for the entire table.
To end the evening, we all went out and sat on the dock to listen to the crickets and look at Princess Luna's starry night sky together.
It was one of the best nights ever.
PONYVILLE
Rather than keep daily tabs on Brady's progress on the house, I decided to take a job with Rainbow in the Ponyville Weather Patrol. Those complimentary bits the mayor supplied us with while we got jobs secured weren't going to last forever. Especially since we spent a good chunk of them on that first date out together. Rainbow was all too happy to have me on the team, and assigned me a section of the sky above Ponyville that included our in-progress home, for convenience. I learned the ropes fast, and before I knew it, I was performing my weather-related duties nearly as fast as Rainbow was.
A few weeks after the dinner at the Everfree Landing, I awoke to a few light pokes on my head, and was surprised to see Brady and Twilight standing in front of Rainbow's couch.
“What are you two doing up here?” I asked groggily.
“Well, I couldn't let you sleep in. How else would we welcome you to our new house?” Brady told me. That grabbed my attention immediately. I was up in an instant and zoomed off to get Rainbow up. Shoving her across the floor out of her bedroom with her still rubbing her eyes, I was ready to go down and check it out. Brady and Twilight got back in the hot air balloon, which was floating outside the front door, and Rainbow and I flew down ahead of them. We waited for them to descend, and we walked to the site together.
It was amazing. What was just a collection of wooden 2x4's a few weeks ago, was now a beautiful two story house. It was in the style of other Ponyville dwellings.
“Wow! It's...it's incredible!” I said, awestruck. “Just wait until you see the inside.” Brady said. With that cue, the four of us went inside the front door. The place hadn't been furnished yet, so there was most likely the illusion that it was bigger than it actually was. But here it was. A living area, kitchen, three bedrooms, two bathrooms. It was indeed, incredible.
“You're more than welcome to move in, Rainbow.” I offered. “I might do that. Gotta get my house moved above it though.” Rainbow replied. “You too, Twilight.” Brady said. “I don't know about that, yet. I'm Ponyville's librarian, and I really enjoy the library.” Twilight replied.
Regardless of who moved in with us and whenever they moved in, one thing was for sure; we were home.
And then, it took all this time for the possibility to enter our heads.
“Hey, does this mean we're part of the show now?”
Tale of Two Bronies
Ending 2
The beakers touched our lips, and just before the liquid reached our mouths, there was a flash of light, and the beakers were gone. Brady and I each took a step back in shock, wondering what had just happened.
“Do you two really think we wouldn't find out?” Celestia said behind us. We turned in surprise, and she had a sudden, stern look of disapproval on her face.
“W-what are you talking about, Princess?” I asked. There was another flash of light, and now, floating before her, in the grasp of her magic, were three laptops. We recognized them as ours. Celestia rotated one, the screen facing us, and we noticed it was open to YouTube. The name of the video was “Friendship is Magic Bitch!”
Our stomachs dropped, when we realized what was happening.
“B-b-but Princess, most of the people back home think this is just a sh-”
Brady could not respond.
“Well, let's give it a try and see how fun it is!”
Our eyes went wide.
“Ohshi-”
MOON
We had to admit, the Earth did look stunning from up here.
“Wow, who'd have imagined that she ACTUALLY had a trap door and a cannon in the floor?” I asked Brady, who merely shot me a glance of discontent. “Probably because when she wasn't eating my pizza, she was in her throne room looking at what the fandom has done online.” he replied. I gave a light giggle, then spotted something over in the distance. “Hey what's that?” I asked, pointing over to a small hill several hundred feet away, that appeared to have something on it. We galloped towards it to investigate, and the object became clearer. It appeared to be a queen-sized bed.
And what's more, there was somepony in it. They must have heard our approaching gallop, because as we slowed to a halt, the pony sat up, and rubbed her eyes.
Her fur was a rich chocolate color, her mane and tail were stripes of yellow, brown, and velvet. Her eyes were creamy yellow, and her forelegs were the same color, as if they had been dipped in...
“...Butterscotch? Butterscotch Sundae?” I asked disbelievingly. The cutie mark on her flank confirmed it; a glass dessert dish with a scoop of ice cream with chocolate syrup and a cherry. She gave us a smile, as if she was pleasantly surprised to see us here.
“Hey there. Nice to see new faces. It's been awfully lonely up here. And I take it you two are Bronies!” she said delightfully. “Yes, how did you know?” Brady asked. “You knew who I was. Which means you must be a fan of my fanfictions!” she said, hopping out of bed. “Yeah, I was wondering why you hadn't updated in quite awhile.” I told her. “So, what are you two doing up here?” she asked us.
“Oh, Celestia discovered the Brony fanbase, and decided to take it out on us.”
Butterscotch rushed up to us and put her front hooves around us. “Oh it's not too bad. It'll be better now with company up here. And look! The bed is big enough for three!”
Brady and I sweatdropped. “Uh...are you talking about...”
“It gets awful lonely up here, and you wouldn't believe some of the things three ponies can do in bed!”
CANTERLOT THRONE ROOM
With a duplication spell performed on the laptops, the seven ponies remaining in the throne room now had their own access to the World Wide Web, and now opened themselves to the horrors of the Bronies.
“Okay, now this is just SICK!” Pinkie screamed.
“Well, that's not the least of your problems. If these stories are any indication, you're pretty much the whore of Equestria, Rainbow. Sleeping with, well, all of us, mostly.” Twilight said, scrolling down her screen. Rainbow felt sick all of a sudden.
“And it is simply preposterous to think that I have human immigrants slaving away in my boutique! I would never stoop to that level. I'd use the finest in PONY slave labor first!” Rarity pouted.
Meanwhile, Fluttershy simply stared at her laptop screen with a confused expression.
“What is it, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.
In fact, the only pony that was pleased with this newfound discovery was Luna, who now pranced around the palace in socks.
“All right, I think we've had enough of this for now.” Celestia said, pressing several keys on her laptop.
“What are you doing, Princess?” Twilight asked.
“Apparently, Jake was working on another story right before Pinkie brought them here. As a matter of fact, it was finished. I'm just making a few last minute adjustments before uploading it for him. No story should go unfinished!”
A/N: Leave comments worshiping my ass or join the authors on the moon!
Her Royal Highness,
Tale of Two Bronies
Ending 3
With the knot in my stomach, and the lump in my throat, I knew if I didn't do it now, I was never going to. I clenched my eyes shut, tipped my head and beaker back, and swallowed the potion in one gulp, Brady immediately following suite. The tingling sensation came faster than before, and I'm guessing our bodies were now familiar with the potion's effects, because neither of us fell unconscious during the transformation. I felt my back hooves return to feet, my wings into arms and hands, and the rest of my body quickly returned to it's original state.
There I was, on my hands and knees, shuddering in the clothes we had come here in. For both of us, the pain of walking away from all this was not subsiding, so we wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible. We stood up, and turned towards the portal, tears pricking at our eyelids. We stepped towards the portal.
But when I heard Rainbow begin to cry, my feet planted firm. I forced myself to turn to look at her, and quickly walked to her and knelt down to be eye level with her. She threw her front legs around me, and I wrapped my arms around her, feeling her shudder in our tight embrace.
“I'll never forget you,” I whispered, “Never, I promise.” I told her. After what seemed like an eternity, we released each other from the embrace, and Rainbow, tears still flowing from her eyes, managed to give me a smile. Brady had likewise gone over to Twilight for one last hug, and tearful goodbye. With nothing else to say, we got up and joined each other in front of the portal. We knew if there was any more hesitation on our part, we wouldn't go through with it. We each took a breath, and stepped into the portal. There was the same flash of light, the same sensation of falling.
And then I opened my eyes, and I was sitting on my bed in the hotel room. The credits of the Season 2 premiere continued to roll on the screen. Pinkie popped up on the screen, smiled, and waved goodbye a final time, moments before vanishing from the screen.
For what felt like the longest time, we sat there, not moving, not doing anything. Tears continued to stream from my eyes. I felt so empty, so hollow, and I could only guess that Brady felt the same way. It felt like we had just given up the most wonderful thing that had happened to us. It would be back to work and school for us tomorrow. Back to the same day-to-day drag that defined our lives here. Our hearts longed to be back there. To do it again. To beg Celestia to let us stay in Equestria. We would never be able to tell this experience, this tale to anyone. No one would believe us. Not even other Bronies.
So there we sat. Motionless.
Paralyzed by what we had just given up.
And then something sparked inside. A hint of warmth.
'Rainbow...'
Sitting here moping over it wasn't going to get us anywhere. No, we would go on with our lives. And what's more, we could take this elation and happiness from those precious few days in Equestria and bring it to others here. The world couldn't get enough kindness, honesty, loyalty, laughter, generosity, and together with all those, magic could indeed happen.
Brady and I looked at each other, and we smiled. We got up off the bed and gave each other a hug.
“Come on, man. We're burning daylight. It's a beautiful day out there. It'd be a shame for it to go to waste.”
