Ordinary
“Good Fortune, will you please stop dawdling?” called Careful Measure. “We want to be home before the rain begins.”
It was late in the evening, and the streets of Canterlot were nearly empty. Weather Control had scheduled a downpour that night for street cleaning, and the city’s residents wanted to be inside before the storm.
“Sorry, Mom,” replied Goodie. He’d stopped to gaze through a shop window. “But look, they have the new lenses from the Crystal Empire! They’re sonoluminescent! Isn’t that cool?!”
Careful sighed. “Yes, Goodie, they’re very interesting. But it’s late. We spent more than an hour after the lecture was finished pestering Professor One Stone with questions. We’d probably still be there if the custodians hadn’t come into the hall and chased us out so they could clean. It is time to get home.”
“Sure, Mom. But look!” Goodie pointed to a sign in the window display. “It says the crystals are tunable!”
“The crystals will still be here tomorrow. And this shop is on our regular route to and from work.” Careful sighed again. Because of a miraculous enchantment Good Fortune had been born an alicorn. It hadn’t lasted, and with time that enchantment had faded. Goodie’s coat had faded from glossy black to soft gray. Goodie’s mane and tail had faded from blood red to gingery orange. And time had changed Goodie from an alicorn into an earth pony. Careful thought she was almost used to that. But time had also transformed Goodie into something she was sure she would never get used to. Goodie was now a teenager.
Luckily, Careful had many years of experience herding excitable stallions who were easily distracted. “That goes for you as well, Pensive.”
“What?!” Dr. Pensive Daydreamer had his nose pressed firmly against the plate glass when his wife startled him. “Oh… yes… of course, Dear. The crystals will wait, I suppose. Time to hurry home. Mind your mother, Goodie. But, Careful, look! The pretty green ones are piezoelectric!”
“The two of you may browse to your heart’s content, tomorrow,” Careful stated firmly. Being married to an absentminded professor was often like having an extra child. For just a moment, she considered just flying home without them. She immediately decided against leaving them unsupervised.
“Don’t worry, Mom, we won’t be caught in the rain,” said Goodie. “I’d know it if we were.”
“Of course you would, Goodie. But that is because we are going to hurry home before the storm begins. Now, come along both of you, and don’t make me nag anymore.”
“Yes, Mom.”
“Yes, Dear.”
Careful started down the street at a quick walk, and her husband and son hurried to keep up.
“...with these new crystals at the focus we could increase the energy of collisions tenfold!”
“And with more energetic collisions we’d need extra shielding to keep from vaporizing the test equipment. Warding all the sensors from the particles they’re supposed to be detecting seems a bit counterproductive, don’t you think, Dear?”
They had walked two blocks past the store, and Pensive was still dreaming out loud about installing the new lenses on their enchanted particle accelerator, and Careful was still patiently explaining how it would not work.
Goodie followed, grinning. His mother might be protesting that the experiment was impossible, but Goodie knew that she was already making mental notes on how to build the apparatus. This was his parents' process.
Goodie suddenly stopped. He felt a tickle at the tip of his nose, and that usually meant he was supposed to find something. He turned his head from side to side, trying to focus the sensation. When he was facing the direction where the tickling was strongest Goodie closed his eyes and started forward, following his nose.
After a few more steps Goodie stopped and looked down. Any other pony would have tripped on the street’s curb. Goodie was looking at a storm drain. He leaned down and called, “Is anypony down there?”
A faint voice answered. “Yes! Yes, I’m here! Please help me! I’ve been stuck down here so long I didn’t think anypony would ever find me!”
“Hang on, I’ll be right with you.” It was a tight squeeze, but Goodie pushed, then wriggled, then pushed, then wriggled some more, until finally he had his shoulders through the gap. After that it was just a matter of one sharp exhalation and a good push, and Goodie dropped down into the storm tunnel.
What little light entered from the street above revealed a foal, laying on his side with one leg caught in a grate.
“Hi, I’m Good Fortune, but you can call me Goodie. What’s your name?”
“I’m stuck! Can you help me?” said the foal.
“Hello, Stuck,” said Goodie. “That’s an interesting name.”
“Very funny,” said the foal, who did not sound amused at all. “I’m Gullywasher.”
“‘Gullywasher,’” Goodie repeated to himself. “That’s also an interesting name.”
“It’s what we call a flash flood back home. Just call me Gully, okay? Can you get me out of here?”
“My Mom’s probably looking for me,” said Goodie. “When she finds me I’ll have her go for help. We’ll have you free in no time. So, what happened to you, Gully?”
“I just wanted to get out of the wind for a while,” whined Gully. He was much smaller than Goodie, and would have slipped thought to drain fairly easily. “I didn’t know how deep this tunnel was, and I fell and hurt my leg. I couldn’t climb back out, and this grate blocks the way to walk out. I tried to kick it open, but then I just got my hoof caught.”
“Isn’t your mom looking for you, Gully?”
“Yeah… well…” said Gully, evasively. “I suppose she probably is… somewhere…”
“Oh,” said Goodie. “I get it. You ran away from home.”
“That’s none of your business!” snapped Gully. “Anyway… you’re Good Fortune? I’ve heard of you.”
“I’m sure you have. I was in all the newspapers for a while, back when I was little.”
“You used to be an alicorn.”
“Yep. That’s me.”
When he was just a shadow in the dark tunnel Goodie had thought that Gully was an earth pony. Now Gully set his horn aglow, and the tunnel filled with a soft light. Goodie could see that Gully was a unicorn, with a dusty brown coat and a pale yellow mane.
“You don’t look like you,” said Gully.
“Actually, I do, by definition,” laughed Goodie. “But I get what you mean. Most of my pictures were taken when I was young, before I changed. But, really, I like this look better.”
“What? But you were an alicorn!”
Goodie nodded. “Sure, but that whole black coat and blood red mane thing is just kidstuff.” He ran a hoof through his orange mane. It lay flat for a fraction of a second before springing back with an almost audible ‘poof.’ “This is a much more mature look, don’t you think? This suits me.”
“But you’re just an ordinary earth pony!”
Goodie laughed. “Yeah, I’m just ordinary now.”
Gully hung his head, and muttered, “I’d do anything to not be just ordinary.”
“Anything?” asked Goodie. “So, you’d do something like, oh, picking one thing, and practicing, and studying, and training, and working at it for years until you get really good at it?”
“That’s not what I meant!”
“Ah, now I get it,” said Goodie. “What you really mean is you’d do anything for a magic shortcut. I had one of those, Gully. They’re overrated.”
“How can you say that? You used to be magic! Light’s the only spell I can do, but at least I can do that much. Now you’re just an earth pony like my folks, you don’t have any magic at all!”
“Are you sure of that?” Goodie smiled broadly. He reached behind Gully’s right ear, and when he drew back his hoof Goodie held a one bit coin. “Ta da!”
“That’s not magic, that’s just a trick!” sneered Gully.
Goodie pouted. “Hay, I worked hard to learn that. Tough crowd.”
“Stop messing around. It’s not funny. I’m trapped, and there’s going to be a storm!” Gully’s eyes glistened.
“You can tell when it’s going to rain?” asked Goodie.
“Sure. My senses are a little off, because the climate up here is so different from back home, but I can still tell. It’s gearing up for a big one!” A tear ran down Gully’s cheek. “If we don’t get out of here we are going to drown!”
“Hay, come on, we’re going to be just fine,” said Goodie. “Trust me. If we were going to get caught in the rain I’d know.”
“We’ll need to replace most of the accelerator’s housing,” said Pensive. “Surely there are alloys with high enough melting points for the machine to survive the experiment. Do you think that will cost a lot?”
“Yes, Dear. It would be very expensive. But it would still be cheaper than turning yet another accelerator into molten slag. Also, we promised the department head that we would stop doing that.” Careful turned to speak her son. “Goodie, you’ve been very quiet… Oh, darn it!”
Pensive stopped and turned. “Oh, dear. We seem to have lost him again.”
Careful flapped her wings with agitation. “It’s probably too much to ask that he’s just lollygagging. No, knowing Goodie, he’s stumbled into something important. Do parents of ordinary foals ever have to deal with this sort of thing?”
“I know nothing about ordinary foals, of course. But, be honest, we wouldn’t want to know. Go on and find him. I’ll wait.”
“I’ll be as quick as I can,” said Careful. She leapt into the air, and flew off to find her son.
“I still don’t understand why you’re so happy,” said Gully. “You lost your wings and your horn!”
“I’m happy because I’m still me, and I kinda like being me,” said Goodie. “Besides, I still have the horn. It’s in a jar on my desk.”
“You had everything! You could have become anything you wanted!”
“I have everything I want, and I am becoming exactly what I want to be.” Goodie’s ears began to flutter. “Oh, that’s my mom. I better flag her down.”
“Don’t leave me!” cried Gully.
“I’m not going anywhere.” Standing on his hind hoof tips Goodie was just able to reach the opening. With a mighty heave he pulled himself up, and got his head and one leg out. He waved frantically. “Mom! Hay, Mom!”
Careful looked down to see the top half of her son sticking out of a storm drain. She landed in front of him. “Good Fortune, whatever are you doing?! I trust you have an interesting explanation.”
“Mom, there’s a little colt stuck down here! Can you get the fire and rescue ponies to come and cut him out?”
Careful gasped. “Oh, the poor dear! Yes, I’ll fly for help straight away. But you are climbing out of there this instant, young colt!”
Goodie shook his head. “I can’t, Mom. He’s really frightened. I won’t just leave him.”
“Tonight is street cleaning night! This storm tunnel is going to be flooded! I want you out of there right now, Goodie.”
“Don’t worry, Mom. There’s more than enough time before the rain. I’d know if there wasn’t.”
“Goodie, what’s happening?” Careful could barely hear the call from below.
“Sorry, Mom. I gotta go.” Before Careful could say anything, Goodie disappeared down the hole.
Careful grimaced. “Somepony, please explain to me why I don’t want an ordinary child.” She spread her wings, and flew off to find a fire station.
“There, now, rescue is imminent,” said Goodie. “Do you feel better?”
“Not really,” grumbled Gully. “It hasn’t been a very good day.”
“Well, you didn’t like my last trick, but maybe you think this one’s better.” Goodie reached behind Gully’s left ear, and when he drew his hoof back he held a golden, laminated card.
“What’s that?”
“My security pass to Canterlot Castle, signed by Princess Celestia herself.”
“Wow!”
“I thought that might impress you.” Goodie slipped the card into his saddlebag. “I made a lot of important friends during my brief time as a little alicorn. That was the best part of all that.”
“Why didn’t the Princess take the card back when you became an ordinary pony?”
“I guess because she still likes me.”
Gully had no reply to that. After it had gone on long enough to grow uncomfortable, Goodie broke the silence.
“Why did you run away from home?”
“Oh, you wouldn’t understand,” answered Gully. “You live in Canterlot. Big, exciting, special Canterlot. You have no idea what it’s like to come from someplace totally ordinary.”
“You’re right about that,” said Goodie. “I’ve never been anywhere I thought was just ordinary.”
“Then you’ve never been to Dodge Junction.”
“Sure I have. That’s where we met Cheese Sandwich.”
Gully’s eyes grew wide. “You know Cheese Sandwich?!”
“Yeah, my folks interviewed him for our research,” said Goodie. “He was too busy with a bunch of parties out west to come to Canterlot, so we went out to meet him. Cheese is a really nice guy. A lot of fun, too.”
Gully raised an eyebrow. “Interviewed him about what research?”
“We’re trying to prove that earth ponies have their own magic, and to figure out how it works.”
“What?!”
“For instance, Cheese can tell when a party is going to happen before the ponies who want to throw the party know it. He calls it his ‘Cheese-sense.’”
Gully made a rude noise. “Oh, come on, that’s just an old mare’s tale.”
“You go right ahead and believe that if you want to.” Goodie sighed. “It’ll be a long time before we prove anything. It doesn’t help that we can’t detect the magic the way we can with unicorns. And just to confuse things, some earth ponies have such mad skills you can’t tell if it’s magic or just a lot of practice. For example, Pinkie Pie can absolutely do some kind of magic, but Applejack seems to just be very good at what she does…”
“Wait a minute!” interrupted Gully. “Just how many of the element of harmony bearers do you know?”
“All of them.”
“Including Princess Twilight?”
“Actually, I’ve met all four Princesses.”
Gully stared, open mouthed.
“I did say I’ve made a lot of friends. I know, it must seem like cheating. Sort of like that ‘magic shortcut’ I teased you about. But not all my friends came from being born an alicorn. Some of it’s from having genius scientists for parents.”
“That is so unfair,” whined Gully. “That never happens to ordinary ponies.”
“Um… you did call me ordinary, remember. Anyway, can’t you think of anypony you have met since coming to Canterlot. Someone you made friends with? You can’t think of anypony?”
“Er…”
“Now you have just gone and hurt my feelings.”
“You really want to be my friend?”
Goodie grinned. “See? It does happen to ordinary ponies.”
Before Gully could comment there was an enormous crack of thunder. Gully screamed. “The storm! It’s started! We’re going to drown, we’re going to drown…!”
“Gully, hay, buddy, it’s going to be fine!” Goodie put a leg across Gully’s shoulders, and held him until he calmed down. “We are not going to be caught by this storm. I would know it if we were. I promise.”
Gully didn’t answer. Goodie felt he needed to get the colt talking again, so he said, “Tell me about your parents.”
“Well,” said Gully. “It’s kind of funny, but Dad would probably love these storm sewers. He’s been trying to get them installed back home for years.”
“Really?”
“Oh, yeah. Not big ones like this. Just some pipes under the boardwalks, to drain Main Street. But nopony wants to pay for them, or to dig up the streets. So Main Street keeps flooding every rainy season.”
“Your dad is a hydraulic engineer?”
Gully shook his head. “Mom and Dad are potters. They made the pipes they used to irrigate the cherry orchards. Dad had to learn on the go when they installed the lines. That’s how we learn a lot of stuff, back home.”
“Can your Dad tell when it’s going to rain like you can?”
“Oh, no, Dad’s a lot better than me! You see, back home, we only get weather control when we ask for special help from Cloudsdale. Like, if there’s a drought. Mostly, we just count on the natural weather. Dad’s been keeping a weather diary since he was my age. He’s gotten really good at predictions.”
“So, your dad is a potter, who’s a self-taught hydraulic engineer, and an amateur meteorologist,” said Goodie. “You know, he doesn’t sound ordinary at all.”
Gully didn’t answer this. If he ever thought of an answer, he didn’t get the chance.
The storm tunnel was suddenly filled with light. Before they knew it, a burly fire stallion was working on the grate with a pair of bolt cutters. “Hay, kids, hold on just a little longer. We’ll have you both someplace warm and dry in jiffy.”
“See, Gully?” said Goodie. “What did I tell you? I promised they’d be on time, and I always keep my promises.”
Wrapped in heavy blankets, Gully and Goodie sat in the back of the emergency services wagon, and watched the pouring rain.
“They’re going to take you to a hospital, and they’ll keep you overnight,” said Goodie. “I’ll see you in the morning when they let you out.”
“Are you guys going to send me back home?” asked Gully.
“Well, it’s either that, or we send your folks a letter explaining why we didn’t. I can’t see talking my parents into that.” They both laughed. “But this should make you feel better. You use that expression a lot, you know.”
“What expression?”
“‘Back home.’ You know, if you still call it home, then it’s probably still home. Think about it.”
“Thanks a lot, Goodie.” The colts shared a big hug, then Goodie went to join his parents.
“I’m very proud of you, Good Fortune,” said Careful. “You did a very good thing. I think you could have found a way to do it without disobeying me, and I certainly think you could have done more to distance yourself from a flash flood. But it was still a good deed, and I am very proud.”
“Thanks, Mom. Hay, when we get Gully on his train home we should go with him. I think we need to interview him and his father.”
“Why is that, Son?” asked Pensive.
“They can both predict the weather. I don’t know if it’s just a talent, or if it’s an actual ‘sense.’ Either way, I don’t think they’re ordinary ponies.”