Chivalry Reborn

Chapter 6:

Some ‘Splainin’ Ta Do

Could someone please kindly explain to me, just what makes all of these horses (female ones, at that) just want to threaten and tackle me? Seriously, I didn’t do anything wrong. I just saved a filly, for God’s sake! And yet here I am, on the ground, staring into a pair of green, narrowed eyes with a blank look on my face.

The bright orange cowgirl (or maybe cowmare? Whatever.) kept her eyes trained on me, waiting for me to try something so she could end me right there. I didn’t do anything about it, I just stared right back into her eyes, waiting for something to happen.

I was always the kind of person to deal with a stressful situation abnormally level-headed. I couldn’t explain it, but usually when the danger is on me, I normally just…didn’t care for it. I would normally just see the logic in the situation, and then proceed to find a way out. It was just my way of survival.  Up until now, I was completely confused, thus the panicking ensued. Now, with being able to see why this mare is more than a little peeved at me, I can act calmly.

She must have grown tired of the silence, because then she huffed and then bopped my chin lightly.

“Y’all listenin’ ta me?” She started demanding me to speak. “ I asked ya what yer doin’ here and why you had yer…..whatever those thing are, on Apple Bloom. Start talkin’! I know ya can!”

“For starters,” I began, my voice slightly forced, due to the fact a hoof was against my vocal cords. “Could you move your hoof off of my throat?”

She observed me for a moment, obviously not really trusting me, but she pulled her hoof back away from my neck. I coughed slightly to adjust my voice to a steady tone again. I started to sit up, but the mare pushed me back down with her other foreleg.

I sighed. “I get it, fine.” I looked at her with the same blank look. “First off, I have no idea what I’m doing here. In fact, I have no idea how I even got here. I was simply walking around my neighborhood and next thing I know I was falling into a forest.”

Her eyes widened a little at this. “So yer that thing that was falling from the sky, that Macintosh mentioned? We all thought he was just seein’ thangs. “The accent, strong in this one, it is.

“Well, he wasn’t,” I replied, continuing my testimony. “Secondly, I had my hands on that filly because she was about to be crushed by my house right here.” I nudged my head toward my home, which was still hovering over the ground with sparkles all around it. The hell was that stuff, anyway?

The interrogating mare just stared at me, her expression softening slightly. She looked towards the yellow filly, who stood watching along with her two friends.

“Apple Bloom, did this thing really save you?”  She asked the young girl. She nodded her head quickly, making her red ribbon bob along with her hair.

“Ya huh. He ain’t done nothin’ wrong, big sis. If it weren’t for him, I’d be flat as a pancake right about now.”  The young filly didn’t have as big an accent as the mare did, but it was sure as hell there. All this damn southern talk, my thought complained to itself. It’s everywhere.

The mare then finally relaxed a little, moving her hoofs off of me and walking to the side. She must have believed the story now. I slowly got to my feet, patting off any dirt on my clothes. I glanced over to the pair of sisters while I did this.  The older one was rubbing the back of her neck with a foreleg. slightly embarrassed, looking to the side.  The other was smiling at me, happily.

I blinked, hearing giggling and laughing around my legs. I shift my eyes downward, to see the other two small fillies running around my legs, looking up at me in wonder. Man, was I this hyperactive when I was a small? That’s a scary thought.

“That was so cool! Especially when you dove under that house, going all ‘c’mere, you!’” The young white unicorn yipped in excitement, copying my voice and face the best she could. Oh god, my voice is that deep!?

“Yeah!” The small Pegasus added. “And when he swooped out while only using two legs!” She got on her hind legs and attempted to mimic the way I ran, but fell before making one step. That didn’t stop them both from giggling some more.

“It really was pretty darn cool of ya to save me like that.” The little filly bounced around next to her sister. “Thank you, mister!”

“It really wasn’t anything,” I tried to make it so it wasn’t a big deal. I’m not that big a fan of being considered a hero. It kind of makes you known and then people call you by your name when you haven’t seen their face before. It annoys me, so I try to avoid popularity whenever I can.

“Y’all have mah thanks, nonetheless, Sugarcube,” The older sister stated, despite my attempt to deny full credit. Wait, Sugarcube? That’s a new one. “Oh, ah almost forgot to introduce mahself! Mah name’s Applejack. What’s yer’s, partner?”

“Winston,” I replied plainly. I was already walking toward my house, to check it’s condition. “Winston Flash, a human from a place called Earth.”

By the time I turned my attention back to the house, it had already settled on the ground. No longer was it covered in dark velvet sparkles. It was just my house on soil.  As I pondered what could have happened, I kicked the doormat back against my front door. This entire situation is insanity in the making. I think I should just jump off a cliff or something, see if I wake up from the shock. Nah, then I’d be really out of my mind.

A voice came from my right side. A very familiar voice.

“Applejack! Are you okay? What happened?” Someone shouted to the cowmare, expressing concern for her.  I could have sworn that I’ve heard that voice from somewhere…

Another came from that direction. “AJ!  Where’d this house come from!?” Okay, now that one, I recognized. It was that Pegasus I met falling here.

More voices followed.

“Applejack, darling! What happened to your little sister!?” A very elegant sounding voice rang in my ear. It sounded like one of those voice actresses you’d hear in a soap opera. The owner of the voice gasped dramatically. “My gracious, she’s all dirty!”

“Oh my…..Oh my…” A small, sweet voice whispered. I had to slightly stress my hearing to make out what she was saying. “Is everypony okay? No pony’s hurt, right?”

“Oooooh! Is it somepony new!? I hope it is!” A bubbly voice popped in, the excitement almost unbearably noticeable. “I’ll make a super-duper awesome welcome party for them!”

“Yeah, I’m fine, y’all,” Applejack replied to all of the voices, still sounded relieved. “Don’t cha’ll worry none.”

I looked to the side, to see five new mares join the aftermath.  They were all looking at Applejack, all probably still worried about anyone being hurt. From what I noticed, there was a lavender unicorn, a snow white unicorn, a pink pony (Is that cotton candy on her head!?), a yellow Pegasus, and the rainbow colored Pegasus that I caught in my fall to this place. There are so many damned colors; I think I would have had a seizure, if I weren’t for my adaption to looking at the blue screen of death at work.

“If it weren’t this fella over thar, I wouldn’t have mah little sister right now.”  She admitted, putting one leg around her little sibling, hugging her. Apple Bloom giggled, nuzzling against her sister in return.

“Huh…? Who are you talking a-,“ Rainbow Dash began to question Applejack’s comment turning to where Applejack was just looking at. Her sentence trailed off upon seeing me standing there, hand still on my house.

“It’s YOU!" She bellowed, getting in my face. She was glaring at me yet again. "That weird thing that grabbed me in the air!”

“This “weird thing” saved you a broken wing, ya know,” I replied flatly. I sighed,  this had enough ego for that entire damned group of hers.

She glared at me for a moment before looking to the side, a scowl clear on her face. She then hovered back towards her friends, and stayed in the back, back towards me and her forelegs crossed. She was grumbling the entire time.Everyone looked at Dash, puzzled, then immediately forgetting about her outburst, and focused their attention to me, now actually seeing just what their multicolored friend was arguing with. I guess I’ll have to work with her attitude later.

All eyes were on me.There were varied reactions between the four ponies who are seeing me for the first time. I took a  moment to quickly scan over each of their appearances.  I may as well, I’ll probably have to come to these ponies while I’m here.

The white unicorn stared at me with a blank look, as though it was analyzing me. She had her well-manicured hoof (What, horses can get manicures too!?) to her chin, perplexed. For some reason, upon noticing her gaze, I felt completely and utterly naked.

Her deep azure eyes, zipping from my face, nose, eyes, all the way down to the soles of my shoes. Her mane was very well kept, to say the very least. It was in the tone of a dark violet, with each side curled to bounce just right on her head. The left side dipped behind her ear, while the right side bounced right by her eye. Her coat didn’t have one speck of dirt on it. It could only be described as a sheet of snow that served as her coat. She reeked of diva-in-training, I didn’t need to know her to piece that together.  I quickly moved onto the next mare. Her look is just so damn deep, it’s freaking cutting me.

The yellow Pegasus was looking away from me, shifting her eyes from the ground to me every now and again. Her pure pink mane was long enough for hide most of her face and cyan eyes. She had a very light yellow coat, and seemed to be squeaking. Oh god, was she that shy? That noise is just adorable, even by my standards.

The Pink one looked like she wanted to tackle me right then and bounce all over the place. She had her face fixed in a ear to ear grin, something made even creepier than a normal one because horse ears are higher up the side of their head than humans.

Her light blue eyes were shining, as something in her head was giving her ideas.  Her hair literally looked like a giant wad of cotton candy was on her head, and she had the vibe that would warn anyone of the hyperactivity inside her.  To be honest, she’s kinda creeping me out.

The last one, the purple unicorn, was staring at me with wide eyes. She screamed familiar in my mind, but I can’t pull anything. Why was she so damn familiar?  The purple mane, the streak of ping down the side of her head. The dark, purple eyes.  They all demanded to be remembered, but I just can’t pull a match. Did I pass her as I ran? No. WHERE DID I- wait. The alley way. The girl. She had purple hair, purple eyes, a streak of pink. Is it possible…? No, it can’t be! This is a pony, a horse! I saved a human girl!

Our eyes were locked, not blinking away. I could have sworn I heard her mutter something. The others caught where my focus was going quite quickly.

“Um, Twilight?” Applejack asked her horned friend. This time, she was the one to ask in a concerned voice. “You okay, Sugarcube?”

The lavender mare snapped her head toward Applejack, shocked for a second. “Huh?” She asked confused for a second, but then seemed to remember what she was doing. “Oh, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me." She coughed, regaining her composure. "Anyway, who is this?”

“This here’s Winston,” Applejack explained to her friends, pointing a hoof at me. “He’s somethin’ called a ‘human,’ that come from someplace called ‘Earth.’” She proceeds to point to move her hoof from me to my house. “He’s the one that fell out of the sky 'fore this here house came plummetin' down towards the park."

Every last one of the ponies, fillies included, stared at me in awe; all except Rainbow Dash. She was in the back, rubbing her wings, muttering to herself. I think it was somewhere around “Big stupid jerk,” or “Dumb butthead.” Can’t say for sure. Probably still a little pissed about the whole “grabbing and closing her wings” thing. It’s probably going to come up a lot in the future.

While she was explaining, I walked to my front door, clicking my house keys from off my waist, and putting it in the lock. I turned it, making a barely audible click reach my ears. Yep, this is my home, alright.

“Look, ladies,” I spoke evenly and professionally, turning to the group of ponies that were still staring at me. I pushed my slightly crooked glasses back against my nose. I have dealt with confused folk a lot in the past. Explaining to confused Windows and Mac users, just why a certain program isn't working makes you deal with that kind of thing. A lot.

I was exhausted beyond belief. Having to take two dives (one from a 1000 feet, and the other from avoiding being crushed by my own home.) and sprinting through a small village, I think a deserved a chair. Don’t you agree?

“We can explain all about my situation and get introductions out of the way. I have no quarrel with that. But let’s talk this out in seats, shall we?” I turn to step into my residence before an afterthought popped in my mind.

“Oh, and please wipe your feet. Well, hooves anyway.”