Author's Note

Apologies for taking so long, not sure, but I hit a writers block given what Betta would have to encounter. Thanks to a friend though, my writer's block has been lifted enough I can pace the story a bit better. Enjoy the good feels and I'll see you all again.

Longing Heart of Affection

“You’re a… human...?” The town was in shock and Betta was frozen in place. Both parties were unable to decide on an action to take, fear from the human and the now jittery nerves of the town. No one moved, no one spoke and nary a breath was heard until the tension was broken.

“Hey, is that young’n still in town!” Everyone turned to see Shale come up with a new pickaxe in his possession. The stock, blades and newly designed chamber looked more akin to a modern take on a traditional tool of harvest as the head was shorter while the pick was longer. The design of the stock was changed as the second handle was shorter and placed behind the head and the revolving chamber rest to the the side of the head and pick instead of being positioned behind the pick. “Well!? Where is he?! I ain’t got all day here!” One of the townsfolk pointed to Betta. “So you’re human, huh?” The old stallion stroked his chin. “Well I figured as much.”

“WHAT?!” The whole town screamed.

“None of you got eyes?” The inventor screamed. “A human ain’t got magic. I knew he was human when I saw him wield my Multi-pick and his sword. He can absorb and redirect all magic with twice the kick. I knew he was human when I examined his sword, thinking it was too strong to be normal but he was the one making it that strong.” The old stallion walked up to Betta and extended a hand. “I’ll be taking the prototype back. This new Multi-pick here is much more stable but given your limits I only gave the tool three chambers, two for you and one for it.” Betta looked at the old model, thinking on the points to keep it with too few to convince him so he handed the pickaxe and received the Multi-pick.

Upon a closer look, the pick and head looked like a multitool as the head was a hammer with the pick retaining a blade from the old design with a blunted tip instead of a point. The stock was long, reached to a wedge, had an additional handle for extra more cutting surface to the pick’s blade and the pieces were firmly fastened to a fixed cylinder with three chambers, each connected to a different portion of the tool: one for the pick, one for the head and one for the stock. Whatever Shale was thinking, he made an all-purpose tool and weapon with a design that Betta somehow felt was optimal. “Why did you decrease the chamber count?” The old stallion held up a shell of crushed blue crystal. “Wait what?”

“I discovered that preloaded Dust would be a drawback as every job has different demands, but after seeing you and your blade and hearing of the danger, I optimized the design of the Multi-pick so the jobs it faces can be matched with interchangeable shells of magic, using magic crystals ground into dust though magic can be condensed into the same shape by a unicorn if skilled enough. The efficiency was increased, charge time was decreased and the charges can be used more than once if all three chambers are loaded. It’s ingenious, no? Plus, that head can double as a crushing weapon, given it is a hammer, while the pick and blades peirce and slash. The perfect multi-tool which has my signature stamp at the base of the stock, just above the pommel.” Sure enough, there was a stamp, an elongated triangle with jagged lining, above a pommel design that allowed it to double as a grip. “Well give it wave.” Betta snapped back to reality and started to slowly move the weapon around in swings and pulls, spinning the blade and pulling close to him before settling on the pommel. “Hmm. May need an adjustment, but those can wait. For now, you celebrate with the town.”

“But Shale, he’s-”

“I got eyes you jumpy whipper snapper but that don’t meant I can’t see good when I see no evil!” The town jumped back at his outburst and shrunk from his miny rant. “Did this boy sign on the job to save our town from disaster because he was kind? No. Did he tell anyone to join him or he’d kill someone here or blackmail anyone? No. This young man is neither charitable nor cruel. He let me see his blade but, for plausible reasons, he wasn’t going to let me keep it. He took my prototype, knowing what may happen and wanted to keep it. Whatever the reason, he took the danger and has a right to his reward. I offered him something better because I wanted to. Did he have to take it? No, but he did because it was better. We ponies have gotten so use to helping each other. Aside from me, no one here has ever asked for a reward or turned one down because we are being too gosh darn nice. Now before you take that the wrong way, you ask for what you earned, not demand for what people can’t pay.”

“So is he good or evil?” A stallion asked.

“WHERE YOU NOT LISTENING?!” The old pony popped the stallion on the head with the stock of the pick. “Darn it boy. All of you, if this human is so evil, why didn’t he attack us? Why didn’t he kill us? Why didn’t he, as history likes to say, rape our mares? Because even I know from meeting the young lad he ain’t like that pile of droppings!” The town jumped again from his yelling. “He ain’t waiting for us to drop our guard, he’s the one on guard! So shape up that sour attitude or all of pony kind will be labeled the biggest hypocrites in history! I’m out!”

The town and Betta watch in stunned silence as Shale walks back to his shop’s hatch and descends before a mare walked up with a mug in her hand, to Betta’s confusion. “We may not trust you entirely, but the old man has a point. We don’t extend a hand of compassion to one race we may as well hate them all.” Betta took the mug and she tapped her mug to his. “So let’s drink up, get wasted and puke up our hangovers tomorrow!” He smiled as he and the town smiled and cheered, getting back to the party.

The next morning, to no one’s surprise, the majority of the town was passed out from last night’s party and now the party attendees are waking up with migraines from the booze. The smell of breakfast stirred the human from his sleep as he found himself surrounded by mares. He started to shake them and saw that two of the ‘mares’ were feminine stallions. They all got up, too concerned about their migrain to care about the predicament before the smell of breakfast hit home, giving them all a generous wake as the party ponies now sat at tables. Betta was not liking the alcohol and it wasn’t loving him too much either as his head was killing him. A glass was set in front of him and he took a small swig of it. The taste was mildly rich with an undertone of sweet as he just took sips of the drink and a meal was brought out. From the look and smell, it was a plate of pancakes. Tearing off a smile bite with his fork, his found it was soft and fluffy before adding the melted butter and a generous fall of warm syrup, the sweet liquid permeating the cakes as they were nearly falling apart and turning into a half-mushy sweet cake. The human had gotten into cooking from his mother but never got heavy into experimenting after an incident regarding some pigeon breast and a gryphon, leaving the poor lad crying his eyes out while, unknown to him, the gryphon was apologizing to Gentle after the said mother beat the half-bird senseless over his overreaction to a nine-year-old child cooking a bird. After a warm heart-to-heart, Betta got back into cooking though he didn’t go the full distance from feeling the pressure of cooking from garden to table.

He enjoyed his moist pancakes with gusto and finished it off with the last sip of his ginger water and just mellowing in the after taste of sweet and warm syrup before looking back at the multi-tool in greater detail as opposed to last time. The sickle and blades flared out some like a wedge, likely a design choice so it had mass with the hammer adding mass for momentum, allowing the tool to act like a wedge. The hammer itself had low, rounded protrusions and was quite big but not absurd, contained to a proper size to wield. The two were meet in the middle, secured to each other and the fixed, three chamber cylinder between them. Below the chambers was a stock that was firmly secured to the base of the sickle, which extended down the tool for an unstoppable split unlike all other sickles. A secondary handle was added behind the extended blade under the large hammer for added grip and control with the heavy pommel at the base to balance some of its gravity to the stock. The stock was made from dark, treated wood and the sickle and hammer had simple markings along their faces toward the chamber caps. It was well designed, if a bit eccentric, but no less aesthetically pleasing to look at.

Taking the tool in hand, he walked out of the pub after leaving some of his bits to pay for the meal and left the tool at the door before heading back toward the forest. He turned around, giving the town a final look as a goodbye before heading into the Forsaken woods. With a new idea for his sword's reforge, the beasts were not too challenging but with no coordination to direct his next move, he was quick to run from the fight as the beasts gave chase. One landed in front of him as he raised his arms, thinking of defending himself as his arm felt strange for a moment. Within one motion, the sleeve was torn away but no blood emerged. Taking a look, his arm had gained scales and claws of a reptile, the toughness and density identical to a dragon’s claws. Dropping his weapons, not wanting to waste the chance to clear the crowd, he swiped the claws around him, ripping the beasts open with large, close cuts and quickly moved away, grabbing his weapon. The current mob of beasts fell as some blood got on Betta, before he attempted to wash it off to prevent and sickness.

Moving further along, this time running, he cleared the forest by the time the sun’s rise hit its apex and and began walking to catch his breath. Thinking about his recent days, he sat down and got some parchment and ink from his travel pack and began writing.

Hey mom,
Hope this letter gets to you before I send another in a couple days. I made it through the Forsaken Forest and got a town of acquaintances out of that trip along with a stand up - I’m going to say - friend. His name is Shale Stone. A bit coco given his age and just as creative with his work. He makes mining tools and I got to test his latest model. I’ll send a Capture Crystal and Analysis Shard with this letter so please deliver them to the smiths. I would like to see their work once I get back. I got into a party and woke up with mares and effeminate stallions a top me, so it was time to leave. I didn’t want any trouble between Uzuri and me. And yes I know what I’m saying but I already miss her company. It hurts me that I have to forsake that company for this journey. Tell her I love her for me will you.

Your son and Handy Man,
Betta Telium

P.S. If you embarrass that girl I will be cooking traditional Zebracan food when I get back.

Holding the two crystals that scanned the Multi-pick, they were put into a hollow cylinder before the town’s name and area were written on the metal along with the house address. Lighting up, it flew out of Betta’s hands as he continued on his way south.

Given the distance he would have to walk, Canterlot was going to be days away and there could be more towns along the path and now the Betta has discovered something unusual at best and dark at worst about himself he now had question that Celestia may not have answers to and he’d need someone who could answer him with a straight face what he is other than human. As far as he knew, no human has ever grown dragon scales and claws so he was worried of being a monster that Celestia wouldn’t give a second thought on killing. The human was scared but not for himself, but for his home should Celestia find out Forge Hills was harboring a human this whole time. Shaking the dark thought from his head, he continued on and came to a cliff face. Going around would be advisable but he didn’t have the time to pick. Calling on his claws, he felt his fingers shift and looked to see the claws where they should be. Stabbing them into the cliffside, Betta started climbing.

A cliff face on average would be around one hundred meters or higher depending on shifts from underground plates or even volcanic activity as a magma chamber is made underground by the said nearby volcano and with a lack of one, the former seemed more likely as it was almost smooth with only softly rounded protrusions. The effort was too much for the arms so Betta had to ditch his shoes and socks. Getting his claws ready, Betta made an inclined hole to keep the rain out and off of his shoes to keep them and his socks from getting ruined from rot or weather exposure. After they were secured, Betta accessed the dragon’s form again and his feet shifted, forming two massive fore-claws and a traction claw behind his heel as he resumed climbing with better ease, now even more worried about what his was if he wasn’t human.

Get to the top of the cliff, and crawling like a dragon for a few feet so as to not break the cliff edge and fall, Betta breathed a sigh of relief before relaxing his body’s changes as he regained his full human form. Heading further along, the young man saw a field of fruits, all having beautiful colors and smells like a rainbow of potential flavor. Looking further there was a table with assorted foods from cheeses to prepared foods and meals. As if to remind him, his stomach growled looking at the savoring meals from fruit folds, a vegetarian version of a gryphon’s taco, to a veggie pizza that most ponies made after the pizza of many other omnivores and carnivores. The spread was alluring but to be out here, Betta drew his sword as the wind blew around him, ready to act as a barrier. ‘All this food, good spread and a single house. Unless the resident comes out, I’m blasting this place down.’ He looked back and saw the Forsaken forest, just within sight but the cliffside was too high for most creatures to climb in one sitting, even Betta took a small breather going up.

“Darn it what is making such a ruckus out here?” The voice of an young mare came from the house and the source came into view. A slender mare with Ash Grey fur, Coal Black mane and a thin tail with hair of the same Coal Black growing from one side into a messy fluff. Her attire consisted of daisy duke shorts with fluffed bottoms, a white tank top under a blue checkered flannel and a ring on one of her ring fingers. “I come all the way out here and I still have vermin getting into my crops so what the Hay bale are you?”

“Honey, careful.” Another voice called this one too a mare and she was a Cotton Pink mare with Ocean Blue tipped Gum Pink mane and tail with a red left eye and blue right eye, wearing a Straw Yellow sundress and a ring on her ring finger matching the ring on the other mare. “He’s on edge from the forest.” The darker mare huffed. “Sorry about her, she gets real defensive over my safety when creatures come from the forest.”

“I don’t get defensive.” The ash mare protested.

The pink mare kissed the other as the ash coat got a dust of pink. “Yes you do Tanny.” ‘Tanny’ started playing with her mane. “Her name is Tanium. She’s the daughter of a Kirin and Bat pony but she got the Kirin’s strength in place of the absent horn.” The pink mare then got in Betta’s face as soon as his sword was sheathed. “And if you make fun of her, you’ll be my next roast for dinner you got me?” The human nodded scared at the otherwise off putting anger of the otherwise bubbly mare. “My name is Tender Love, nice to meet you.”

“Pleasure.” Betta answer with a mild hitch from fear.

“Well come inside, Tanny and I were about to have some lunch when you came along making that noise.” The mares walked in with Betta in tow, still a bit defensive but, figuring good manners, leaving his weapons at the door of a cozy house. The largest room was a hybrid of the living, dining and kitchen areas, with bathrooms and guest rooms on one side and bedrooms on the other with a bathroom off to the side. “Have a seat wherever. We’re just about to watch Knights of Stone. It’s a Soap Opera but I can’t help myself.” The bubbly mare got out some bowls and poured a bowl of noodles and broth before handing one to her wife and one to Betta before sitting next to her lady as the TV was turned on and turned down. “So where do you come from?”

“Forge Hills, just on the other side of Forsaken Forest.” Betta answered sipping the broth.

“Family?” Tanium asked, still apprehensive of their guest.

“Just my mother. Father left on a journey but hasn’t been back since. I do fear the worst, though I’m hoping he’s still alive.” Betta answered truthfully again.

“Any significant others?~” Tanium and Betta choked and hacked on their broth for the same question but different reasons.

“Why are you asking that?!” Tanium asked in exasperated shock.

“I’m teasing! I’m teasing!” The pink mare died laughing as the wife and guest just blushed and Tender calmed down. “But seriously, any marefriends or coltfriends?”

Betta blushed as he smiled. “Yeah, a zebra, Uzuri.”

“What do you like about her?” Tender asked with a smirk as her wife blushed. Tender always asked that question to gauge a person’s genuine love for someone.

“She’s expressive, caring, supportive, a good singer too. She likes to sing when she feels something strong, not all of her songs are cheery though, which is good but I’ve been on the receiving end of a few of them.” He had a smile as he remonised.

“How long have you known her?” Tanium asked.

“I’ve known her since we were kids. It wasn’t until our parents sat us down that we realized we were dancing around each other about love, course we were kids and it was a simple crush back then, but then she just shoved some flowers in my face and we went on the most awkward first date you could image.” Tender smiled at the young human and pat him on the head.

“Good. You’re faithful and wholesome. If you had said she was kind, funny and all that other stuff I would have kicked you out the door. But you know what she likes and care for her enough to know when she’s sour. You really do love her.” Tender and Tanium smiled as Betta smiled himself, a small but bright expression of joy.