Brand New Face, Familiar Town

I barely slow my fall as a sharp gust throws me against the building I’ve been hoping to stay the night in.

Wincing, I shake my head and get to my hooves. Folding my wing feels painful, but I can tell nothing is broken. Still, that’s bound to leave a wicked bruise.

Relieved my wing is still functional, I open the door and quickly shuffle inside. The last thing I would want is a cold on top of a banged-up wing. Then again, I just flew thirty minutes in the wind and rain. It won’t be the last thirty seconds that make the difference.

It’s only after stepping inside that I realise that my EFS is populated by four white bars. I swear to Celestia, if I have to go look for another shelter in this weather, I’m going to lose my mind. I hate the Midwest…

“Uh, hello?” I call out. “I don’t mean any harm, I just wanna stay somewhere dry until the storm blows over.”

A pistol floats around the corner, wrapped in a mild yellow glow. A moment later, a buck in his mid-twenties walks out behind it. After taking a look at me and noticing my pistol is still holstered, he lowers the gun slightly and says, “Sorry for the rude welcome, but you know how things are.”

I shrug. “No biggie.” His bar didn’t turn red, so I really wasn’t worried for a second. While some of the features of this old PipBuck don’t work, the EFS sure is reliable and the primary reason I wear it. Now, if only he could lower his gun, that would be just great.

“What were you even doing in a storm like this in such weather?”

A huge sheepish grin spreads on my lips. “Flying. I got lost in thought, and the storm kinda caught me by surprise.”

He blinks at me a few times, mouth ajar. “How does a storm like that catch you by surprise?”

“Mom says I’ve always been like that.” I shrug. “Head in the clouds. Got a lot more literal when I started flying, I guess.”

Immediately, I hear hoofsteps hurriedly run down the corridor. A moment later, a lime green filly with a yellow mane comes to a sliding halt in the middle of the room. She’s an earth pony, almost as tall as me, despite being about a decade younger. Before anypony can say anything, she blubbers, “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! You have wings! Just like mommy!” She stares at them for a moment and furrows her brow. “But they’re so tiny… is it because you’re a filly?”

Yup, I officially hate foals. I give her a strained smile and try to hold back any snide remarks. In the silence that follows, heavy hoofsteps echo throughout the hallway.

Thankfully, before I can say something I would regret, the buck comes to my rescue and says, “Come on, Zestie, that’s terribly rude.” He finally holsters his gun, lowering his head to Zestie’s level. She just pouts and sits down.

“And no, I’m not a filly,” I say. “I just have the optimal size for the most aerodynamic flight.”

That seems to lift her mood a little, that fiendish curiosity returning.

Even though she’s quite irritating, I can’t help but wonder about her. She was born to a pegasus mother, but was definitely born after theDay of Sunshine and Rainbows. So, most likely, her mother is either a dashite or a ground-born pegasus. I hope it’s the latter. I rarely meet my kind of ponies.

Before I can voice any of my thoughts, a green mare walks into the room. To my utter shock, she’s not only gigantic, but also sports a horn and a pair of wings. If that’s the wingspan I’m competing against, no wonder I lost!

But even then, with how huge her body is, she’d need a lot of strength to manoeuvre properly, so I can at least take solace in the fact that I’m a better flyer than her. Probably, at least.

“What’s going on in here?” she asks with an amused smile, before turning to me. “And who might you be?”

“Name’s Moonwing, courier, repairpony, nurse, and all-around jack of all trades. Pleasure to meet you,” I reply with practised ease.

“Courier, eh?” says the stallion. “That why you were flying around these parts, despite the risk of storms?” He frowns and shakes his head. “Where are my manners? I am Rotor Wheel, and this is my daughter Lemon Zest.” He points at the filly who seems intent on eyeing me from every direction.

The alicorn says, “I’m his wife.” She nods over to Zest. “And her surrogate mom. My name’s Glitterdawn. Pleasure to meet you too.” It takes my entire willpower not to burst out laughing at a name like that. It sounds like a stable dweller name, turned up to eleven. I’m pretty sure the only thing keeping me from chuckling is my own name, which isn’t much better. I’m still proud of it, mind you. “Rotor, be a dear and make us some tea, please.”

The stallion nods and walks off into the old kitchen. Glitter sits down on one of the barely-not-ruined couches, moving far more gracefully than a body this large should allow. She nods over to the other one, and I take the hint. Zest seems torn between bothering the stranger and following her father into the other room.

“You’re being too kind, ma’am,” I say. “All I need’s a roof over my head, really.”

“Nonsense.” She shakes her head. “If somepony comes into my abode, temporary as it may be, the least I can do is be a good host.”

Glitter radiates confidence, putting me at ease with her mere presence, and a comfortable silence drapes over us while we wait for tea. Well, relatively comfortable anyway. I’m still sitting in silence on a stranger’s couch.

All the while, Zest keeps watching me with curious eyes. What, has she never seen a pegasus before? Are alicorns really more normal to her than a pegasus? It’s not like pegasi are rare nowadays, not since the day of Sunshine and Rainbows, at least. Eventually, her father calls her over, and she also disappears into the kitchen.

Still, that makes me wonder… “Hey, I hope this isn’t too indiscreet, but, well, how do I put this… How come you’re not with any other alicorns?”

Glitter replies with a cocky smile. “But I’m not alone. My sister’s in the other room, repairing some of the salvage.” She chuckles. “But you’re right in that we don’t appreciate other alicorns much. Clockwork and I had no memories upon leaving Unity, and never really quite got along with the others.” She shrugs. “Only thing we know is that we’re drawn to each other for whatever reason.”

“Ah, that makes sense. Kind of. I never really knew much about alicorns, other than the fact that my other aunt was killed by them.” I grimace, realising I’m definitely over-sharing to a complete stranger who doesn’t care in the slightest about my family’s history. In an attempt to veer the conversation away from my faux pas, I giggle and say, “My uncle probably wouldn’t forgive me if I told him I had tea with an alicorn.”

Glitter chuckles. “There are many ponies like that in the wasteland, even now. My sister tends to think everypony will hate her because of what she is.” Her smile turns to a frown as she shakes her head. “Not that I can blame her.”

Fuck, I managed to make it worse! In the calmest voice I can muster, I mutter, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

Glitter promptly shuts me down. “Don’t worry about it, please. Though let’s change the subject to something lighter. What about your family? It sounds like you have many fun stories about them.”

Well, if she was asking… “Not much coming to mind right now, I’ll say. Half of us ain’t even related. Out of everyone in my family, only grandma, mom, and my aunt share a blood bond. Even my cousin-slash-sister’s adopted. When I was younger, we used to all travel together.”

Glitter gives me a curious look. “How come?”

I just shrug. “I dunno. Ever since Mom and Uncle Cherry founded-slash-revived that one town, it’s just Auntie Snow, my cuz, and I.” I pause for a moment, hesitant to continue. Encouraged by Glitter’s curious smile, I add, “At the moment they’re in the ruins of Las Pegasus, catching up with somepony I cannot bear the sight of.” That pony happens to be my sire, though I’m too disgusted by what he’s done to even accept to speak a word with him. Or mention him to Glitter. “So here I am, delivering letters and exploring the region.”

At that point, Rotor returns into the room, floating three cups and a pot in his telekinesis, Zest following him.

As he pours the tea into the cups, Zest almost immediately starts chirping, “Miss Moonwing, why is your cutie mark not a letter, if you’re a courier?”

Rotor says in a scolding tone, “Zestie…”

To Zest’s credit, she immediately pipes down and mutters, “I’m sorry if that was rude, miss… It’s just that Mommy’s a singer, and her cutie mark is music stuffs, Daddy’s a sca… a scav… a recyclepony and his cutie mark is stuffs he recycles, and Auntie’s a repairpony, and her cutie mark is something very hard to repair…”

She falls quiet for a moment, trying to gauge her parents’ approval. Almost instinctively, my eyes land on Glitter’s cutie mark—some musical symbol surrounded by butterflies.

After a moment without any reprimands from either parent, Zest says to me, “So… Can you please-please-please tell me what your cutie mark means? Pretty please?”

“It’s quite simple, really.” My cutie mark is a crescent moon—waxing, to be exact. “Since I was born in the moonlight and named after it, I spent my early life imagining what it would be like. Then, when I actually saw it, it was so beautiful that it’s been inspiring me to be my very best ever since.” I’m pretty sure there’s no way to say it without sounding at least a little bit pretentious. Oh well.

“Oooooh,” she says in awe. “I wish my cutie mark will be as cool as that.”

Down the main corridor, a door opens, and out walks another alicorn—a messy-maned purple one, this time. Immediately, she catches Zest’s attention. “Auntie! Are you gonna come chat with us?”

Bashful, the mare—Clockwork?—replies, “I was just going for a bathroom break.”

Then, her eyes lock on me, and for a second she seems ready to return into her room.

Glitter calls out to her, “Come on, Clockwork, join us. It would be rude to our guest.”

“Uh…” replies Clockwork. “I…” The next thing I know, she’s back in her room, the door just barely not slammed shut.

Glitter shakes her head in disappointment. “You’ll have to forgive her. She’s not the most social of creatures. She much prefers the company of intricate mechanics to that of fellow ponies.”

Zest mutters something under her breath while the rest of us sit in silence, sipping our respective cups of tea. After about a minute, though, the door to Clockwork’s room opens once again. This time, her mane is perfectly orderly, and she is wearing a dark purple dress matching her own colours stunningly well, flowing all the way down her barrel. If I didn’t know any better, I might have thought she’s just a tall unicorn.

Glitter sighs and rolls her eyes. “Clockwork, you didn’t need to put that on. Our guest already saw you, and she seems fine with me being an alicorn, too.”

I nod. “Yeah, makes no difference to me. I’m used to being treated like less than a pony just ‘cause I’m a pegasus, so I’d be a hypocrite to do the same.”

Clockwork grimaces as she walks towards us. “I… prefer it like that.”

Glitter sighs again. “Fine, have it your way. This is Moonwing, our guest until the tempest subsides.”

“Pleasure to meetcha,” I say with my brightest smile.

“N-nice to meet you, too,” Clockwork replies meekly.

Then, her flank is practically knocked into the wall by an overzealous Zest. She’s standing on her hind legs and lifting the dress to reveal Clockwork’s mark: the open back of a silver pocket watch. “What’s your cutie mark mean, auntie? I thought it was just repairs.” Her eyes go wide. “Were you born near a big clock‽”

“Nothing special, I just like repairing fine mechanics,” Clockwork says in a slightly timid voice, clearly unsure how to handle the filly. I feel you, sister. “Haven’t you seen it before?”

“Yeah but you never explained it! And I didn’t get to really look at it!” By now, Zest’s voice is so loud and high pitched that I have to hold myself back from flinching.

“Zest, calm down.” Glitter raises her voice a little, just enough to get through to the filly. “What’s gotten into you today?”

“I think it’s ‘cause she’s been stuck inside all day,” says Rotor. “I’m gonna take her outside and go for a walk. I’ll use the shield spell to protect us from the rain.”

“But I wanna keep talking about cutie marks!” protests Zest.

“And you’ll get to,” replies Rotor. “But you need to come with me first. It’ll be good for you. A short, fifteen minute walk; my horn can’t really do much more than that, anyway.”

After a bit of grumbling from Zest, the two leave the house. Then, Glitter says, “I should probably heat something up for when they get back.” She turns to me. “And I insist, you’re staying for dinner.”

Before I can reply, she is gone, and the door to the kitchen closed. What a time to be alive. Ponies offering food to strangers would have been completely unthinkable even just three years ago.

And so, I find myself alone with an awkward purple alicorn. We sit in silence, neither of us knowing how to break it. Eventually, a thought does cross my mind. It’s the smallest of small talk, but it’s better than nothing. “You know, I’m sure you’d get along with my uncle Cherry.” Well, if he could overlook that she’s an alicorn, anyway. “His cutie mark is also a pocket watch.”

At that, Clockwork furrows her eyebrows. After she realises I’ve been staring at her in confusion, she just shakes her head. “I’m not surprised. Watches are really nice. I just love how ingenious some of the mechanisms are, how all the pieces work together flawlessly, how elegant they are at achieving that one goal.” By the end of her sentence, she has a gentle smile on her face.

After that, she seems to relax a little, and time passes a lot faster as we start chatting properly. It’s still small talk, but at least it isn’t awkward. When silence washes over us again, I ask, “By the way, sorry if this is a bad thing to ask, but I’m kinda curious about the whole no-memories thing.” She raises an expecting eyebrow. “Well, I’m not sure how to put it… If you have no memories, how come you’re, I dunno, mature? Like, if you only have a few years’ of memories, shouldn’t you be a child, mentally?”

“In theory, I guess, but there are things I just know, even if I never learned them. It’s probably from my time within Unity. The Goddess had some very strong memory spells at her disposal.” She shrugs. “For all I know, she or somepony else might have wiped our minds when she died.”

“You don’t seem to mind. Surely you had a life before this whole alicorn thing, didn’t you?”

Another shrug. “Maybe, but that pony isn’t me. She or he didn’t earn my cutie mark, and I did not live her or his life. My old self is but a stranger now, and while I’m a little curious, I don’t actually care. I’m sure she had ponies who loved her, and ponies she loved, but in the end, they would be nothing but strangers to me.”

Before I can reply, Glitter walks out of the kitchen, smiling. “There. Stew’s on the stove, and it should be ready by the time they’re back.” She walks over to the couch, sitting down next to me. “By the way, Moonwing. You mentioned your relatives founded a town?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Well, we’ve been looking for a place to call our home. It’s quite a difficult task when your family includes two alicorns. Do you think that town might accept us?”

I nod. “My uncle will need some time to come around, but Mom will make sure you feel welcome.”

Author's Note

Finally the end, huh?
I poured a lot of soul into this story, and I appreciate each and every person who's read all of it.
Thank you for reading,
- Etyco Filly

P.S.: If you care about behind-the-curtain stuff, you can check out the big A/N blogpost I made.
P.P.S.: Art gallery!

November 2024 edit: I've fleshed out this epilogue quite a bit to expand on the hints present.