A Boy and his Watch
By TheAlienBrony22

It's a Wild World out There,
Part 1

Near the lower class district of Canterlot, a few weeks after the 'Incident', Nightlight had decided to try and go out to a small rural town with Ben, to help his son move on from the 'Incident'. It was a bit of a walk to the train station, but it gave Nightlight time to try and talk with Ben, stallion to man.

"Remind me dad, why isn't Shining, Spike, Twilight, or mom coming with us again?" Ben asked curiously.

Nightlight chuckled. "It's because I feel like we need more time together. You're supposed to be my son, but I feel like I don't know a thing about you, and vice versa, you don't know a thing about your old man, so I decided to take some time off from work and treat ya a little bit to a small town bustling with friendly faces. We're gonna be there for a good week, so let's make the most of it and have some fun. What's the point in doing anything if you don't feel good doing it?" Nightlight explained.

Ben shrugged and sighed. Ben had never experienced the death of a loved one, or death in general before, and for a few weeks when he was going to school, none of the teachers could get him to pay attention, due to how mentally frozen in that one timeframe he was. He never revealed his secret to anyone, and Ben thought it'd be better if no one else found out his secret. He didn't want a repeat of what happened that night.

Ben looked up and tried to force a smile. "Maybe you're right... I've just been in a real odd place in my mind, lately. I think this trip will do me some good. Thanks for taking me on this trip, dad." Ben said sincerely. Nightlight smiled and pat Ben on the back as the two finally saw the train station come into view. "By the way, what town are we going to, anyway? Is it Appleloosa, Manehattan, or are we just visiting Auntie Glammer at her shack in Vanhoover, like you and Shining did last Hearth's Warming until you got stuck in the snow?"

Nightlight looked at Ben, and could tell his son was trying to be funny. It was refreshing to see Ben in a much better mood, it made Nightlight feel like he was making the right call. "No no, we're going to Ponyville. It's a small town, and there are a bunch of friendly faces, but you might wanna try and keep your powers on a 'need-to-use-for-emergencies-only' basis, you understand, Ben?" Nightlight asked.

Ben nodded for a moment till a question came to mind. "I get what you mean, but I just have one question, dad... What in the hay is a Ponyville?" Ben asked.

As Nightlight and Ben waited in line to get tickets, Nightlight was just generally baffled by how Ben didn't know what Ponyville was. "What are those teachers teaching you if you don't know about Ponyville? They supply us with Apple Cider, fresh produce, even fresher pastries, clothes, Ponyville neighbors Canterlot, how did you not know?" Nightlight asked, confused.

"I just knew Baltimare technically neighbored Canterlot, but I never heard about Ponyville until now. So, your guess is as good as mine, and I don't have a clue." Ben simply stated.

Nightlight just face-hoofed himself and sighed. 'I'm gonna have a word with those teachers when we get back, there is Tartarus to pay.' Nightlight thought to himself. He composed himself and put a smile back on as they approached the ticket booth.

"Two tickets to Ponyville, please, if you would so kindly, sir." Nightlight said.

The ticket teller nodded, tapping his hooves away on some kind of old fashioned console as two train tickets were printed out and handed to them. "Have a great day, and thank you for seeing Canterlot. Come again!"

Ben took his ticket and followed his dad onto the train, moving through the other ponies that looked at Ben funny. He couldn't blame them, he looked so different from everyone else when he wasn't transformed into his Unicorn form. Ben sat down with Nightlight and soon enough, the train began to move. There was no turning back, and Ben was fine with that.

After a long few hours on the train, it begins to come to a slow stop. Ben looks out the window to see a few buildings, some paved paths, and a couple other ponies that were waiting for the train.

Although, one of the ponies, a small bright pink filly with poofy dark pink hair and blue eyes seemed to be looking for somepony in specific. Ben didn't think much of it, but he did wonder why someone didn't have their kid, or maybe the filly lost her parents and was looking for them. Ben shrugged off the feeling and stepped off the train with Nightlight, then began to make their way through the bustling small town of Ponyville.

Ben looked around and could hardly believe how country the town was, but that could've just been him wondering why there was a pony wearing some kind of cowboy costume. "You sure we aren't in Appleloosa, dad?" Ben asked with uncertainty.

"Of course, after all, Appleloosa doesn't have one of the best pastry shops in all of Equestria, far cheaper, and twice as good as those expensive goods back in Canterlot. C'mon, I can introduce you to a couple of my old college buddies I knew back in the day." Nightlight offered.

"You went to college?" Ben asked. The human reluctantly followed Nightlight to the pastry shop, all the while the pink filly from before looks on from afar in curiosity.

Off somewhere else in Ponyville, was a farmer's market. Tons of farmers from different corners of Ponyville were working hard to sell their produce, but two farm families happened to be at a bitter turning point, though it seemed to be dying down. One of the stands sold Pears and Pear Jam, whereas the other stand sold Apples and Apple Jelly.

"Ah just can' believe you had the gall to still show up to this market aftah what happened last night, you pear pilferin' apple pickers!" A distraught and angered mare called out. The mare herself was an orange mare with red freckles on her face with a bushy green mane contained underneath a pink headkerchief. Her cutie mark was a cut open pear revealing sparkles and the pear's seeds.

A young bright mint green mare approached the angry mare, and promptly bopped the mare in the muzzle, staggering the angry mare and shutting her up. "Yah mean like ah can't believe you thought ah would wanna listen to you bicker and bark like a neutered noodle, missy? Git on back to yer stand and leave my boy, and my daughter-in-law alone, or the next time ah feel like picking apples, ah will buck one of the rotten ones yer way, up close and personal like," The mare remarked. "They made their choices, it ain't right fer someone to make them choices for them. Nothing would get done, you silly saddle ridin' seed bloomer!"

"It's Pear Blossom, you daft and deranged apple whore! I hope you apple pickin' freaks rue the day for when we topple you over in sales and run you outta busness!" Pear Blossom declared as she huffed and walked back to the Pear stand she ran.

"Thanks fer dealin' with my momma, Granny, she can be more stubborn than a blind bucking bronco on two legs that's seen color for the first time." A mare said. A creamy yellow colored mare with bushy and poofy faded orange locks trotted up to the other mare.

"Anything fer my grandfoals, and don' worry, you earned your place among the apples, it's just them rotten pears refuse to see reason. Maybe Mac and Applejack can try to run the stand with you and my boy, it'll let them get off the farm fer a little while and conversate, let them live a little and socialize. Oop! Just remembered, I was tryna make somethin' to commemorate the union of our families, an' I don't wanna see it go up in flames. I'll be right back!" Granny said, trotting off towards the farm.

A stallion walked up to the younger mare, chuckling as he tipped his hat to the mare. The stallion had a pure bright yellow coat with a red mane that was easily well kept, though he easily towered over the mare, she didn't seem to mind. "I'm guessin' Granny left something in the oven again, right?" He asked.

"Eeyup, but at least she was willing to make something to commemorate how we brought our families together... even if they didn't want that," The mare said. She sniffed, wiping a couple forming tears in her eyes. "Sure wish my daddy didn't have to make me choose..."

The stallion pulled the mare into a hug. "Hey, c'mon now, I'm sure eventually he'll come around, it just takes time. He can't be mad at you forever, Buttercup. I know I can't." The stallion reassured, chuckling at his own joke.

The mare smiled and leaned into the hug. "Thank you, Bright Mac. Ah just hope I can keep myself goin' before our other little one gets here too soon. Speakin' ah which, what do you think we should name it? And don't say Little Mac, you cheeky cheater." The mare teased as they walked back to the farm.

"Well, how about Bloom? I dunno, I was never good with names." Bright Mac said, trying to hide his blush in his hat.

From afar, a small orange filly with blonde hair and green eyes listened in, and was just ecstatic. She was gonna be a big sister soon, and she trotted off into town, looking for her brother to tell him the news. All the while, a pink filly was keeping up with the lanky legged farm filly.

"Hi there! I'm Pinkie Pie, what's your name?" The pink filly introduced.

"Uh... Applejack, nice to meet ya, Pinkie! Question, why in tarnation are ya running alongside me? Did ya have somethin' to say or did you wanna have a hoof race?" Applejack introduced.

"No, silly, I'm just looking to make some friends! What are you doing?" Pinkie asked, still keeping an even pace with the farm filly.

Applejack had never seen someone besides her brother keep up with her, and some rainbow haired pegasus filly who was too full of herself, but she always cheated by flying at all times.

"Ahm tryin' to find my brother, I got some big news to share, and--"

"Well why didn't you say so earlier, silly willy? I can help you! Just tell me what he looks like and I'll have him back here before you can say Salmon Swim upstream to See Sparklers Sparkle like Shooting Stars in the Sky!" Pinkie offered.

Applejack couldn't tell if the pink filly was serious, but she did wanna tell her brother the big news, so the two fillies ran through town, trying to find a colt.

Meanwhile, Ben and Nightlight have approached a pastry shop called 'Sugarcube Crumble', and already Ben could feel a cavity or two forming just by standing outside the front door. Ben seemed nervous as he and Nightlight walked inside, seeing a young and fairly chubby light blue mare with a swirly pink-ish magenta mane with twin tails, shaped like whipped cream swirls. She had three cupcakes as a cutie mark.

"Well Whipped Cream on Waffles, haven't seen you in a long while, Nightlight! And who's this uh... handsome young fella you have here?" The mare asked. Ben raised an eyebrow and looked at his dad, unaware of what just happened in the last few seconds.

"Ben, this is my old college study buddy, Chiffon Swirl. Chiffon, this is my new son, Ben Sparkle. He's going through a tough time, so I thought I'd bring him here for a week and let him make some friends, let him try to have a good time, get his mind off of things." Nightlight introduced.

Ben smiled and held a hand out for a hand/hoofshake. "Nice to meet you, Miss Swirl. Here's to hoping I don't cause any trouble for you or your establishment." Ben said. Nightlight sighed, he didn't expect Ben to say that, so something told him that this was definitely gonna take a week to help him get over the incident. Thankfully, Chiffon picked up on the cues and gladly took Ben's hand in her hoof, shaking it politely.

"Well, Ben, I hope you can try some of my delicious treats. I was actually experimenting a bit and tried a more festive recipe to sell all year round. Here, you can try a free sample on me, my treat." Chiffon Swirl then pulled out a plate of what looked like brownies, but with some kind of peppermint filling oozing out of the brownies, mixing with some kind of chocolate frosting. She sat the plate of brownies on the counter, and Ben couldn't even begin to describe how hungry he suddenly felt.

"By the shining glare of the Mare in the Moon, what are these?" Ben asked, cautiously taking a thick brownie and raising it up to his face, smelling traces of Marshmallow, Peppermint, chocolate, fudge, vanilla cream and peanut butter.

"That's what I call, a Flavor Blossom Special! Depending on whatever occasion you need one of these delectable treats, the ingredients can vary. I decided to use a marshmallow filling and mix in some vanilla, while also condensing the essence of those peppermint candies into a liquid to mix with the cream. I then mixed in some peanut butter, because it just works. I then made a standard brownie recipe, but the mixture that's oozing from the brownies was what I used for a filling. Go on, try it! Tell me what you think!" Chiffon explained, smiling.

Ben gulped and looked to his father, seeing him smiling and nodding. Ben sighed and took a deep breath, shoving the gooey, crumbling brownie mess into his mouth, chewing slowly as he initially expected to hate it, but actually found that it didn't taste that bad, it was like a mint chocolate brownie with a flavorful cream filling and a nice frosting.

"That's actually not bad, that's good! Really good!" Ben said, swallowing down the brownie as he reached for another. Chiffon Swirl lit up, smiling as he saw the human boy enjoying the confection she had made.

"Alright, Ben, try not to load up solely on brownies, save room for something later. Right now, we better get going, there's still a lot to see before we gotta turn in for the night. Hey, it was nice talkin' with you again, Chiffon, have a good day!" Nightlight said as he and Ben walked to the door. Ben turned back and waved goodbye, smiling as he and Nightlight walked out.

Chiffon Swirl smiled and sighed. "What a couple of sweet boys, glad to know he liked the brownies, might have to save them and write down the recipe." Chiffon told herself, looking at the brownies.

Somewhere outside Ponyville, a little pegasus filly was quietly reading a book while another pegasus filly was flying in circles, bored out of her mind. One was yellow with a long light pink mane that covered one of her eyes, she had lanky legs and small wings, and a cutie mark of three pink butterflies. The other pegasus did not have lanky legs, but she had a short, spiky and wild rainbow colored mane that stuck out with her light blue coat. Her cutie mark was a black cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt.

"Man, this blows! How do you do this all day and not be bored, Flutters? This is agony!" the rainbow maned filly asked. The yellow filly looked up with a smile, and looked the other pegasus in the eye.

"It's because I always enjoy the little things before trying to attempt the bigger and more exciting stuff. It's just easier for me to enjoy a good book, I guess." the yellow filly said, kinda quietly.

"If you say so, I'm gonna go back up to that stupid flight school and give those jerks what for, let me know if there's something--"

"Rainbow Dash!!" A voice yelled out. The yellow filly yipped and dove into the bush behind her, shaking worriedly. Dash looked over at the source of the voice, and saw a peppy and cheery pink filly bouncing towards her, and behind the pink filly was the lanky orange filly who didn't seem that thrilled or interested to be in this location specifically.

"Pinkie, I thought I told you- you're cashing that favor I owe ya now, aren'tcha?" Dash asked, landing on the ground as the yellow pegasus cowered behind her.

"Yupperoonie! I'm trying to look for a colt, taller than you, red, has no wings, short orange mane, kinda more built than the average colt, do you know where I can find a colt like that?" Pinkie asked.

"Haven't seen one like that, but there was talk that a strange thing just came into town with weird clothes, maybe that thing knows where that colt went. Besides, me and Fluttershy are just leaving." Dash explained.

"Good, that means you and Fluttershy can help us look for him! After all, you did pinkie promise to help me out!~" Pinkie said in a singsong tone.

Dash groaned and looked at the filly behind her, who did seem a little curious as to what this strange thing was, even if it did kinda scare her a little bit. Dash sighed and smiled at the pink filly. "Okay, Pinkie, let's go find him... and I guess AJ can come too." Dash stated, acknowledging the farm filly.

"Alright, no more dillydallyin'! Let's go find mah--"

"Excuse me, but are you fillies looking for a colt, per chance?" A dainty voice called out. Applejack turned her head to the voice, as did the other fillies, and a lanky, but shorter white unicorn mare with a short and curly dark purple mane with three diamonds on her flank approached them. "Did I hear that right, or did I perhaps mishear you?"

"Yeah, we're gonna go find AJ's big bro. Who're you, anyway? Never saw you in Ponyville before." Pinkie asked, eyeing the unicorn with a curious smile.

"I'm Rarity. I was told to go and make some friends, and I overheard you four saying you're gonna look for a colt. I'm willing to be friends, darlings, but I want in!" Rarity declared with a smile.

Applejack groaned and put her face in her hoof, and then glared at the smiling unicorn filly. "If ah let ya come with us, can we get a move on already so we can find mah brother?" Applejack asked impatiently.

The fillies nodded, and Rarity nodded as well. "Alrighty then, let's go find mah brother!" Applejack declared.

Author's Note

A bit long for a chapter, but it's a nice way to introduce the five other mares. Part 2 will be up momentarily, I just need to take a quick 5-minute break before I start it.