🥜

Finally, out the door!

Lilyheart was looking happier again, and followed Sunset and I out.

My ears were immediately assaulted by a British voice.

“Miss Skies, please. There was no rain scheduled today!”

It took me a moment before I could process where the sound was coming from. Above us. Nausea. Pegasi. Horses weren’t supposed to be in the air. Worse, one of them was laying on a cloud. Horses weren’t supposed to do that, either.

“It’s just a few rainclouds,” said the one on the cloud, her head resting on a foreleg like Rainbow Dash often did. Ugh… broken legs. “And they’re only over my house! They’re not even bothering anypony!”

“But we have a strict schedule to keep, Mi–” the English one was interrupted when her colleague booped her on the muzzle.

“Sunrise, you really need to learn how to relax. Live a little! Play a game!”

“I do relax! And live! When I’m not on the clock! Unlike somepony I know!” said Sunrise.

“I’m not on the clock,” retorted the lazy pegasus. “I’m enjoying my day off. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to get back to it.” Skies tapped on the cloud and blew, causing a small puff to disperse upon Sunrise’s head.

Sunrise sneezed and shook her head. “Fine! I’ll get rid of the clouds myself!”

The English pegasus turned, and with a mighty buck, caused the cloud the other was resting on to disappear. Skies gave a yelp, and pancaked into the ground.

“Enjoy the rest of your day off, Miss Skies!” Sunrise hollered. She turned to leave, but then looked back. “Um, you are okay, right?”

The fallen pegasus immediately ballooned back into proper pony shape. Tiny yellow stars spun momentarily around her head which quickly disappeared after she shook her head. “No, I’m not okay; my cloud is gone!” she called back.

“Perfectly fine, then. Good day, Miss!” Sunrise rolled her eyes, flickered her tail, and flew away.

“I’ll remember this when the next rain is scheduled! I’ll make sure your front yard is always soggy!” called out the defeated pegasus with a shake of her hoof.

“Are you okay, Rainy?” asked Sunset.

Rainy Skies stood up and shook her whole body, her blue and purple ponytail waving back and forth. “I’m fine. I’m made of tougher stuff than that. New ponies in town?”

“Uh, yeah. This is Robin, and this is his sister Lilyheart!” Sunset motioned to us.

I twitched at the word “sister.” Lilyheart gave a giggle. Why are you giggling?

Rainy gave us a look over. “You two don’t look like brother and sister.”

“Well, we’re not really,” I said instantly.

“Our family’s complicated,” said Lily, at the same time

We looked at each other.

Rainy rose an eyebrow. “Rrrright. Well, I have my clouds to get back too… or at least I would, if Sunrise wouldn’t keep dispersing them.”

“What was that about anyway?” I asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? You just watched the whole thing. Pegasus weather policy disagreement. Happens all the time. Of course, I’m the one they come crying to when they need rain. But then ignore me when I want just a simple drizzle over my own property. You’d think I’m breaking the Galloway Convention or something.”

“Galloway Convention?” Dang it Matt stop asking questions.

“You know, all the laws they passed after the second Ponish War. It was a big deal here a few moons ago. Ponyville General had to change their logo because of it. You can ask Ink Scroll at the museum if you want to know more.”

The Geneva Convention? Galloway must be a type of horse. Ugh. The horse puns were cuter before I got stuck here. It was at this point I realized Rainy had been avoiding meeting our gaze during the whole conversation.

“But, welcome to Ponville,” she said. “Cool you get to stay in the castle. See ya.” With that, the pegasus darted into the air and flew off towards a tree.

“From what I hear, Rainy Skies and Sunrise are always going at it. They were like that in my world, too,” explained Sunset.

“And what were you giggling at?” I asked Lily.

“Oh, nothing. Just… Sunrise. Sunset. And of course the ponies named Rain–”

Before Lily could finish her sentence, something smacked into her head. The green ball then bounced harmlessly against my barrel.

“Terra!” a voice called.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

Lily flicked her ear and grimaced one side of her face. “I’m okay. What even was…”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry!” squeaked a voice. Before us was a terrified foal, smaller than even the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“Terra!” called the voice again. From behind the foal came running up a green mare. With a pink horn? Did any other ponies have different color horns?

“I’m so sorry!” said the mare. “Terra, what did I say about running off like that?”

The filly looked down at her hooves. “That I’m not s’posed to.”

The green mare took a hoof and patted the filly’s head. “It’s okay. Just don’t do it again, okay? Where’d you even get that ball from? And what were you doing?”

“From the bush,” answered Terra. “I was pwactising my magic!”

“Somepony left a ball in a bush out on this side of town? Who would even do that?” the green mare wondered out loud.

“I think I might have an idea about that,” answered Sunset. Her cyan aura hovered the ball through the air for us all to see. There was a small sketch of a curly maned pony on it.

“Pinkie Pie,” we all answered simultaneously.

The green mare took the ball with her own magic. “I guess we’ll go put it back. Sorry, again. Come on, Terra.”

But the little light mustard foal lingered for a moment, staring curiously at Lily.

“Your mane is pwetty!” she exclaimed suddenly.

Lilyheart’s eyes widened with surprise, and for a second, she blushed again. But she barely had time to blurt out a “Thank you!” before Terra shot off to follow her babysitter.

Again, my heart was torn in two. Great, she’s being encouraged again. But then a stinging guilt. Why can’t you just let her be happy? But she isn’t a girl. But he is a girl.

“Come on, the quickest way to Fluttershy’s cottage is this way,” said Sunset.

We followed her, me on Sunset’s right and Lilyheart a little behind me on the left. Except I had to do a double take when my eyes caught a pony with her same mane and coat color a few yards away. But, her mane was straight and balancing on the top of her head was a rubber duck. I stared, trying to figure out what exactly she was doing, but instead she only kept walking with a serene smile on her face as though her rubber duck was the only thing in the world that mattered.

Suddenly, I realized Lilyheart wasn’t by my side anymore. I looked around in momentary terror before seeing double. She was next to the rubber duck pony, with a shy blush on her face. Lily, can we please not get distracted…

“That’s cute!” she suddenly burst out. “Your rubber ducky is cute!”

Lilyheart’s straight haired clone removed the duck from the top of her head, her gentle smile now a beam. “Thanks! This is my little rubbery ducky! He’s a very cute friend to me!”

I could see the extra sparkles in Lily’s eyes. Great, not only do they look alike, but they share the same childish passion for small fake animals.

“Does he have a name?” Lily asked.

“His name is Bubbles!”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Mr. Bubbles!” Lily gave a little bow with her head.

“Sorry to interrupt,” I interrupted, “But Lily and I are late for something!” I stretched a foreleg over her and pulled her back towards myself like a bad performer whisked off stage with a cane. It made me shiver. What was that? Six feet? My legs can extend six feet? Aaaaah!

“Nice to meet you!” said Lily’s clone. She placed the duck back upon her head and began skipping along with a tune, “Little Bubbles, he’s the one!”

“Why’d you do that?” asked Lilyheart. “It’s not like we’re in a hurry.”

“Sunset needs to get to the Apple Farm, and I’d rather not spend all day putting off getting to Fluttershy’s cottage.”

Lilyheart shyly looked down. “Oh… okay. Sorry.”

I sighed. “Why did you talk to her anyway?” That’s not like you.

“That little foal… Terra… she gave me a compliment, just like that, and I thought, well, why can’t I give compliments like that to other ponies?”

It was easier to stay mad at Lily before she turned into a pony. But her last two words echoed in my brain… ‘other ponies.’ I sighed again. “That’s fine. But, I want to get to where we’re going. Is that okay?”

Lily nodded quietly, and we both galloped to catch up to Sunset, who apparently had just noticed we were gone. Afterwards, she began walking more slowly as though to make sure we didn’t get lost. After heading over a bridge, we took a left hand turn and soon the picturesque houses were replaced with a series of tents, some polka dotted, some striped, and others plain.

“Welcome to the Ponyville Market. Since it’s only around noon it shouldn’t be too busy, and it’s the fastest way to the Everfree Forest,” explained Sunset.

Not ‘too busy’ turned out to be quite relative, as the ponies increased dramatically in number surrounding us. Pastel cuteness assaulted my eyes, and a collection of pony chatter mixed with hoof clopping assaulted my ears from every which direction.

The three of us were pushed together amidst the crowd… is this technically a herd? I suppose a herd can be crowded, and a crowd can be herded, can’t it? Either way, I was sandwiched between the two unicorns. Ugh. I should have been on the other side, that way we could have kept Lily from running off.

And this was the first moment I really bothered to take in the smell of Ponyville. There were just too many changes to take in all at once. Instead of horse like I’d expect… it smelt sweet. It was like something sugary was being roasted… like multiple things. Mint, strawberry, lavender… so many. But two scents were the strongest… a crème brûlée, and something cinnamony, like Hot Tamales.

“Lily! Stop spacing out!” called out a voice.

Lord and Savior help me, what has she done now?

“Huh?” asked Lily, who stopped in the middle of the ruckus.

“Wait, no–” I tried, but it was too late. She disappeared behind a wall of technicolor. “Sunset, wait. We lost Lilyheart. Again.” I couldn’t keep the exasperation out of my voice.

“Sorry, cat lost rat?” asked Sunset.

“Cat lost rat?” I parroted.

“Who did what to your back?!” asked a stunned Sunset.

We were practically shouting at each other at this point, with only an inch between our muzzles. Her cyan eyes stared into my own with confusion.

I instinctively took a step back only to have the very surreal sensation of crashing into another pony three feet behind where my body ought to have ended. “Sor–” I started with a jolt, only to crash into another pony on my left… and then a pony on my right. What is going on?! Suddenly, Sunset bit the scruff on my withers and began dragging me away.

My pride is dead.

We found solace in a little nook between two tents. Sunset spat my withers out, and I fell to the ground. I stood up and shook myself. Ugh.

“Sorry about this. I’ve never seen it this busy before. Ever,” she said. “What were you saying about a rat and cat? And where’d Lily go?”

I facehoofed. “I was trying to tell you Lily was missing from the beginning! I thought you brought up the rat and cat!”

Sunset thought for a moment, before looking embarrassed. “Oops. Sorry. I think I said, ‘who lost what.’ I think.”

I facehoofed again before looking out into the scrambling mass of hooves, dust, and color. “Meanwhile, losing Lilyheart here is like losing a kindergartener in Disneyland!”

“Disneyland?”

“Really? Not even Disneyland in your world? It’s a theme park, mostly for children. Roller coasters, p-p-p-ponies dressed up as characters, food and toy stores…” I trailed off.

“Any idea where your sister went off to?” asked Sunset.

I thought for a moment. Where on earth would she go? Back to the castle? Would she try to make it to Fluttershy’s Cottage on her own? Just stay put and wait for us to find her? Clearly, she didn’t care that much about getting to Fluttershy’s cottage on time…

“Sunset,” I said. “Are there any shops that sell plushies?”

Author's Note

Cameos galore! I asked way too many ponies if they could make an appearance. And though I manged to squeeze in a lot of these ponies in an earlier chapter, but this one has been a long time coming. The bickering weather pegasi are Ashel's Sunrise and Rainy's Rainy Skies. The unicorn foal and mare pair are Pandora's Terra and Melody Daydream. To read more about Terra's adventures, check out her story here! (quick note, that Terra isn't the same Terra as this one... or are they?)

Other cameos include the reappearance of Iceswimmer05's Squeaky Clean!
We also hear a mention about Geeknerd's Ink Scroll, who you can read more about here!

My entire editing team found themselves in the chapter this time, but because they deserve even more praise and attention: special thanks the excellent and remarkable Rainy Skies, Ashel, and PandoraFox!