A Pony's Humanity

Chapters

Chapter 1 - A Hard Landing
Chapter 2 - Blue
Chapter 3 - Getting to Know Your Landmare
Chapter 4 - A Family Dinner
Chapter 5 - Beginnings in Ponyville
Chapter 6 - Fact or Fiction
Chapter 7 - Magical Bonding
Chapter 8 - Cold Comforts

Chapter 1 - A Hard Landing

Pain.

That was the first thing he felt. Spreading like a wave across his body, the epicenter being his very spine.

The cause?

A large, flat piece of wood that he’d found himself upon. Eyes of bright green were forced shut from the aches racking his body before they could open just enough to see a set of violet staring back only a few feet away.

Silence echoed through the room as the two pairs stared into each other, but eventually it would break as he vocalized his feelings.

“OW MY BACK!”

The door opened with a slight ringing as the owner of the Golden Oaks library stepped back inside her home, sweat dripping off her horn as she let out an exhausted sigh, wiping her purple furred brow, followed closely by a gaggle of other ponies. Twilight Sparkle, newly crowned alicorn princess glanced back as her friends welcomed themselves into her home to rest up.

Rarity always made her spot first, taking over Twilight’s couch to lay across her back, her horn bringing up a hidden hoof fan that seemed to wave on its own. “I am absolutely drained!” she lamented with her posh voice, looking over her usually well-cared for mane. “I swear if I find a single split end in my mane from those vines, Discord and I will have words.”

A flutter of wings told the unicorn another friend had approached, smiling at Fluttershy who had hoofed over a glass of iced tea from the kitchen. “I know we’re on edge girls, but let's please not threaten Discord. He did help us clean up everything in the end, after all.” Her soft voice had a unique way of calming her friends, even in their exhausted state.

“Sure, Shy,” Rainbow gave in quickly, zipping by to grab some refreshments as well, now resting atop a cloud she had smuggled into the establishment, much to Twilight’s chagrin. She narrowed her eyes at her pegasus friend, but gave in with another sigh. She was just too tired for a scolding about how bringing extra moisture inside was bad for the books.

Applejack was the next to get a glass of tea. “Thank ya kindly,” she smiled at Fluttershy as she downed the entire glass. While used to hard work on the farm, even Applejack could feel the excess stress on her muscles. “At least we got everythin’ all cleaned up. Things can git back to normal by tomorraw.”

There was a loud gasp, all eyes turning to Pinkie Pie, the only member of their friends not any worse for wear after their latest adventure. “Should I-”

“Throw a party?” all of her friends finished for her.

The party pony stared at all of them for a moment before turning to a wide grin. “Ladies, you read my mind! Best way to clear everypony’s mind of all that nasty plunder vines and give ‘em a big ol’ smile!”

The girls all had a small chuckle, the former wielder of the element of laughter already upping their spirits. “How about we talk about parties later, please dear?” Rarity asked through a small giggle. “I believe the rest of us are quite tuckered after the day, but we’ll be happy to talk about it after some rest.”

Twilight nodded along. “I think that’ll be best. We’ve all had enough excitement for now and we don’t want to be all out of excitement for one of your parties, would we?” Pinkie’s horrified face quickly shook to give the princess her answer. “Good. Now, I wouldn’t mind some of that ice tea and a good book.”

As if the universe itself had decided to spite the princess, their calmness was interrupted as storm clouds suddenly formed in the library, encircling the central desk. The wind picked up, causing papers to scatter about, lightning flashing above their heads.

“Rainbow!” Twilight instinctively scolded.

“It wasn’t me, I swear! My cloud’s all nice and poofy!”

Turning back to the storms, Twilight watched in horror as a swirling abyss opened within the clouds, spiraling above them like an encroaching tornado. Her hoof lifted up to protect her eyes, trying to think of what spell this could possibly be as well as how to counter it.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Rainbow called out, pointing into the abyss. “There’s something coming!”

“Brace yourselves!” Applejack cried, tackling Pinkie to the ground as she had just been staring at the portal with a goofy grin.

Sure enough, Rainbow’s call hadn’t been incorrect as a shape became clearer and clearer as it fell from the abyss and only moments later, a body came crashing down on to the library’s table, Twilight grateful it didn’t break as there was already enough furniture to replace from the day’s events.

Quickly as it appeared, the vortex swirled into oblivion, the wind dying down instantly, leaving everything to settle back to the ground. Putting her hoof back down, Twilight approached the body, looking to see a young stallion with deep blue fur. The outstretched wings instantly made it clear of the race, though she curiously couldn’t see a cutie mark on his flank like hers and her friends.

Applejack poked her head up, eyeing the pony. “A pony? What in the hay just happened‽”

“Some kind of vortex,” Twilight was quick to answer, making her way closer to the stranger, leaning right into his face as she tried to tell for herself. Though not even a moment after doing so, the stallion’s eyes opened to meet hers. A strange quiet settled between the two for the briefest moment before the stallion let out a pained hiss.

“OW MY BACK!” he shouted, putting the girls all on edge. Rainbow and Applejack were the first to jump to Twilight’s side, cautiously glaring at the newcomer as he tried to roll off his back, letting out hisses and groans. “Ok, ok, come on, come on,” he mutters before finally being able to roll over. “That’s gonna sting for a while.” A hoof rubs his back soothingly as he looks around him, taking in his surroundings properly, blinking a few times. “What the? Am I dreaming or am I surrounded by multi-colored ponies?”

That question took the others by surprise, even more questions populating in their heads. “Uh, you look in a mirror lately, dude?” Rainbow so “casually” asked.

“What’s that supposed to…” The stallion’s question trailed off as he seemed to stare at Twilight, eyes narrowing. Twilight could feel a sweat growing at how intensely he was staring at her, wondering if he knew her, or if she had wronged this pony in some way, or maybe-

“My nose is longer,” he finally spoke, the sense of dread instantly falling out of the surrounding posse’s brains.

“What?” Twilight managed to ask, trying to feel embarrassed that he hadn’t actually been staring at her. Though her question went unanswered as the stallion started looking at his hooves and arms.

“Oookay, this is super weird,” he said aloud while getting a close look at his hooves. “They’re so flat yet I can still feel like I can pick something up.You’d think without fingers…” He trailed off again, before he blinked, looking to his side where the tips of his feathered wings were stretching out. “Woah! So I can stretch like tha- I have wings! I have wings!!” He started laughing, rolling about on the table as he tried to grab his own wings.

Applejack felt herself deadpanning at the scene before. “Do we need ta get a doctor? Fer the feller’s brain?”

“You mean if there’s one in there, darling.”

“D-don’t you think that’s a bit mean, Rarity?”

Pinke couldn’t help but giggle. “He seems like a lot of fun.” She then turned to Twilight who was staring at him in curiosity. “Bit for your thoughts, Twilight?”

Twilight blinked, realizing she’d been staring. “Sorry. It was what he said. Something about fingers.”

“An’ what’s that mean?”

“I’m not sure, but it gives me a hypothesis.” She would then walk closer to the stallion again who’d finally caught a wing to look at closely, staring in fascination. “Excuse me? Sir?”

“Hm?” The stallion’s attention turned to the pony before him, finally able to properly look at her. “Oh sorry, guess I got carried away. I think most in my situation would be freaking out, but I don’t know. It’s really just… interesting.”

“What do you mean ‘your situation’? You mentioned ‘fingers’ before as well. Were you not a pony before?”

The stallion shook his head, getting looks of confusion from the girls around him. “I was a human before I… crashed here,” he finished after looking at where he was currently resting.

“I thought so. I wonder if you found a different portal from the otherside of the mirror.”

“Mirror?”

Twilight shook her head. “Sorry, thinking aloud, but since you don’t know what I mean, we can rule that out. Does Canterlot High ring any bells?”

He was quiet for a moment, his eyes blinking every now and then his face scrunched more and more. “No, it doesn’t. Actually, nothing does. I-I can’t remember.”

“Remember what, dear?” Rarity thought to ask.

“A-anything! Why can’t I remember anything‽” The pony started to take deep breaths, putting his hooves to his head as he scrunched up his face. “It’s like they’re right on the tip of my tongue but nothing is coming!”

The girls all looked at each other for a moment, their eyes of matching concern being all they could do before looking back to the ailing stallion. “Nothing? What ‘bout yer name?” Applejack was the first to ask, only for her expression to dower at seeing him shake his head.

“All I can remember was being human. Nothing else.” He finally looked at the group of ponies that had him surrounded, at first worried he might be in danger, but that thought quickly melted seeing the six faces of concern for him. Slowly he took his hooves down, looking between this color cornucopia before him.

He felt a sensation on his hoof, looking to see Twilight had gently grabbed hold of it with her magical aura, gently pulling to meet hers, a calming smile on her face. “It’s going to be alright. Let’s see if we can help. Let me start by introducing myself: I’m Twilight Sparkle, it’s nice to meet you.”

The stallion stared at her for a moment before meeting her smile with one of his own. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

Author's Note

And here's my start at getting back to writing by going back to the beginning. Hopefully I can try to keep this somewhat up to date and maybe I can get back to all the stories I've left alone for all this time. Let me know what you think of this new beginning and what theories you may have on how things will change. May the force be with you all!

Chapter 2 - Blue

“Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Twilight Sparkle. Did I get it all that time?” The stallion asked with uncertainty, gently rubbing his head.

Twilight nodded. “Perfect. At least your short term memory appears to be intact, when you’re paying attention, that is.”

“I said I was sorry. These wings are so distracting.” He stared at the one on his left side, lifting it up and admiring the feathers, his eyes examining each individual-

“We’re losin’ him again,” Applejack chuckled, having settle back down with the others not too far away. They had finally been able to relax after the scare of the strange stallion, getting fresh refreshments with one addition.

“Y-your drink is gonna go cold, sir,” Fluttershy reminded him, bringing the stallion out of his own head again as he looked to his right where a fresh glass of tea was sitting.

He looked at the glass for a moment before back down to his “seat”, putting together that he was still sitting right on the library table. “Oh, uh, sorry,” he jumped down off the table, landing on all four hooves, resulting in a befuddle expression. “Now that’s odd. Shouldn’t I feel unstable on all fours?”

Twilight put a hoof to her chin in thought. “Humans are bipedal by nature, but maybe you’re not as unfamiliar with the sensation? Or it could be a side effect of whatever altered your body in the first place.” She watched him take a few careful hops in place, watching closely for any unsteadiness herself. “You’re right that there doesn’t seem to be anything off about your idling stance at least.”

“Well, at least I’m not flailing around.” With a soft sigh, his wing reached out and took hold of the glass on the table, bringing it to his lips to down the cooling drink, pulling it away for a moment. “Woah, what is this‽ It’s delicious!”

Rarity blinked for a moment, her own expression mirroring her friends as they watched the stallion. “It’s tea, darling. Is that… comfortable?”

“This is tea‽ Wow, it tastes nothing like I remember. I hated tea.” He quickly drinks the rest of the glass dry, leaving it to clatter with the unmelted ice as he set it back on the table. “And what’s uncomfortable?”

“Pegasi don’t usually use our wings like that, dude,” Rainbow said from her cloud, her face slightly scrunched. “You could damage your feathers if you’re not careful then say goodbye to flying for a while while they heal.” Her eyes started to dart about for a moment as he was now staring at her. “Dude, you’re staring.”

He shook his head. “Sorry, sorry, just… you’re on a cloud! That’s so cool! Wait, fly? I have wings, duh! How did I not put that together‽ I could fly now! That’s awesome!”

“Looks like he’s your speed, Dashie,” Applejack joked with a smirk, letting out a laugh as Rainbow tossed a piece of cloud at her. The others couldn’t hold back a few giggles as well, Twilight rolling her eyes before looking back to the mystery pony.

“Let’s put aside the thought of flying for the moment,” she said, holding back a giggle as the stallion let out an “Aw.”. “We should be focusing on how it is you got here. You’re sure you don’t remember anything?”

He shook his head, a frown returning to his face. “Sorry, nothing. It’s all a blank.”

“O-oh, um, but you remember not liking tea?” Fluttershy asked, before slinking back a little bit. “S-sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“You do have a point, dear,” Rarity turned and eyed the stallion, narrowing her gaze as if she were looking at a piece of stitching. “You’ve remembered this sensation of ‘fingers’ and now not liking a specific beverage. It’s rather inconsistent, if I may say.”

All eyes turned to the pegasus as he tapped his chin, gently sticking a tongue out the side of his mouth. “What’s the best way to put it? It’s like theres this checklist in my brain, a list of information rather than any experiences.”

“Like looking at a trivia section of a book summary?” Twilight brought up, getting knowing smirks from her friends who she gave a quick glance at with pursed lips and narrowed eyes. Though all their eyes shot up in surprise as the stallion shouted,

“Exactly! That’s exactly what it’s like!” he beamed as he stretched his wings, looking at the feathers as if they were hands. “Trivial bits of my life back home. I can remember liking chocolate, sodas, burgers. I can remember I had a family; parents and a younger sister, but I can’t remember their names or even their faces or their voices.” His expression dipped more and more as he spoke. “It’s like faint ghosts clinging to my mind. I can recall brief glimpses of my world; computers, airplanes, the space station-”

“The ‘what’ now?” Twilight briefly interrupted.

He shook his head. “And it’s gone. Dang, I had something solid on the tech front, but it just slipped right on by the moment I lost focus.”

Twilight blushed bashfully. “Sorry, I got curious about what you’d said.” She then watched as Applejack walked up to the stallion, placing a hoof upon his shoulder. Their eyes met for a brief moment, the farm mare giving him a knowing yet small smile before giving him a hug.

It was brief but the stallion was left staring for a moment. “What was that for?” he asked genuinely.

She gently tapped his shoulder. “Ya looked like ya could use it, sugar. I know a bit about what you were feelin’ ‘bout yer family.”

“Oh,” he replied with a blink, feeling at a loss for words. “W-well, thank you, Applejack. I appreciate it.”

She gave him a wink as she headed back to her seat. “Just ‘AJ’ is fine, all good between friends.”

He found himself blinking again. “Friends? But we just met.”

“What’s your point?” Rainbow decided to answer. “We’re all friends here, and that includes you, blue.”

“Blue?” he asked, tilting his head up at her.

“I mean, have you looked at yourself?”

“Well, only parts I can see.”

Twilight blinked, realizing that the stallion hadn’t had a chance to see his changed appearance. “I hadn’t even thought of that.” Her horn lit with magic power as a small mirror appeared in the air around her, floating over and in front of the stallion. “There, take a look.”

He did indeed, looking into the mirror, seeing a blue, furry face staring back. His green eyes look up at his mane, using a hoof to pull on some of the strands and then letting go into the messy swoop of light and dark blue that was draped over his head. He flexed his wings a little, getting a good look at his wing span and then down to his… “I have a tail‽”

Pinkie snorted and chortled. “That’s silly, Blue! Of course you have a tail, you’re a pony, duh!”

“Humans don’t have tails, Pinkie,” Twilight corrected.

“Oh, I thought they were monkeys!”

“Related to apes, actually,” the stallion added before blinking and then frowning. “Oh sure that I remember.” He then let out a sigh as he gave himself another once over in the mirror. “Well, I can’t say the nickname isn’t deserved. Pretty much blue all over, save the eyes. I don’t think they used to be this green, but pretty close. Everything else is completely different.”

“It’s a lovely trio of shades if I may say,” Rarity complimented, setting her tea down. “And we do have to call you something, as simplistic as it may be.”

He put a hoof to his chin, looking up in thought. “You got a point there. Don’t wanna be just some nameless pleb until I figure things out. So, sure, I guess ‘Blue’ will work.” He then smiled as Twilight made the mirror disappear, sitting before the gathered mares. “It’s nice to meet you all, you can call me Blue.”

“Nice ta meet ya.”

“A pleasure, dear.”

“H-hello there.”

“Cool, blue-dude.”

“Happy day to ya, Bluey!”

Twilight smiled as all her friends gave Blue a proper greeting, nodding her head to him. “Welcome to Equestria, Blue. You can count on your friends to help you.”

He smiled back at all of them. “Thank you, all of you. I think you six being around has definitely made this much easier to settle. I can only imagine if I just appeared in the wilderness or worse, I’d probably be screaming my head off or doing something incredibly stupid.”

“It’s no trouble, dear. We most likely would be having difficulties if we hadn’t already absolutely tuckered ourselves out today. It’s been an absolute roller coaster of a day, for all of us.” Rarity leaned back against the couch with an extra tired sigh.

“So whatcha gonna do, partner?” Applejack asked, readjusting her hat. “Ya said you’re gonna figure things out, but what’s that mean?”

“Well, far as I can tell, for the time being, I’m pretty much stranded in a place I know nothing about, in a body not my own. I guess at the moment, all I can do is at least find some stability while I try to see if I can get my memory back. That might be the key to how I got here, and maybe it’ll be a way back. Not gonna hold my breath though.”

“Why not?” Twilight tilted her head. “Shouldn’t you want to go home? Return to everything that you used to know as normal?”

Blue shrugged his shoulders. “I’d have to know what ‘normal’ meant to me. I’ve got nothing to go off that tells me things are even wrong. I can remember being human, but is that even true? There’s just so many variables and mystery to all this and I rather focus on making sure my tomorrow isn’t grim before I focus on solving the future. Speaking of tomorrow,” he rubbed his head, now thinking aloud, “what am I gonna do about money? I doubt a hotel will take ‘sorry I’m an amnesiac with no coin’ as a suitable deposit.”

Applejack let out a soft snicker. “Yeah that ain’t gonna fly, even in Ponyville. But yer right ‘bout that, sugar. Gonna need a place to lay yer head.”

Twilight raised her hoof. “Well since you’re already here, I do have a spare room you can use.”

The others all turned their eyes to the alicorn, Blue blinking a few times. “Are you sure, Twilight? I wouldn’t wanna inconvenience my new friends.”

Rainbow smirked, “So we are your friends, eh?”

He shrugged in response. “Who am I to turn down an offered hand of friendship? Well, hoof, in this case.”

“That’s one reason why I’m offering,” Twilight explained, walking up close to the stallion. “We all have offered to be your friends, and friends don’t just let each other sit out in the cold of night.”

“One reason?” Blue responded with a tilt of his head.

Twilight gently rubbed the back of her head with her hoof. “Admittedly the other is rather selfish. You’re an interdimensional being, whether intentional or not. As a scholar, I can’t let this chance go to waste to be able to talk with you more! Maybe even do some advanced studying!”

Blue blinked again, putting things together in his brain. “Alright, I think I can agree to that as a condition. But no probing, drawing the line in the sand there.”

“Yeah, Twi, at least take him out to dinner first before you get to probing,” Rainbow smirked before falling over on her cloud laughing as Twilight and Blue’s faces both exploded into matching deep red blushes.

“Not even remotely what I meant!” Blue tries to quickly put out the growing metaphorical fire before him. “I-I just don’t want to become a science experiment, okay?”

Twilight cleared her throat, using her wing to fan her face lightly. “T-that’s ok, Blue. I can respect your wishes. Just simple academic questioning and studying. It should help you more acclimate to your body as well, so, bonus?”

Blue smiled and nodded, letting the embarrassment slide. “Bonus indeed.” He chuckled and looked around at his new gang of friends as they started chatting amongst themselves before he looked back at Twilight. “So Ponyville, huh? What can you tell me about this place?”

Chapter 3 - Getting to Know Your Landmare

Time flew by as the mares regaled Blue with their many descriptions and stories of Ponyville, getting more than a few shared laughs and moments of awe. Sadly, all good things had to end as the sun started to set outside the library, the glimmering orange light catching Applejack’s attention first.

“Aw shoot, looks like Ah lost track of time. Should’ve been back at the farm hours ago, we got lots to get ready for the harvest and now gotta clean up them darn plunder vines.” She stood up from her spot, stretching out her legs and back until a loud ‘pop’ sounded, causing everyone to blink for a moment before she sighed with a smiled. “There we go. Be seein’ ya, everypony.” She tipped her hat and glanced at the stallion. “Don’t be a stranger, Blue. Come by the farm when ya got a chance, Ah always like to show off mah family’s hard work.”

He smiled back at her and nodded. “I’d love to see it, AJ. Have a good night.”

“I-I should go as well,” Fluttershy gently lifted herself up with a small flap of her wings. “My animals are probably getting hungry and they deserve a treat after all the commotion.”

“I feel like I could surely use a treat too!” Pinkie giggled, bouncing up on to her hooves. “I’ll go help the Cakes prepare some snacks for tonight and then I’m gonna start the preparations!”

Blue looked around as the girls all giggled back at Pinkie, sharing glances to one another as his head looked from one pony to the next. “I feel like I’m missing some context here.”

“Don’t worry, Bluey; you’ll find out soon enough~,” she replied with a wiggle of her eyebrows, more so than the newly made pony thought possible before she bounced to the front door. “There’s a lot to do in Ponyville, make sure to come see us all!”

“I concur, dear,” Rarity gently stepped off the couch, checking her mane briefly before smiling with a strong smirk. “Don’t let Twilight’s studious nature rub off on you during your stay. We’d love to see more of you.”

Twilight gasped with a pout at her friends as they all chuckled. “H-hey, I’m not that bad!” muttering an “anymore” under her breath as they all just grinned at her. Blue, for his part, was unsure of what was happening, but couldn’t help a small smile just seeing the dynamics playing out in front of him.

Eventually, he would stand and bow his head to them all. “I promise to come see you all as soon as I can. And thank you all so much. Not only for the name, but for giving me a chance.”

Rainbow flapped down from her cloud and gently buffed his shoulder with her hoof. “It was nuthin’, my guy. Nothing bad happened and you’re not exactly a monster of the week whose flank we had to kick.”

Blue couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Thank the Lord for that,” he chuckled with his eyes closed, missing the glances he got for a moment. “Six ponies coming at me with the powers you’ve told me about? That may be some fella’s thing, but it certainly ain’t mine.”

With a small chuckle coming from the others, they made their leave from the library, each giving one last farewell as they left, the door coming to a close after Fluttershy, leaving Twilight and Blue alone, the two glancing at each other as a silence settled.

After a few moments, Blue cleared his throat, catching Twilight’s attention. “Well, it is getting a little late like they said, so, you hungry?”

Twilight’s stomach answered for her, a loud gurgle echoing in the otherwise quiet building, getting a soft pink on her cheeks. “Yes, dinner would be great. I can go make some sandwiches if that’s alright. Unfortunately, I’m not all that great at cooking.”

“I’m not that good either,” Blue admits with a smile. “But I think a warm meal would do us some good with the day you’ve told me about and all of…” he motioned to his entire body, “this. So if you’d let me, I wouldn’t mind cooking something up. If you got some pasta, I’m pretty good at some spaghet,” he chuckled to himself before blinking.

With a tilt of her head, Twilight responded ahead of him, “I take it that was another of your weird trivia notes that you were left with?” With a nod as an answer, she gave him a gentle smile. “It’s alright. I can pick up on a few bits of ‘humanism’. Don’t be afraid to let them slip if they feel comfortable. And I do happen to have some pasta in the pantry, but I will not let you cook, alone at least. So if you know what you’re doing, I’ll be happy to help.”

Blue couldn’t help a smile forming on his muzzle in return. “Sounds like a good plan. I’ll get the noodles and we can work on the sauce together while they cook.” The two shook hooves on it before Twilight led the way to her rather simple kitchen. The library housing itself was rather limited compared to the central business. The kitchen was barely more than ‘nette’, consisting of a large sink facing the back window, a built-in oven with a stove top, a pantry built into the far wall, and even a refrigerator, which Blue couldn’t help but comment on.

Twilight nodded. “It’s an older model, but works well. I did have to replace the crystal not long after I moved here, but that one has yet to run out, knock on wood.” She tapped her hoof on the log countertop with a soft giggle.

“A crystal huh? Guess that’s magic for ya,” Blue responded as he grabbed the necessary ingredients from the pantry while Twilight got out the pans and set the stove. “But hey if you have a fridge, I’m not complaining. Means there’s some modern amenities and I’m not stuck in the dark ages of knights and ‘ye olde mutton’. Though speaking of,” he glanced around the pantry for a moment before he looked back at his new landmare. “Ponies don’t eat meat, do they?”

As Twilight shook his head, the stallion sighed. “There are cases where a pony will eat another animal; pegasi are pretty fond of fish, but I don’t keep any on hoof. We don’t usually entertain and my family just don’t care for it.”

Blue nods his head in understanding. “At least it’s not too shocking. So do your family visit often? If you need me to be gone when they come by, just give me a heads up-”

He was interrupted as Twilight let out a sharp gasp as she put her hoof to her mouth, nearly dropping all the pans to the floor in the process. “Dear Celestia, I am so sorry! With everything happening, I completely forgot!” At his questioning glance, she took a few deep breaths to calm herself back down. “See, I don’t live here alone. I actually have my faithful assistant and my daughter living with me. I am so sorry I didn’t mention it earlier.”

The stallion found himself blinking a few times. “Your assistant and your daughter‽” He then hissed through his teeth as he started thinking of their current situation. “Oh Lord, I am so sorry if me being here puts you in a weird spot. I don’t wanna cause any trouble with an ex or anything.”

It was Twilight’s turn to blink before the dots were connected. “Oh no no, you’ve got it all wrong! I don’t have any special somepony, ex or otherwise. Nyx is adopted, she came into my life a few years ago, but that’s a whole story in and of itself.”

A silent “ohh” was made on his face as he started understanding the situation. “Ok, ok, sorry I jumped the gun there.” As the situation calmed, he brought over the ingredients and they started to properly cook. “Nyx, huh? A pretty name.”

“Thanks,” she said with a beam, putting the pot on to boil. “I came up with it from an old story I would read to her. It fit her quite well, so now she’s my Nyx.”

Blue smiled back at her beam. “And your assistant? What’re they like?”

“Oh, Spike? He’s a baby dragon, but even that’s a bit of a misnomer. He’s only a few years younger than me and since I hatched him, he’s practically family.” She then thinks for a brief moment. “No, not practically. He is family, like a little brother. Some seem to think we seem more like a mother and son, but I wasn’t the one that raised him. My parents and Celestia did a lot of the heavy lifting so it was more like we grew up together.”

He nodded along quietly, prepping the sauce ingredients while waiting on the water for the noodles. “That’s sweet, really. To think I’d be in a land of dragons though. They were like the biggest legends; everyone wanted them to be real, so bad on Earth.”

“Oh so that’s your planet’s name?” she asked with a spark of curiosity in her eye. “Our world is called Equus, while currently we’re the kingdom of Equestria. It’s the name of the entire continent too.”

“So Ponyville, Equestria, Equestria, huh?” he joked, getting the proper response of rolled eyes from Twilight, making him chuckle. “Unfortunately I don’t think I can quite parse where on Earth I was from. I can make out a few countries if I focus, but I can’t narrow them down.”

“It’s alright, no need to force it, really. I’ve read that memory loss can take some time to be undone, and you can stay here as long as you need to. We almost never use the guest room anyway.”

Blue smiled before responding. “Thanks, Twilight. I really appreciate it.” He took the time to look around the kitchen, taking in the wooden interior. “I think I already like it here. It’s quaint and simple. Plus, it’s a library and, while I can’t remember if it meant anything to me, I can feel those books calling to me. I bet there’s some great stories that ponies can tell that I’d love to read.”

Twilight felt a sparkle in her eye as she watched the stallion pour the noodles into the water, her magic squishing the tomatoes for the sauce. “I’d love to show you all of them! What are your favorite genres? I prefer nonfiction myself but I can easily get into an adventure or even a science fiction!”

She continued to list off genre after genre of books in the library, giving a comment to each with their strengths and weaknesses while Blue stirred the boiling pot with a soft smile, letting her go on for several minutes before she realized she was being stared at and sheepishly pulled her head back behind her wings.

“S-sorry. I just… really like books.”

He couldn’t stop himself from letting out a barking laugh, nearly falling over himself. Twilight continued to pout in shame before he could calm himself back down. “Oh, oh Lord I needed that!” He chuckled a little more before giving her a placating smile. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Twi. Everyone has their passions, right? One of yours seems to be books and that’s great! There’s always something for everyone in books. If what I’m feeling is right, I’m more of a fiction reader, with sci-fi calling to me. Though I’d happily take any suggestions you have, especially if you have any on magic and the creatures of Equestria. That’d certainly help me get used to things around here. Otherwise I’m gonna end up staring at your magic, and trust me, it’s taken a lot of restraint to not gape like a confused fish every time you just lift something.”

Twilight felt her cheeks get a little pink as he continued to speak, especially as he commented on her magic. “I’ll remember that, Blue. And I’d be happy to teach you about magic. You may not have a unicorn horn, but pegasi have their own unique magic. Like the cloud walking you saw Rainbow doing. And… thanks, for understanding.”

“Hey it’s no trouble at all. You have to put up with this after all,” he joked, getting a giggle in return as they continued cooking. Their respective tasks took their attention, Twilight stewing the freshly made sauce while Blue was working the noodles. Soon enough the smells of cooking had filled the kitchen as the two components were completed.

But then it all went wrong.

“What the heck do you think you’re doing, woman‽” Blue called out. Twilight froze in the place, staring at him in shock with the saucepan lifted in her magic just barely about to start pouring the sauce on to the freshly cooked noodles. “You put that back right now!”

Twilight frowned in response, narrowing her eyes. “I’m coating the noodles, of course! What else would I be doing? It’s how you make good spaghetti!”

“Nah nah nah,” Blue waved off, motioning his wings like they were palm facing hands. “You don’t coat the noodles; that’s a complete waste! You fill the plates and ladle out the necessary amounts of sauce on each dish!”

“It is not a waste! My mother would always pour the sauce right in so every noodle was coated to perfection with it! And don’t you dare say my mother was wrong,” she threatened, keeping her narrowed eyes.

“Oh I’m gonna say it,” he challenged, pushing his nose near hers with his own narrowed eyes. “It’s a waste of the sauce when you can save the leftovers for several dishes even after we’ve finished this batch of noodles!”

“Sauce them!”

“Servings only!”

The two ponies practically growled at each other before a new voice caught their ears with a clearing of the throat. Both heads turned in tandem, nearly cheek to cheek, to the entrance of the kitchen where a small purple dragon with green scales was looking at them both with question filled eyes. Next to him sat a deep black filly with a deep purple mane and tail as well as two, blue, cat-like eyes that gave the two adults the same look.

It was the dragon that would speak, sass dripping from his lips as he did. “Are we interrupting something?”

Author's Note

Nyx, of course, belongs to the amazing Pen Strokes. If you haven't read "Past Sins", do give it a read as it's one of my all time favorite pieces from the fandom.

Chapter 4 - A Family Dinner

It took several, long minutes for Blue and Twilight to calm down enough about dinner to explain what all had transpired. Though it ended with the two of them blushing in deep embarrassment while the young dragon and filly were left laughing on their backs on the floor.

“Well, guess that’s my first humiliation in a new world,” Blue commented, clearing his throat. “Like the first scratch on a new car, best to get it out of the way.”

Twilight was quite red in the face from being caught by her daughter and little brother in such a predicament. She cleared her throat to try and calm her emotions. “That’s enough, you two. It’s not all that funny.”

Spike wiped a tear from his eye as he sat up, “Sorry, Twilight, but that’s a pretty funny reason to be yelling at each other for.” He pushed himself up onto his feet, dusting his scales off from being on the floor as he offered a claw to Blue. “Nice to meetcha, I’m Spike! Twilight’s number one assistant!”

With a smile, the stallion put his hoof in Spike’s claw. “Back at ya, man. Call me Blue, your roomie for the time being.”

That comment got the little filly to perk up after stopping her own giggle fit. “‘Roomie’? Is he staying here?”

Twilight answered with a nod. “Yes, for the foreseeable future, Blue will be staying in the guest room here. I trust both of you to respect his own personal space and privacy while he’s here, understood?” She smiled from the twin salutes she received from her family before looking to Blue. “Well, now that we’ve been humiliated in front of children, how about we have dinner? And since you’re the guest, we’ll try it your way this time. But next time I’m cooking, we do it the traditional way. Deal?”

Blue looked as she offered a hoof to him which he shook with a smile. “Aye aye, landlady.” The joke got a few chuckles out of the surrounding creatures as he moved to grab the pot. “Let’s get to serving then.”

With some orders from the resident alicorn mare, the table had been set only moments later as she and Blue moved the sauce and noodles to the table and dealt out the portions for everyone to have a good serving. Soon enough, the four of them would have been seated and started digging in.

“Mmm, this is really good,” Nyx spoke up after slurping a good helping.

“Yeah, not bad at all. We might have to do it this way more often,” Spike agreed, twirling his noodles. In doing so he ended up missing the smug smirk Blue was giving Twilight who had a look of betrayal that turned into one of annoyance.

His sense of victory accomplished, Blue happily ate up, watching the eclectic group he was dining with. Though eventually his eyes landed on the little black filly, taking notice of a feature that he’d missed. “Hey, I don’t mean to be rude, but are her eyes a little different?”

That single comment caused all three of them to stop eating, glancing to each other, then at Blue, then at Nyx who then shyly looked away. Blue’s eyes tracked between them all, swallowing his latest bite as he clicked his tongue.

“Ah dang, is that sensitive?”

Twilight let out a soft sigh. “It’s… a long story. I don’t think we’re quite ready to share that. I’m sorry, but please understand.”

Blue quickly nods his head, waving his forehooves in front of him defensively. “No no, totally I get it. I was just really curious about it since her eyes were pretty cool.”

The filly’s ear flicked as she looked at him, curiosity shining in her cyan eyes, giving Blue a good look at their slitted appearance. He took note of the much more predatory nature of the Nyx’s eyes, but he just tilted his head slightly at seeing them so clearly.

“‘Cool’?” Twilight parroted slowly, a brow raised at the stallion. “Do you really think that?”

He nodded again. “I mean, yeah. They’re much different from what I’ve seen so far. Hers and Spike’s actually are pretty similar.” Said dragon and filly blinked and looked at each other. “The only difference is the eye color really. Hers seems more like a brilliant cyan while Spike’s got that emerald green to it. But their pupils are more like slits, like predators. It makes sense for him, but for her it’s unique. Makes her special.”

“Special?” Nyx repeats, a soft redness shining through the black fur on face that most certainly wasn’t pasta sauce.

Twilight giggled at her daughter’s blushing before glancing back at the stallion who was rubbing the back of his neck. “Well that’s kind of you to say. Isn’t it, Nyx?”

The filly blinked out of her blush before nodding, remembering her manners. “Y-yes, thank you, sir.”

Blue waved his hoof dismissively with a smile. “No need for any formalities. I’m no one special.” He then glanced at Twilight who had her brow cocked again. “What?”

“Nothing special? Says the stallion who broke his back falling from a portal in my library.”

Unfortunately for Spike, he was mid-bite hearing that tidbit of information, coughing and sputtering. Thankfully he was able to pat his chest to get the food down the right pipe. “What was that about a portal‽ You mentioned strangeness but you couldn’t have thought to tell us he came from a portal‽ Where’s this guy even from‽”

“Earth,” Blue answered nonchalantly, receiving a deadpan from Twilight.

Nyx raised her hoof. “Where’s Earth? Is it where earth ponies get their name?”

Blue put a hoof to his chin. “That is a coincidence that you refer to ground in such a way. But no, it’s the name of my home world. I come from a… would it be dimension or universe? I was never certain what the difference was.”

“Another universe‽” Spike shouted, his jaw dropping. “Are you even a pony‽”

“That’s the crux of the issue,” Twilight interceded. “Blue claims that he was a human prior to arriving in Equestria, but his memories appear to be missing. That or whatever magic brought him has done… something to them. We can’t really say just yet without any further investigation.”

“A human?” Nyx questioned. “You mean like where your other friends are with Sunset Shimmer?”

It was Blue’s turn to blink in surprise, looking at Twilight. “So you’ve met humans before? I guess that would explain why you were familiar with some of the terms I was using. But you didn’t mention anything like that in your stories with your friends.”

Twilight nodded. “They weren’t really there for that adventure so I didn’t bring it up. But yes, I’ve been to a world of humans. I even became one while I was there and made friends with the human versions of my friends.”

To her shock, Blue actually nodded in some form of understanding. “So it’s a parallel universe. Slight deviations with distinct similarities. Was there anything else about it you could tell me? It could be my first clue to my memories.”

“Well,” Twilight put a hoof to her chin, quickly setting aside her surprise as she thought back to her adventure. “We’d arrived at a high school and my friends were teenagers there. Definitely several years younger than they are here, but even I was a few years younger too in that human form. But aside from having those gangly arms and legs, everypony looked like they did here, even the same colors.”

Blue frowned a little as she described it all. “I think we’re gonna have to cross that one off the list.”

“Huh? Why? Wouldn’t that be the human world you know of?” Twilight asked.

He shook his head, letting out a sigh. “While it could be similar, you saying everyone had different colors immediately rules it out. The Earth I knew had people of different colors, but most shared them with only a percentage of differentiation. Nowhere near the vibrancy I’ve seen between you all. None of your colors could ever be a human skin tone, with the closest may be Rarity, but even that was, well… a rarity.”

Twilight snorted at the unintentional pun before she tapped her chin again. “So a human world with less color. It sounds… interesting. Oh I wish I could talk with my friends on the other side. At least then we might learn a few more things that could help.”

“You can’t? Why not?” he asked before taking another helping of food.

“The mirror we used to get there only opens every thirty moons,” she explained. “It hasn’t been very long since I was there so it’ll be some time before I can visit them again.”

Blue tilted his head. “‘Moons’? What kind of measurement is that?”

“You don’t count time in moons?” Nyx asked as Blue shook his head. “We were just learning about them in my class at school last week. One moon is 30 days, a whole cycle of Princess Luna’s moon phases.”

“Oh,” the stallion nodded, putting things together. “An odd thing to go by, but I think I get it.” He then blinked and frowned. “Did she say ‘Princess Luna’s’ moon?”

Spike was the first to speak up. “Well yeah, she controls it like Princess Celestia controls the sun. So they technically belong to them.”

Twilight nodded with a smile, lifting a hoof to go into one of her favorite lectures before she looked at her house guest. He seemed to have been frozen stock still, one of his eyes twitching every few seconds while his hoof was stuck lifting up a portion of noodles.

“Blue? Are you alright?” she finally asked.

Though she would wish she hadn’t. Many ponies would complain the next morning at town hall with noise complaints from the library of all places. Their peaceful evenings all interrupted from the ear-piercing shout that rocked the town.

“THEY CONTROL WHAT‽‽‽‽”

It took nearly an hour to calm Blue down who had jumped into a rabid lecture into the motions of planetary bodies and the effects of gravity and light. While initially Twilight had been eager to learn, the absolute slander she was hearing about her teacher and friend had caused the impromptu lecture to turn into a debate, Spike and Nyx forced to stop the shouting match themselves. While they would laugh in later years over the “Great Space Nerd” debate, the two adults acted far more like foals than the very foals in the room until Spike had calmed them down by grabbing the hose from outside.

To apologize to Twilight’s young charges, Blue and Twilight had to both apologize as well as clean up what had remained of dinner by themselves. As well as the surrendering of a treat for both Spike and Nyx, to which Blue was shown how a dragon chomps down on a gem, nearly losing it again over the price of rare minerals before quickly being shut down over how common they were in Equestria.

A few hours passed as they spoke more, learning what they could about each other, though Blue was disappointed at not being able to hear the story of how Nyx joined the family, but was assured he would at some time. However, their time for sharing would come to a close as the night wore on. Twilight bid a good night to Blue as she took Spike and Nyx to bed, both of whom had fallen asleep while the former didn’t appear all that much better, the activities of the day taking their toll.

Blue would wave them to bed as he moved to the guest room that was in the basement of the treebrary. With a hop, he would land in the lone bed of the room, looking around at the compact quarters, only enough space for said bed, a night stand with a clock and a writing desk. There was a small sliver of moonlight shining inside from a high placed yet small window on the far side of the room. The stallion placed his head on the pillow as he stared up at the ceiling, lost in thought as he looked back over the day.

‘A world completely unknown to me, a body just as foreign, surrounded by creatures that should be myth. And to top it off, I can barely remember anything. All in less than twelve hours.’ He sighed to himself before he smiled to himself. ‘At least I’m not completely alone. I’d go mad if I didn’t at least have someone to talk to. And they’re pretty nice too.’ He felt his eyes grow heavy as sleep started to call on him. ‘Maybe being a pony won’t be so bad. But at the end of the day, I’ll always be a human. It’s the only thing I’m certain of.’ His consciousness quickly began to drift, falling into the realm of dreams before he knew it, even with one lingering thought in his head. ‘I am certain, right?’

Chapter 5 - Beginnings in Ponyville

“Come on, you slowpokes! Flap those wings!” Rainbow shouted out, watching with an annoyed smirk as Blue and Twilight both clumsily flew up after her to their landing cloud. “Foals can fly faster than you two! Are you mares or do-dos?”

Through hard breaths, he took the chance to snark back, “If you haven’t noticed, Dash, I’m neither!” Once his hooves felt the soft plush of the cloud, he collapsed onto it with a huff. “Sweet comfort!” Moments later, he heard another puff, looking over to see that Twilight collapsed next to him.

“Must we be so…,” Twilight had to take a deep breath before continuing, “... so extreme, Rainbow? That had to be at least five kilometers!”

Rainbow rolled her eyes, crossing her forelegs as she continued hovering above them. “5K is nothing to an experienced pegasus! And once I whip you both into it, you’ll be doing 10k just as easy!” Her enthusiasm drawing pained groans from her two “students”.

Two weeks had passed since Blue’s sudden arrival in Ponyville and a routine had quickly developed for the residents of the Golden Oaks library. The mornings begin with Blue awakening from his slumber to the smell of a delicious meal typically cooked by Spike. Both of them would end up being up earlier than Nyx and especially Twilight who was never much of a morning pony that he learned.

He and Spike made a pact that coffee will always be available should Twilight wake up early.

Though those morning hours allowed the two males to talk, getting to know each other better. Nyx would be down not much later to get a filling breakfast before she would head out to school, walking with her friends which eased Blue’s worries. He could remember that traveling alone wasn’t a very safe endeavor, especially for young girls, but Spike waved away his concerns. The dragon told him of tightnit the community of Ponyville was; the kind where everypony knew your name. And apparently Nyx had made quite the name for herself.

It had taken a few days, but eventually the small family of three had decided to tell him what happened with the young filly. A story of blood rituals, a scared little girl who didn’t know who she was, a cult that wanted to make her into a monster, and how Nyx had decided for herself that she would use her powers to protect ponies and reject the corruption called “Nightmare”, destroying it from her body. Ending happily with the filly being returned to normal, thanks to a “Princess Luna”, and being officially adopted as Twilight’s daughter.

He learned the reason they were hesitant was because there were some ponies out there that had yet to forgive Nyx for becoming “Nightmare Moon” and bringing about an eternal night. At first, Blue wasn’t convinced of this, but they had been adamant of such a feat being possible, especially as he was reminded of his blow up at learning the princesses could move the sun and moon with relative ease. While more shaken by the knowledge of moving planetary bodies, he held no ill feelings towards Nyx.

“She’s a child, Twilight. Magic or not, I’m not gonna act like she’s the plague,” he told them then. “This doesn’t change a single thing about the way I see her.” He had smirked and ruffled her mane, ending in a happy, relieved laugh.

Things had felt much less tense since then.

Only for it to become much worse when Rainbow had dragged Twilight and him off for flight training. And she was far from an easy teacher, pushing them to exhaustion each day, which thankfully had at least one in between for rest.

Blue continued sucking in as much air as he could between each exhale, his lungs burning. “I don’t think… athletics were a me thing…”

That got his coach to chuckle above him. “Honestly, I can tell. All Twilight does every day is read so it makes sense she’s so winded. With how much of an egghead you seem to be, I wouldn't be surprised if you weren’t just as bad if not worse.”

“Ouch… my pride…” he snarked, before it fell as Rainbow got a look in her eyes.

“If ya got time to chit chat, ya got time to flap!” She lifted up the whistle around her neck and gave it a sharp blow before kicking the cloud out from underneath the two of them. Rainbow watched the two frantically try to get their wings moving before swooping in to catch both of her students before setting them safely on the ground, trying not to laugh as she bit her lip. “You really should have seen that coming!”

Twilight groaned as she nearly fell on her face from a mixture of surprise, fear, and exhaustion. “That wasn’t funny, Rainbow. We nearly fell to our deaths!”

Rainbow flapped over and patted Twilight on the back. “Oh come on, Twi, you know I’d never do that. Loyalty, remember? I’d never leave ya hanging, or falling in this case.”

“Loyalty?” Blue questioned, trying to remember the stories he’d been told over the past few weeks. “That’s… the elements right? The super crystals of whatever that shoots rainbows?”

While Rainbow nodded, Twilight rolled her eyes. “The Elements of Harmony are more than just crystals that shoot rainbow lasers. They are physical manifestations of Harmony itself, granting their bearers the power to bring order to chaos. Loyalty, honesty, laughter, generosity, kindness, and magic. They are serious business.”

As Twilight lectured, Blue took the chance to stretch his wings and back, trying to ease the soreness from the day’s exercise. “Aren’t you too tired to lecture?” he questioned which caused the alicorn to shut her mouth for a moment, her cheeks growing red as she narrowed her eyes at him, causing the stallion to lean back with a swallow of fear. “N-not that there’s anything wrong with a good lecture from time to time,” he said in an attempt to save himself, nervous chuckle included in the end.

“What he said!” Rainbow quickly added when Twilight moved the glare to her before anything could be said. “W-well, I have my shift to get to with the weather team, see ya!” Before the multi-hued pegasus sped off into the sky, a trail of color fading behind her.

Twilight smiled proudly to herself, nose lifted high, getting a roll of the eyes from Blue. “Well, with our teacher on the run, I think we can call it quits on flying. Shall we head on back?” he asked her.

“Hm,” Twilight hummed while tapping her chin, “alright, sure. But on two conditions!”

Blue blinked at his landmare, tilting his head. “There’s conditions just to go back to the library?”

“Yup!” she eagerly replied, lifting a hoof into the air. “First, once we’re back, you’re gonna sit through a full explanation of the Elements of Harmony and their importance to Equestrian history!”

He felt his shoulders droop, deadpanning at Twilight heavily. “Seriously?” He groaned when she stood firm on the decision. “And the second?” Then his head shot up as he heard a gurgling, looking at Twilight who was suddenly red in the face, then to her belly.

She cleared her throat, trying to hide her blush. “Second, we stop to get something to eat on the way.” She smiled in embarrassment as Blue suddenly fell back before getting right back on his hooves.

“That one, I’m with you at least,” he relented before chuckling. “Where we gonna go? Savory or sweet?”

“Definitely sweet, I’m absolutely craving chocolate right now.” Twilight then took point as Blue followed in hoofstep with her, heading through Ponyville itself as the lunch hour passed around them.

Blue took the time to admire the townsponies at work, seeing them go about their daily lives. He remembered the looks he got the day after he arrived and stepped out of the library with Twilight, overhearing the beginnings of rumors that their town princess had found a stallion to bed. Both of their faces had been beat red at hearing such a thing and shut it down immediately. Such an unsightly rumor would have been ill for any royalty and they had only just met.

‘The nerve of some people,’ he’d thought to himself. And with such salacious stories squashed, he had been able to explore the town more, even wandering into the market where he’d met up with Applejack again, where she had let him try one of her family farm’s name brand apples. He felt bad about not being able to pay, until he had bitten into the fruit and discovered he’d been had. Just that single apple had been so juicy and delicious to his taste buds that he simply had to have more. Even though his realization was immediate, Applejack’s smug look having told him enough, there was little he could do without a cash flow. Sadly, with little work experience in his brain and still just learning the culture of the world around him, employment was still out of his reach, though Twilight promised to lend him some “bits”, as they called their currency, to let him get food every now and then.

He promised to pay her back, of course.

As Twilight continued to lead them, Blue got a big grin on his face seeing their destination up ahead. A building that seemed like it was made of confections rather than just a place that sold them called Sugar Cube Corner. He recalled Pinkie dragging him to the place only a couple days after he arrived, though it had seemed more like he’d been teleported there with how fast it happened. He’d been welcomed to the sight of pastries and cakes the likes of which he felt would overwhelm his brain. All the smells were sugary sweet and made his mouth water from desire.

Unfortunately, it became a horror show when he and Pinkie came to the realization that he didn’t like any of the pies.

Fruits, puddings, anything. His taste buds rejected each and every recipe the Cake family had on hoof. Thankfully, they were saved from a Pinkie-based explosion when he managed to like the cakes instead. Though from the day on, Pinkie had sworn to find a pie that Blue would eat and like.

A promise that was still being kept as he and Twilight walked inside the confectionery, the former being nearly bowled over as Pinkie skidded to a fiery stop in front of him.

“BLUEY!” she screamed excitedly, pushing the stallion back into Twilight who looked just as surprised as he did. The pink pony then lifted up a plate with a slice of pie on it, coated in some kind of nut. “Try this one! It’s pecaaaaan~,” she sung, trying to waft the smell of the dessert into his nose.

He sighed, using his wing to pick up the offered fork, holding it as he’d been practicing over his many days. “Alright, one bite. But whether I like it or not, Twilight and I want something sugary after Rainbow’s training. Deal?”

“Okie dokie loki! Now try it!” she heavily insisted. Blue stabbed the pie and took a nice chunk out and placed it in his mouth. She watched breathless as he chewed away at the nutty concoction, before her expression fell as his own scrunched in disgust after swallowing. “Dangit! I had thought for sure southern comfort would do it! Phooey!”

Blue apologetically returned the fork to the plate. “Sorry, Pinkie. Worth a shot though. So… can we…?”

Pinkie perked up instantly. “Of course!” Her body stretched against the laws of physics back behind the counter, restoring to normal there. “What can I get ya?”

A few minutes later with a bag full of treats for themselves and their housemates, Twilight and Blue set back off for the library.

“Do you really not like pies?” Twilight asked after a few minutes of silence.

Blue shook his head. “Wish I did. They look absolutely delicious, but everyone I’ve tried I just don’t like. Whether it’s the texture or the taste, none work. Apparently it’s not gonna stop Pinkie though. But hey, if she manages to finally find one, then I’ll have a pie I can eat regularly.”

Twilight hummed to herself in thought. “That’s one way of thinking of it. And it does give Pinkie a goal to strive towards, so good for her.”

“That’s one way to think of it, I guess.” He smiled at Twilight as the two of them came up to the library not long after. Though they were greeted to a strange sight as they walked in; Spike sweeping up some glass and a strange box on the counter.

“Spike! What happened‽” Twilight shrieked, running to look at the broken window of her home.

The dragon grumbled a little. “Derpy flew too high and ended up crashing when she dropped off the package. She’s so nice but the destruction is getting a bit much.”

Blue took the opportunity to place the food on the table, glancing at the package. “That’s the mailmare’s name right? What did she drop off exactly?”

“Actually, it’s addressed to you,” Spike responded, catching the attention of both ponies. Moments later the three of them were gathered around the box, looking at it cautiously. Spike looked between the two older ponies then to the box. “So… we gonna open it?” The stallion eyed his dragon friend for a moment before pulling the box closer and looking it over.

“Does it say who it’s from?” Twilight asked hesitantly.

Blue looked the box over from all angles and shook his head. “Nothing. Is that even legal?” he asked rhetorically before he began to pull the box open. With a hard rip, he broke the flaps open, pulling the remainder aside and found an envelope sitting on top of some straw. He glanced at the others before lifting the letter out, reading what it was labeled. “‘From a Friend’?”

“Ominous,” Spike commented before shrinking as he’s glared at by both ponies.

Blue carefully opened the envelope with his wing, almost like a letter opener before pulling out a small note. “‘You forgot these when you fell. Don’t lose them, there won’t be any replacements’? Why does none of this make any sense?”

“Wait, when you fell? Could these be from whatever it was that sent you here?” Twilight asked.

Blue rubbed his head. “I got no idea, but that’d make some sense. But what does it mean at all?” He gave the letter to Twilight as he dug into the box itself, pulling the straw aside until he hit something. Pushing the straw away, his eyes widened considerably as he carefully took hold of what he found.

Twilight’s full attention was on the short note for the moment before she saw Blue lifting something out of the box. She tilted her head as the light seemed to gleam off them. “What are those things?”

In his hooves were two cylindrical devices, both made of a silvery metal. One was fairly long, coming to a one sided tip with black bars near its base, a big orange button near the top as well. The other had more black attachments around the end, almost like a protective covering. Blue couldn’t stop staring at what he had found, swallowing cautiously as he put the black covered one down on the table gently while holding the other carefully. He took a few, wordless steps back while his hoof carefully moved up to the button and pressed it.

SNAP-HISS!

Twilight and Spike jumped at the sudden, unfamiliar sound, their own eyes widening and pupils shrinking to pin pricks at what they witnessed. From the cylinder had sprung for this glowing rod of light. Even from the distance they could feel the heat and their ears rung from the continued humming it was producing.

Blue stared in pure disbelief at what he was holding, tightening his grip best he could before deactivating the device. And then dropping it on to the wooden floor as he fell back on his flank, pure shock on his face.

“H-how..?” he asked with a shakiness to his voice. “T-that’s not possible. T-they’re fake, fiction, how are they real‽”

Twilight, ever curious, inched closer to the rod, though keeping cautious of it. “Blue, what are these things?” Their eyes met, curiosity and fear clashing between them before the stallion could swallow and relent.

“I don’t know how, but those… are lightsabers. And they’re not supposed to be real.”

Author's Note

Now we start to progress into the first arc of the story proper. More mysteries become present, though maybe not for those that read the original. But I do plan for this story over all to be a much slower build than the originals that ran at a hyper pace and have things flow better into each other. As always, comments and critiques are welcome as well as suggestions you'd like to see.

And a question to end on as I've been torn since starting this story: would you prefer if I used more descriptive chapter names or is the number system just fine? Lemme know down below as I'd be curious to see what's preferred by my readers.

Chapter 6 - Fact or Fiction

“What do you mean ‘not real’‽” Twilight screeched, kicking the cylinder away from herself in abject fear. “They’re right there, what are you trying to say‽”

Blue was frozen still in shock as he stared at the lightsaber hilt that he’d dropped to the floor, barely recognizing that Twilight had just screeched at him. He was lost in his own thoughts, feeling his heart thudding in chest as he tried to wrap his mind about what was happening. It was only when he saw Spike lifting up the other lightsaber from the box that he could snap himself from the trance. His eyes widened as the dragon’s claw fingered the activation switch.

“Spike wait!” he called out, tripping over his hooves as his friend jumped, pressing down on the button.

Though to the pegasus’ confusion, nothing happened.

With Twilight and Spike giving him raised eyebrows, he pushed himself up to standing again, a tilt to his head as well. “Odd. You hit the switch. Where’s the ka-chhh?” he asked, mimicking the sound. He held out his wing to which Spike handed over the lightsaber, Blue looking over the metal and what seemed like plastic. Deciding against being dumb and looking down the barrel of what was worse than a loaded gun, he “winged” the switch, causing a red plasma blade to ignite from the hilt before them.

Twilight tilted her head. “But Spike just…” she trailed off as she looked over at the other saber that lay on her floor. Using her magic, she lifted the cylindrical device over to herself. Looking over it until she found the button she’d seen Blue hit, she pressed it with her own hoof, though just like with Spike, nothing happened. “Hm, I think I have a hypothesis. Spike?” she turned and levitated the saber hilt over to her number one assistant. “Carefully try to turn this on, please?”

Spike raised a brow as he held the lightsaber in his claws. “Alright, but if something bad happens, I’m expecting hazard pay.” While Twilight rolled her eyes, the dragon held the hilt at arm’s length before pressing the activation button again. He winced in preparation for the same sound as the blades had produced, but once again nothing happened. Cautiously, he opened one eye and pressed the button again. When nothing happened again, he fully opened his eyes and started rapidly pressing the button. “What the hay? It’s not doing anything!”

Violet magic engulfed the blade in his claws before wrenching it free of the rapid pressing and passing it over to the stallion in the room. “Now you, Blue. Please?” Twilight asked, giving him a soft yet confident smile.

While he raised a brow, Blue took the blade with his other wing, once again pressing the button. With another snap-hiss, the blue blade joined the red, the soft humming filling the room. Blue blinked before deactivating both and looking to Twilight who had a bright smile.

“I thought as much!” she declared. “Both of those ‘lightsabers’ appeared to be keyed directly to you, Blue. Whether magical or otherwise, it seems they only respond when you’re the one holding them.”

The stallion looked down at the hilts, weighing both in his wings before setting them down on the table. “Well, that does make them much safer; no one, er, nopony will be able to hurt themselves if they get their hands… hooves on them.” He shook his head, still acclimating to the language preferences of the town. “Still, we don’t know who sent them or how they even work! These things are just fairy tales back home. Like… like something out of Spike’s comics kind of fiction.”

“Wait, really‽” Spike got a giddy grin on him as he eyed the lightsabers with fresh eyes. “So heroes use these‽”

“Well, heroes and villains,” Blue explains, “I’m pretty sure the red color was for the bad guys. Not sure how I should feel having one of both if that’s accurate.”

Twilight walked up to the stallion and gently bumped against him. She smiled as he looked at her confused. “I think it kind of fits from what you’ve been able to tell me about humans. And from what I experienced. Humans don’t seem to be wholly good or evil; they got a bit of both. So… maybe… it’s a test!”

“A test?” Blue and Spike both deadpanned at the smiling mare who nodded back.

“Yes, a test! To see if Blue is truly here for good or… well I don’t want to call a friend evil, so we’ll use ‘ill’ instead. They’re hot blades of plasma as far as I could tell from a glance; dangerous weapons in the wrong hooves. Perhaps you’re being tested on how you’ll use them.”

Blue put a hoof to his chin in thought. “That… could be possible. I can’t remember everything in full, but I think I was a big fan of the series that these came from, so it could have something to do with how I came here. Something that either knows me better or knows my past.” He looked over the handles one more time before nodding to himself. “If it is a test, then I’ll accept.”

“You will‽” Twilight and Spike responded in surprise.

With a nod, he grabbed the hilt of the blade, lifting it up to ignite the sword. He looked over the humming, blue blade for a moment before addressing the others. “It’s the first clue we’ve been given and even if we’re not fully getting the context, these things are my responsibility. Besides, it’s human nature to want to be able to protect yourself. I’ll just need an easy way to keep these on me. I’d ask Rarity for a belt but not sure how well the other townsfolk will appreciate open carry.”

Twilight tilted her head at the language choices, but did not in general understanding. “That might be a bit much to have them so blatantly displayed. Your mane could be an option but you’d probably only be able to keep one there.”

Blue raised a brow. “Do what with my mane?”

She blinked once, then twice before her eyes went wide. “Oh goodness! I never showed you how to use your mane!” She fussed with her mane a little as she realized her mistake. “I am so so sorry, Blue. Let’s settle this now.” She then walked over to the hilt of the red blade, grasping it in her magic and lifting it next to herself. She pushed the hilt into her mane at the back of her neck and once it was out of sight, she released her magic, evidence as her horn stopped glowing. “Simple as that!” She then shook her head a little, her mane swishing about but not once did the hilt resurface.

The stallion’s jaw simply dropped, staring bug-eyed at Twilight. A few moments passed and still he remained in the same state, Twilight herself starting to blush a little as she found the ceiling to be more interesting in that current moment. Spike rolled his eyes and decided to forcefully pushed Blue’s jaw closed, the sound and sensation of his teeth hitting each other breaking him out of the trance.

“You can just do that‽” he finally managed to say. He then deactivated the blade in his wing and took the hilt to his own mane, settling it at the back of his neck. He surely expected to feel some sort of looseness once it was there but the closest he could describe it was having a necklace in reverse. With a shake of his own head much like Twilight had done, Blue could only sit down on his rump as it felt so natural. “Wow. That’s so handy.”

Twilight couldn’t help but giggle as she pulled the hilt from her mane and set it down on the table for him to take. “Sorry about that; it completely slipped my mind that you wouldn’t know about that.”

He shook his head gently. “Nothing to really apologize for, Twi. It’s hard to expect a natural pony to know every in and out to show a nonpony. I’m sure there’ll be more experiences like this as things go on.” Blue reached out and took the other hilt and tried to put it in his mane. After a moment, he managed to settle it, shaking his head a little bit. “Clunkier feeling, but I think this’ll work. If not, then I’ll just get a belt and deal with the strange looks.”

Spike crossed his arms once everything was settled. “So you get these amazing weapons straight out of a fantasy world and you just… roll with it?”

“Are you forgetting the freak out I had?” Blue asked with a smirk.

The drake however only rolled his eyes. “That wasn’t a freak out. I’ve seen freak outs.” He then gestured to Twilight, “I’ve lived with her for 20 years. What she does is a freak out; yours was more like a spit take in comparison.”

“Spike!” Twilight balked at her little brother. “We are not going to compare reactions like it’s a contest!”

“She’s got a point there,” Blue nodded before getting a smirk. “Instead, you should be telling me more about these ‘freak outs’. Could be good for my survival.”

Twilight could only stare in shock with her mouth agape as Spike then readily started regaling their house guest with the stories of her times in going overboard with checklists. He managed to get through a whole story before she finally managed to use her magic to forcefully shut him, clamping it shut as she grabbed the dragon from behind, her face a deep, embarrassing red. “That’s enough Spike! He doesn’t need to know more than that!”

Despite her embarrassment, Bue was smiling brightly before falling back in a fit of laughter as the brother and sister started to struggle with each other. He laid back as he watched, Spike attempting to grab the alicorn’s horn.

‘So many questions are still staring at me from this whole thing,’ he thought to himself. But as Twilight and Spike fell over each other and began laughing as well, he could only continue to smile. ‘But to see moments like this? I can think about them later.’

Author's Note

Now Blue's weapons are back in the picture, but action is still a ways off... maybe~. But since some have mentioned titles for the chapters help them, I have decided to start putting chapter names for each one and have retroactively applied to them all previous chapters as well. And I just want to say thank you to everyone who's been reading and I love seeing every comment! Hope you'll look forward to the next time where we get to add some character to my favorite pony!

Chapter 7 - Magical Bonding

Blue groaned softly to himself, laying back on the couch in the library’s reading area. The old place was pretty quiet that day, more so than usual that is. His flight practice with Rainbow had been pretty strong the day before, leaving him sore all over and, at Twilight’s insistence, he was to rest for the day.

Still, the pegasus felt himself become restless as the morning hours dragged on. While he appreciated a good book, he didn’t quite share his land lady’s obsession. Instead, Blue decided to explore the library. He’d already been shown where the bedrooms were, as well as his own spare room down in the basement which was thankfully kept separate from Twilight’s personal laboratory. The kitchen and commons area were already well known to him and the shared bathing room for them all. Yet many of the twists and turns of the tree were still unknown to him.

The tree itself was supposedly several hundreds of years old, rumored to have been planted not long after the Apple Family had settled the area, and even still the inside seemed larger than it should be from the outside. Row after row of books lined the innards of the library proper, ranging from the fictional exploits of Daring Do to ancient text books from the apprentice of the great wizard, Starswirl the Bearded. Blue found it hard to believe that the capital city, Canterlot, had a much larger collection, but he had to take Twilight’s word for it.

As he wound his way throughout, he found himself thinking of the many tales Twilight had told him since coming to this world. How she and her friends had gotten their cutie marks from the same event caused by Rainbow Dash called the Sonic Rainboom, Twilight herself becoming the personal protege of the ruling princess. He had yet to meet any of the other princesses, though he’d been told quite a lot.

Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria for over a millennia and controller of the sun. Something he was still coming to terms with.

The same applied to the sister, Princess Luna, who controlled the moon and supposedly patrolled the realm of dreams as a defender against nightmares. He’d been told she had quite the history that included being possessed by a spirit of malevolence called, ironically, the Nightmare, which had led to the creation of Twilight’s own daughter. Blue found himself glad to have been told the story behind that whole adventure before his mind drifted to the remaining princess.

Twilight had explained that the third princess of Equestria was one Princess Cadance who ruled the Crystal Empire to the north and was married to Twilight’s own brother by the name of Shining Armor. Blue remembered having to take a few moments to come to terms with how much royal power he’d ended up surrounded by if only by simple proximity to Twilight.

Another turn through the rows of books, Blue found himself in a small open space with shorter book shelves. A cursory glance told him this was a small alcove for younger foals to read on their own. There were simple story books as well as simple work books for practice as well as lounge space with a cozy rug for resting little tired eyes accompanied with the soft light from a large paned window on the nearby wall. Not far from there was a small little work area with a round desk and short seats for little ones to read and write.

And to his surprise, he found a young filly there now.

Nyx was lost in thought, surrounded by several larger tomes on the table as she tapped a quill against her cheek, staring at a paper with a soft frown. She mumbled softly to herself as her little wings ruffled, lost in some frustration as she glanced back at one of the open books.

Curious, Blue approached the filly, trying to look over her shoulder, seeing the scribbles on her paper seemed to be some kind of spell work.He thought of leaving the filly to her work, especially since he was far from familiar with magic; the pegasus was still coming to terms with the fact that magic was what let him fly at all in his new body. Yet being so close had caused a shadow to loom over the young alicorn’s work.

She blinked at the sudden darkness and glanced back to the window before her slitted pupils drifted up at the adult over shoulder, jumping slightly in surprise as she held a hoof to her chest.

Blue couldn’t himself and chuckled a little after the small, adorable gasp she let out. “Sorry there, Nyx. Didn’t mean to surprise ya. I was just touring around the library and wound up over here.”

She let out a soft breath as she gathered herself, settling back down on her stool. “It’s ok, Mr. Blue. Guess I got a little lost in my studies.”

“Speaking of,” Blue moved over to her side more as he looked over the books. He saw titles such as Rune Magic 101 and Defensive Spells and You which caused him to tilt his head slightly. “What are you studying? Is this some kind of school work?”

Nyx fiddled with her hooves a little before shaking her head. “No, this is personal stuff. Just a random thought I had, but it’s probably pretty silly.”

Blue blinked at that, looking down at the filly with a raised brow. “What could be so silly about this?”

The filly slumped her shoulders some as she let out a sigh. “Ever since I got my cutie mark, I’ve been trying to think of how to use it, but I’m still not really sure.” She looked down at her flank where the picture of a night-blue shield was emblazoned. Seeing his questioning look, Nyx elaborated, “It’s supposed to mean that I’ll be a protector, that I can help save ponies. But, I’m really not sure how. I thought if I looked into some of these books I might get an idea.” She then sighed again. “But I’m not sure if it’s what I’m looking for. They’re just general magic books and, while great, don’t seem all that helpful right now.”

Blue tapped his chin as he thought about the filly’s dilemma. It certainly wasn’t lost on the former human how many of his kind could easily get lost without purpose as his vague memories told him. Even now, he was only going day by day as he sought about whatever his destiny would be, if there even was such a thing. Then he had to remind himself that these cutie marks were representations of a pony’s destiny, but even that didn’t seem quite right.

That’s when it hit him.

They were representations, not strictly a definition. It could mean many things to observers and it was on the pony themselves to decide which one was what they followed and it gave him an idea.

“Well Nyx, I may be new to all this, but could I ask you a question?” She tilted her head up at him before nodding, her own curiosity glimmering in her cat-like eyes. “Why did you go right to magic books for protecting others?”

That gave Nyx a pause, looking at the books before down in thought as she tapped her chin, putting on an adorable thinking face, though Blue kept his mirth concealed so the filly could think. A few moments passed before she finally had an answer.

“Because, I like learning magic,” she answered surprisingly simply. “It makes sense to me because Twilight has been teaching me magic since she took me in. It makes me happy to learn magic.”

Blue nodded to the explanation while picking up one of the books. “You know, I can’t understand a lick of this right now. Do you think it would be bad if I suddenly tried one of these spells?”

Nyx’s eyes widened as she tried to take the book back. “No, don’t! You could hurt yourself, Mr. Blue!” She yanked the book away, hugging it close, expecting some kind of response as she kept her eyes closed. When none did, she opened her eyes, looking at the stallion who was smiling softly at her. “Wh-what?”

Keeping his smile, Blue nodded. “Thank you for protecting me, Nyx. It certainly would be dangerous if I tried magic without knowing what I was doing. I wonder what other ponies would do if they didn’t have you around.”

Silence took over as Nyx stared at the adult in front of her for a few moments, eyes questioning in the quiet. She blinked a few times as her gaze drifted back over to the magic book in her hooves, staring at it as she put together the puzzle in her mind before her eyes lit up with a big smile and turning back to Blue.

“That’s it! I can learn all about magic to keep other ponies safe from magic they don’t understand!”

Blue couldn’t help but chuckle at her enthusiasm. “That sounds like a worthy goal.” He gently rustled her mane with his hoof, blinking before taking it back. “Sorry ‘bout that. Didn’t mean to mess up your hair.”

Nyx giggled before fixing her messy locks, pushing them back out of her eyes. “Thanks, Mr. Blue. I’ll learn everything I can and there won’t be a single magic that will hurt somepony.”

He shook his head gently. “You didn’t need me, Nyx. You would have figured it out on your own in time. You’re a smart filly.”

A tinge of pink touched her cheeks as she held the book close. “U-um, w-would you wanna stay and read with me, Mr. Blue?”

Blue smiled and moved to take a seat next to her at the foal’s table. “I’d be glad to, but let’s drop the ‘Mr.’, eh? Just call me ‘Blue’, alright?”

Nyx smiled brightly and nodded. “Sure, Blue!”

As she began showing Blue the wonders of rune magic, hidden among the shelves would be a snooping alicorn, unable to stop herself from the big smile on her muzzle watching her daughter get along with the guest.

‘He’s pretty good with foals. Pushing her gently enough to find a path for herself. And look at that adorable smile on their faces. And the way his mane just falls right in front of his eye to be brushed-’

Twilight pulled herself back from her thoughts as well as from watching the pair from afar, eyes widened. She put a hoof to her chest, feeling her heart thumping much more than it should. She glanced at her wings and saw them slightly bristled before moving down the hall to where a small mirror was hanging to see her face flushed. Putting her hooves to her face, the pieces fell right into place.

‘Am I falling for him?’

Chapter 8 - Cold Comforts

Hot.

It was searing hot.

“Good lord above, I’m gonna melt,” whined Blue as he was draped across the couch in the middle of the library.

“I might beat you to it,” Spike added in, laying flat on his scaly back on the wooden floor. Groans of agreement came from the nearby Nyx and Twilight who were in similar positions.

Blue took to trying to use his wing as a fan in a desperate attempt for some kind of relief. “Is this normal, Twi? If it is, I might have to move where your brother is; I can’t stand this dan…. Darn heat.”

Twilight huffs a little as she pried herself off the wooden floor, magicing up a spatula to assist as part of her body had gotten stuck from the sweat. “I appreciate you watching your language, but this is far from normal. The weather schedule said they’re prepping for a big summer storm this week, but I didn’t think the heat would be this intense as they prepped for it.”

“Wonderful,” Blue grumbled sarcastically. He watched as Twilight started grabbing her saddle bags, raising a brow. “What’re you doing?”

As she placed the bags on her back and wiped some fresh sweat from her mane, she answered his question, “I’m going to go see Rainbow Dash. This level of heat isn’t safe, especially for the vulnerable. I don’t even feel safe letting Nyx out of the house with how intense the sun would bear down on her black fur. There must be some kind of relief the weather team can do for us and since she’s in charge, I’m gonna go have a word with her.”

Blue sighed softly as he rolled off the couch. “Alright, but I’m coming with. Don’t need mama Twi going all Karen on RD.”

“All what now?” she asked with a raised brow of her own as well as a frown, feeling like she’d just been insulted.

“Earth thing,” he quickly answered, suddenly feeling some energy as he rushed by Twilight. “Let's get going before this gets worse.” While Twilight did purse her lips suspiciously, she forewent any further questions as she followed him to the door.

“Spike, you and Nyx stay inside and try anyway to keep cool, ok? We’ll be back soon.” After getting a tired thumbs up from her assistant, Twilight and Blue left the library and quickly got on the road into Ponyville. “Ugh, it’s even worse out here.”

Blue let out a deep breath as he trotted alongside her. “Oh yeah, this is where the true humidity is. Heat can have all of my hate, from now until the day I die.”

A giggle escaped Twilight’s lips, getting a small grin from the stallion in kind as they continued on. The oppressive warmth and stickiness to the air kept their conversation light, silence reigning between the two ponies. This silence left time for the mind to wander, as well as the eyes, especially Twilight’s as hers fell on her companion. She looked all over his form for a few moments before realizing that she was ogling him, quickly divertiny her gaze before he could notice.

‘Get ahold of yourself, Twilight,’ she internally chastised herself. ‘He’s a stranger, an interdimensional one at that! He’s not even really a pony, just looks like one.’ Despite what she thought, her face turned to a soft frown, not believing those thoughts after rethinking them. ‘No, that’s not fair. He’s been living in my house for nearly 3 months now. Sure there’s things I don’t know, but he doesn’t even know them either. And who cares if he wasn’t originally a pony? He’s one now; isn’t that all that matters?’

These questions continued to play on loop in her brain, glancing back to her companion every so often as she did so. In honesty, she couldn’t find much about him physically to complain about. Despite being a bookworm like herself, he was in relatively good shape, only just a bit chubby, though she could chalk that up to him having little to do outside of flight practice, reading, and the occasional cooking. Sure, that left him fairly average, but… it was a nice average.

Still, her mind kept calling back to that scene she’d seen of him and Nyx. It felt so… natural, seeing those two talking and bonding. She would even say it was rather surprising how well Nyx had taken to their new tenant, going to him willinging whenever Twilight or Spike were too busy to help with her homework. Turned out that while the stallion couldn’t do much with her magic studies, he had quite the penchant for mathematics.

“Who knew?” He had shrugged it off at the time, believing to be a remnant of his memories. Still, it was something she felt admirable that he’d be so willing to help a filly he barely knew.

Then she would think of Spike. He and Blue hadn’t spent a lot of time together, but the few times they did, they clearly got along and seemed like they could become good friends in time. She could clearly feel that would be the case, if only time would allow for it.

‘Maybe I’ll give Spike some time off next week. He and Blue might be able to really connect if they had some of that “guy time” they always talk about.”

A tapping on her side brought the princess out of her thoughts, looking over at Blue. “Hm? Is something the matter?”

Blue lifted his hoof and pointed in the distance. “Look.” As she followed where his hoof was pointing, she’d see a large collection of clouds off in the distance that were quickly shifting and being maneuvered. “If I was a betting boy, I’d wager Rainbow has to be over there.”

Twilight couldn’t agree more, nodding her head. “It looks like they’re gathering over Sweet Apple Acres. Let’s get going.” She then took off into a gallop, leaving Blue in the dust for a moment.

“H-hey, wait up!” he called after her, quickly falling behind her steps. As they sped off, Blue couldn’t help but think of his first visit to the Apple farm. It had only been a couple days after he’d first fallen into this world when Applejack had swung by to bring him out to the farm. Sure, she’d let him try one of the fruits at the market, but actually getting to see where they came from was a shock to his brain. Seeing acres upon acres of lucious apple trees stretching for what seemed like miles nearly short circuited his human-pony brain.

He wasn’t sure what he said after seeing them, but whatever it was had to have been incredibly dumb as it made Applejack collapse in a fit of laughter, leaving his cheek flushed in embarrassment. After that little blunder, he’d been introduced to the rest of her family, consisting of a big brother named Big Macintosh (Mac to his friends), a little sister called Apple Bloom (who was quite adorable he had to admit), and their paternal grandmother Granny Smith. He’d found it odd that they were the only ones there, but he’d quickly thought better than to ask as just before he did, he caught Granny shaking her head somberly. He had a feeling he knew then what she meant and only clarified it with Twilight later that day that they were the only ones on that farm now.

Still, it wasn’t a day that ended in somber quiet, but in a happy family meal he’d been invited to join. Blue had found himself devouring nearly every type of treat the apples had made, finding their special apple stew to be the most savory. Though it had nearly led to some… difficulties when he found himself unable to eat any of their world famous apple pie. Thankfully after some explaining, courtesy of Pinkie who had just… suddenly appeared, it was cleared up about his lack of taste for any kind of pie, leaving the pinkest of them to re-establish her promise to find him one before she pronked off that farm just as quickly as she had appeared.

‘I really wanna know how she does that. It looks like a lot of fun.’ he thought to himself as he left his memories, looking ahead as they entered the farm proper. Blue and Twilight came to a screeching stop, just meters before they almost toppled right into Applejack, who looked at them with a single raised brow and wide eyes.

“What in tarnation? The hay are you two doing all the way out here in this gosh-dern heat, huh?” Applejack asked while scratching her head.

Twilight gathered her breath before she could manage to answer. “We were looking for Rainbow. Blue saw the cloud gathering out here so, here we are.”

“You were looking for me?” came Rainbow’s voice behind the pair, causing Twilight to jump, turning to be next to Applejack and frowning at Rainbow who started laughing. “Nice reaction there, Sparkle!” She then looked at Blue before drooping that he hadn’t reacted, the stallion splayed on his barrel on the ground. “Aw man. Well, at least I got one to jump.”

“Too hot. Surprise function disabled,” Blue droned tiredly.

Twilight sighed slightly, knowing to expect this from her friend. “The heat is actually why we’re here, Rainbow Dash. Is there any way Ponyville is going to get some relief soon? If it continues like this, I fear somepony might be seriously hurt. Like Nyx, you know with her fur, she can’t even be outside in this oppressive weather.”

The pegasus mare could only sigh. “I wanna help, Twi, really. But we’re having trouble rounding up the clouds we need to do anything small enough to get a cool down. Everything is going towards the big summer storm later this week. If we hadn’t had such a calm Spring, it wouldn’t be this bad, but we have to make up for it.” She then looked up to the gathered clouds above. “Even these are being troublesome, barely able to hold together long enough for us to get a little rain storm on the farms so nothing gets damaged from the heat.”

White they were talking, Blue found himself rolling on his back, looking at the clouds above. He watched as they moved and puffed about, finding it oddly hypnotizing to witness as the cloud just moved about. Though as he kept watching, his eyes couldn’t help but narrow as he swore he could see something.

Ignoring the mares around him, Blue got to his hooves and, despite the heat around him, he took to the air. He flapped his wings until he was up at the cloud level, putting his muzzle right up to the clouds and blinked as he could see something. Reaching to the edge of the cloud, he pulled out what looked like a piece of crystal in his hoof, sparkling softly in the sunlight.

‘What am I looking at exactly?’ he thought to himself before seeing even more in the cloud. He reached inside and grabbed another, looking over the two crystals before putting them together. He expected them to just clink, but instead his eyes widened as the two crystals merged into a single large one. He jumped a little in surprise, dropping the crystal that landed on the cloud before melting before his eyes into a single large drop of water that dropped down to the ground below.

It was then when it dawned on Blue, whispering to himself, “Ice. I can see ice crystals in the clouds.” He looked again, shoving his muzzle into one of the other closest clouds, finding hundreds, maybe even thousands of tiny ice crystals inside. He moved to another, then another, each time only further confirming his suspicions. As he removed his head, he tapped his chin as he tried to understand this conundrum. “But… why I can I see ice crystals? Is this a pegasus thing? Rainbow never mentioned it.”

On a whim, he hit a cloud slightly with his hoof before blinking as he felt something strange. He looked inside the cloud again, his jaw dropping he saw that now there were several larger crystals in the cloud rather than hundreds of smaller ones.Blue pulled his head free, getting an idea as he then stood on the cloud and began bouncing on it slightly. Rainbow had told him and Twilight about how this was one way pegasi could activate a cloud to rain and he had to wonder what would happen with this ice crystals. After bouncing a few times, he looked under the cloud and what he saw nearly made his eyes fall out their sockets.

Snow.

They lasted only seconds, but he knew what he was seeing. Little snowflakes had fallen from the cloud that he’d jumped on. He picked his head up, staring seemingly at nothing as his brain tried to process this. He was able to see ice crystals, put them together to make bigger ones, and jumping on a cloud created snow. Putting a hoof to his chin, Blue began to formulate a plan, looking around at the still moving mass of clouds around him that the weather team were still trying to round up.

‘RD said they were having trouble getting enough of a small storm to cool things off. It’s clearly so hot that any snow I make is going to melt quickly, just like that ice that melted nearly instantly once I wasn’t holding it. Come on, brain, think. How can I use this to help out? Think, think, think!’

As he continued to get frustrated, he kicked the cloud he was on into a nearby one. He blinked as he saw the clouds suddenly start to merge unlike how the weather team had been trying to get them all to. Blue flew up to the merged cloud, seeing the ice crystals inside had all merged into a smaller collection, stabilizing the cloud instantly.

Blue got a smile on his face. “Lightbulb.”

Back on the ground, Twilight was still trying to work with Rainbow Dash. “Is it really so hard right now, Rainbow? I mean, look at all these clouds.”

The pegasus just shook her head. “These are scrap clouds, Twi. Leftovers that weren’t working with the bigger storm we had. Trust me, we’ve been trying to get something out of them, but at the end of the day, they’re literal trash. If we could get some rain out of them, I absolutely would, but it’s just not gonna happen-”

Rainbow found herself suddenly interrupted as a splash of water suddenly hit her muzzle. She blinked a few times, Twilight and Applejack both doing the same. In unison, the mares heads looked up and saw a familiar blue pegasus, pushing and bouncing on clouds, a few large rain drops falling as he did so, but not enough to cause the clouds to disperse, clearly.

“Is that Blue?” Applejack asked the obvious question.

“Yup,” Twilight answered, mimicking her friend’s older brother as she could just stare.

“How is he doing that?” Rainbow rubbed the side of her head. “We’ve been trying for hours to get those clouds to merge. But he’s just pushed them together like it’s nothing. He’s not a secret genius is he?”

“If he is, he’s one of the weirdest ones,” Applejack commented, catching a small frown from Twilight. “No offense, Twi, but we know Blue ain’t quite right. Taking being put in a new body so easily but finding out about the princesses is where he shakes the town with a scream? Boy ain’t quite right in the head”

“Well, he may not be… normal, but he’s a good pony,” Twilight tried to defend. Even she had to admit that Blue had some odd mannerisms, but he really did seem to have a good heart. And watching the stallion merge those clouds together just to help out was definitely causing her heart to beat just a little faster.

After only a few minutes moving about, the gathering of clouds had been collected into a single large mass that stretched out over Sweet Apple Acres. Rainbow couldn’t help but let out a soft whistle. “So he can be fast when he wants to.”

Then a smirk crossed her face.

“Time to get to work!” She zipped right up to the cloud formation, leaving a rainbow trail behind her as she joined Blue on the clouds. “Nice work, Bluey!” She praised, slapping him on the back.

“Guh!” He yelped in surprise, having been lost in his own head moving the clouds. “Oh, Rainbow! I, uh, I can explain…”

“I’m not sure you can, but whatever. You managed to get these clouds into a single system. Let us take it from here.”

“Oh, well, if you’re sure,” he rubbed his neck slightly before looking to his side. “Hey, I know it’s kind of odd, but can I keep this one?”

Rainbow raised a brow before shrugging. “Eh, sure, why not. You did us a big favor getting this set up, but I’m gonna wanna know how later.”

“Sounds like a deal to me,” he smiled before taking the cloud and heading back down to the ground, being met by Twilight and Applejack. “Hey girls. Miss me?”

Both rolled their eyes. “Not a bad job for your first time, Blue,” Applejack praised slightly. “Looks Ponyville might just get the relief she needs.” She turned her head up, watching as the weather team started bounding the clouds and after a few moments, the rain started to fall in earnest. Soon enough, a perfect rainfall began to drench the farmlands as well as the three ponies below before the storm started pushing back towards Ponyville, already a coolness settling in around them as they sighed and took it in.

“Oh that’s so much better,” Twilight sighed.

“Definitely refreshing,” Blue agreed.

“Well, I better get back to my chores before I’m completely rained out,” Applejack said with a tip of her hat before she started walking off towards the barn. “Y’all stay safe and come back now, ya hear?”

“We hear ya, cowgirl,” Blue joked as he and Twilight chuckled and started making their way back to the treebrary, not minding the soaking rain in the slightest as it cooled them off from what would certainly be marked as the hottest day of the year.

Twilight couldn’t help but ask as they walked though, “What’s with the extra cloud? Gonna make a new bed in the basement? You just needed to ask if the mattress wasn’t quite what you need.”

He shook his head with a smile. “No it’s not for that. I wanna try something, but I need to get this back to the house first.”

Twilight couldn’t help but find herself curious, pursing her lips and raising a brow. “Well alright then. And on the way, you can explain to me what a ‘Karen’ is?”

Blue swallowed hard. “Crap…”

The road back to their home was certainly much more energetic than how they left, Blue getting an earful for comparing Twilight to the human equivalent of a “Market Mare” had left him desperately racing ahead of her with the cloud. Thankfully by the time they’d arrived at Golden Oaks, the cooling rain had soothed her hurt feelings, as well as a promise from the stallion to never call her that again. The pair walked inside, using the front entrance to shake their coats out of the rainwater before going inside fully, finding Nyx and Spike just where they left them.

“How’re you feeling, sweetie?” Twilight asked motherly as she moved over to her daughter, gently rubbing her wing on the filly’s back.

“Sweaty and tired,” Nyx moaned. The rain had been going for a while now, but clearly not enough to soothe the inside just yet.

“It’ll get better soon, ok? The rain should cool things off for a bit.”

Spike grumbled on the floor, having moved to where he was face first on the wood.

“Can we get a repeat on that?” Blue jokingly asked.

The dragon replied by grabbing himself by the head and peeling it off the floor boards. “Not fast enough.”

Blue couldn’t help but chuckle at the scenario as he moved the cloud he brought back above the family he’d been staying with. “Well, let’s see if we can’t speed things up, huh?”

Twilight instantly fumed. “Hey, you can’t go having a rain cloud in here! You’ll ruin all my books! If I knew this is what you were planning, I never would have agreed to it!”

He quickly waved his wings defensively. “Woah woah, Twi, that’s not my plan at all. But shouldn’t work, you have full permission to harm me. But really, I have an idea that just might help them. Trust me, ok? Please?”

The alicorn pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at him some before just as quickly she sighed in defeat. “Very well. I have no reason not to trust you, so if you think you have something to help my brother and daughter, go ahead.”

With a hoof pump, Blue quickly got on the cloud. “Alright, now if this works the way I think it will…” he trailed off as he focused on the cloud before he began jumping on it. Twilight braced herself for a torrent of rain to drop out like she was used to, however her eyes began to wide as what she saw start falling from the cloud was something else entirely.

“Snow‽” she shouted, catching the attention of Nyx and Spike fully, their own eyes widening as the snowflakes fell on them. Blue happily kept bouncing on the cloud as more and more flakes fell, quickly forming a light dusting on the library floor and on Nyx and Spike who had big smiles on their faces as they pried themselves up off the floor and began running under the cloud.

“This is totally awesome!” the dragon cheered, catching a few flakes on his tongue. “It’s actual snow! In July!”

“This is so amazing! Thank you, Blue! It’s just what we needed!” Nyx giggled as she laid in the fresh snow and began wiggling her body and limbs. “Spike! Come make snow angels with me!”

Twilight couldn’t help but smile as the dragon quickly joined in, her smile turning to Blue who had just hoped down from the cloud. “That was very nice of you, Blue. But, how did you do it? Snowflakes are usually made up in Cloudsdale and applied to clouds.”

With a shrug, Blue began to explain as best he could. “I can’t truly say, I just… could see the ice crystals within the clouds and when I did the whole weather pegasus thing, I got snow instead of rain. I don’t get the why myself, but this,” he looked over to where Nyx and Spike were playing, already building an igloo. “If whatever this of mine can do that? Then I’ll do it gladly.” A sudden flash from behind them caused the two ponies to look back. Nothing seemed to be there until Twilight gasped, pointing at Blue’s behind. Upon looking, he could only stare in shock where once had been blue fur was now the symbol of a white cloud with snow flakes falling from it.

He’d gotten a cutie mark.

HIS cutie mark.

Blue could only stare dumbly at the image before looking at Twilight who seemed ecstatic.

“You got your cutie mark! That’s amazing, Blue!” She gave him a quick embrace and before either of them knew what had happened, she kissed him directly on the cheek.

For both ponies, the world suddenly stopped after Twilight pulled her lips back. Two shocks in row had left Blue standing there speechless. Twilight, however, suddenly turned red in the face before letting him go and rushing off to the kitchen.

“Gottamakedinner!” she shouted quickly before disappearing.

Blue put a hoof up to his cheek where he’d been kissed, looking over at Nyx and Spike who had just missed everything while playing in the snow. As he pulled the hoof back and looked at it, hjs gaze then trailed back to the kitchen, his mind reeling from everything before swallowing hard.

‘D-Do I have a crush?’ Was all he could think as he settled down on the couch, listening to the two younger ones playing while his mind continued reeling.

Author's Note

Sorry for the long wait on this chapter. I've just gotten a new job and left my old one so I've been trying to get a few things settled. While it won't be often as I'd like, I am trying to at least get a new chapter out a month. So I'll see y'all in August!