To Change For The Better

I open my eyes slowly once again as I take a moment to find my bearings as I start to remember where we are 'Right, on the train to, Ponyville....'

'Though I guess that does begs the question when are we? Cause, if I remember correctly, Thorax didn't show up until the wedding, though he was already 'grown' when the invasion happened so we must be around S1 then right? Unless.....'

My eyes widen as I realize something 'Unless we're before the show, but maybe lucks on my side today and we are in the shows original timeline, hopefully, maybe.'

I sigh as I look to my right with Thorax leaning on my arm slumbering away to the occasional rocking of the train and Pharnyx leaning back on the seat with his mouth open snoring away. Trying to stifle my chuckles I quietly disengage myself from the sleep pile as I get up on another seat to look at where were at, and as I start to move I feel the train start to slow down as Thorax and Pharynx fall on top of eachother jolting them awake.

"What, Where? oh, right, the train."

As Pharynx starts to calm down Thorax starts rubbing his eyes trying to wake up "Are *yawn* there yet?"

I nodded "Yeah we just stopped, make sure to grab your 'thing' since we're gonna need somewhere to hide these, and remember, different names."

Pharnyx rolls his eyes "Yeah,yeah we get it come on Thorax let's get outside."

"Ok."

As we step out if the train still carrying our weapons, I look around with barely contained wonder at the town I now find myself in as Pharynx says something "So, this is Ponyville huh, doesn't look to shabby though it seems like that isn't saying that much."

Thorax gives him a slight wap at the back of the head "Hey! Be nice, I think it looks very pleasant."

Pharynx rubs the back of his head "Didn't need to hit me."

Shaking my head, I look over the town still trying to grasp the bizarre circumstances that has somehow led me to this very town 'My god....I mean I knew I was in the show, but still, the fact that I'm able to stand right here, right now, in the place that served as the beginning and the end is still surreal to me, like a book you've enjoyed your entire life now able to be viewed and experienced instead of imaging how it could've or would've been forever imaging and not knowing for sure.'

Pulling me out of my thoughts i see a hand waving in front of my face as I hear Pharynx speaking "Helloooooo, Hive to Joseph?"

I stumble back a bit "Uhhh, sorry what happened?"

"I was discussing with Tho- I mean Shining what we should look for, remember we still need something revolutionary for the hive, also we still need to find somewhere to hide these." As he motions to the Hellsbreath in his hand.

'Right, but the question is should I try and convince them to leave the Hive or let things flow naturally?'

"Well maybe we'll be able to find something that will provide us with information about something like that, though for our weapons?" I take the time to consider what to do with them.

"If we can find somewhere to sleep we might be able to leave our stuff there."

He nods "OK, not my preferred option but we don't have many of those out here, although, where should we go first?"

Thorax then pipes up "Why don't we just drop off the weapons so that way we can walk around to familiarize ourselves with the area and not have to worry about them."

I nod "Yeah, thats not a bad idea."

Pharynx nods at Thorax "Good Job, Shining."

Thorax looks away happy at the praise from Pharynx "T-Thanks."

Now having come to a decision we start walking around as we try to find somewhere that can give us information about our assignment from the Hive.
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As were making our way down we cut through the market as Thorax and Pharnyx look on in wonder to the stuff being sold, though looking disappointed when being denied from trying any of it out.

As we continue making our way through the market I can hear Pharnyx grumbling "We need whatever these bites are."

"Bits."

"Whatever, point is we need them if we're gonna be stuck here for a couple of moons."

"Ok but how are we gonna get any?"

Thorax looks around before going to a pony selling string "Excuse me sir?"

The pony looks down with a kind smile "Yes? What do you need little one?"

"Do you know where we can get bits, oh and do you also know where we can find somewhere to sleep?"

The pony looks at him confused and a little concerned "Uhh, sure but what about your parents?"

Thorax tilts his head "P-arents?"

"Yeah, your Dam or Sire?"

I step In to cover for Thorax "Well, we wanted to try and be independent so we're trying to find a place that we can kinda claim as our own."

The pony nods, 'understanding' the situation "Oh, ok well I guess colts will try and make it on their own, especially ones that recently gotten their Revelation Marks."

'Their it is again, are Revelation Marks just a more advanced name for cutie marks?'

The pony scratches his head before answering. " Well if I'm not mistaking you can go to town hall to take care of sleeping arrangements, and i think there might also be...... if I remember correctly, I'm pretty sure i remember those Apple folks handing out some papers looking for help so you can go ask them."

"Oh, Thank you, though can you tell us how to get there?"

He nods "Sure, just keeping going straight out of the market,go pass town hall, thats the tall building in the middle, then take a right, keep going straight across the bridge until you see the farm up ahead, and for town hall just keep going straight out the market until you see the first tall building on your way, And then just go inside."

Thorax nods as he smiles "Thanks again Sir."

He smiles back "No problem colt."

As Thorax starts making his way back to us repeating what the pony said to him getting a nod of approval form Pharnyx "Good job, Shining, not bad for your first time extracting information."

Thorax mumbles a thanks as we start making our way following the directions until we see the massive building infront of us.

"So, I'm guessing this must be town hall huh." Pharynx looks it up and down "Well the pony wasn't lying it is pretty tall."

"Well hopefully we can find somewhere to sleep." Thorax says

Pushing open the doors we see a lone desk as a Earth mare with pink hair and a faint white strip bairly visible go down her the middle of a hair wearing a white buttoned shirt with a vest covering it and Black pants complete with a violet bowtie.

'Wait thats not what she usually wears where's her gray ha-'

As I start to realize something I try to think of something else. 'No, no don't jump to conclusions and besides who knows maybe she just felt nostalgic today.'

As I try to convince myself not to panic like always Thorax goes up and introduces himself "Hello, nice to meet you."

Mayor Mare goes up and shakes his hand "And hello to you too, what can I help you with today?"

"Well we heard that we might be able to find somewhere to sleep if we came here."

"Oh, well you certainly heard right."

She turns ands starts rummaging through her desk in search of something "Its a new program where we try to provide assistance to either ponies with nowhere to go or filles an colts that have just left their home in order to be more independent until their prepared to move on their own."

As she finishes she finally finds what she's looking for as she pulls out some papers and puts them on the desk for us to see "Thankfully, we still have a few spots still open so all you need to do is sign and then you can go on your way."

"Oh thank you, this is really he-"

"And how exactly does this work?"

Pharynx cuts him off as he looks at the paper with visible doubt causing Mayor to be confused "What exactly do you mean?"

"Well, not to be rude but I don't believe you."

"Shiny!"

"What? I said I'm not trying to be rude but come on Shining even you should be able to see how suspicious this is."

Thorax looks away with a conflicting look on his face as Pharynx continues "I mean it just sounds a little suspicious that if we sign whatever this is we just get a free place to live no strings attached."

"I actually was about to explain that."
.
.
.
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.
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"You were?"

She puts her hands on her hips "Yes I was going to explain what exactly this program would have entailed before he signed."

Pharnyx deflates a bit after hearing her "oh..... sorry then."

She sighs "Its ok, but next time you need to let others explain themselves before you start jumping to conclusions."

Pharynx looks at the desk, embarrassed, avoiding eye contact with her. "Ok"

*Ahem*

"Now as I was going to say before you sign this program does allow you to sleep somewhere yes but it's an apartment like building. You'll still be able to get your own rooms, but every three months you will have to pay a tax of Three hundred bits and if you fail to pay the first time you will be granted an additional two weeks to pay it, but if you fail to pay the second time then your contract will be void with us and you will no longer be allowed inside the building."

"Keep in mind everything will already be paid for including Gas, Electricity, Heat, all your paying for is the three months you have been living their. Now you can either each sign a paper an have separate rooms or you can put all your names on one contract and have a room big enough to yourselves, it won't be fancy but it should be good enough, though keep in mind your payment will go up to three hundred and fifty bits to count for the fact that your living together instead of separately."

"So would you like to be seperate or together?"

Thorax raises a finger "Can we discuss this for a second?"

Mayor Mare nods "Of course,I understand this is a big decision."

"Thank you."

As Thorax finishes talking we walk outside to discuss our options as I speak first "So what do you guys thinks?"

Pharynx thinks for a second before thinking "I think its best if we stay together."

Thorax nods "I also agree."

I'm a bit taken aback by Thorax's decision "Huh, I mean I kinda expected it from Dusty but I'm a bit surprised that you also want to stick together, if anything I thought you might want a room to yourself."

Thorax shakes his head in response "I thought about it, I did really, but I've lived my whole life with Dusty, so it would've just felt kinda weird for me to be separated from him, especially since we're just starting to reconnect again."

Pharnyx eyes soften a bit as he smiles "Thanks bro but remember I'm not forcing you to do anything so you c-"

"I'm sure, don't worry your not forcing me to do anything I don't already want to.

Although he nods its obvious he's not totally convinced as Thorax walks up and hugs him as he whispers to him. "Its ok Pharynx, your not forcing me to do anything, I do want this, so I would really appreciate if you let me do it."

Pharnyx hugs back as they take a moment before separating as he adopts a serious look on his face "Just let me know if I ever to start to go back how I used to be because believe I don't want to so I need you to keep me in check ok."

"Ok."

"Good." He then looks at me "that goes for you too, just in case Thorax isn't able to be with us for some reason I'm gonna be counting on you to take his place."

I put my hand on his shoulder "I will make sure that you never go back to the way you were before, that I promise you."

He nods "Thank you, jeez such a stupid place to get emotional at."

I frown "Hey, none of that, there is no wrong time to feel emotional its not and will never be your fault if you need to get something off of your chest. Besides keeping how you feel inside and never expressing it is how you alienated yourself from Thorax in the first place."

".....Right."

He sighs "OK, let's go and teel that pony our decision so we can go to this 'farm'."

Now having taken care and remaining worries we go inside to let Mayor Mare know of our decision and sign the paper together as we make our way towards the building.
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As we arrive near the building i can start to see pillars next to a path that has an overhang above a couple of steps going into the building.

Though as we enter the inside looks ridiculously nice with shiny wooden floors, white recliners, and steps leading up to different floors with tons of ponies hanging out in the lobby, waiting for someone or just hanging out.

Making our way to the front we see the pony at the desk writing something until she stops and look at us with a practiced smile. "Hello, how may I help you today?"

Mayor Mare gives the contract over to the pony as they check it over nodding in satisfaction. "OK, i see everything's already set up so I'll just give you the key and you can get set up in one of our available rooms."

She gets up as she grabs one of the keys hanging on a rack behind her before making her way to us "Here you go, room 141."

Thorax grabs the key as he looks it over, curious about the object before looking up and smiling back at the pony."

"Have a nice day."

"You too."

Before we fully make it to the stairs Mayor Mare stops us "OK, now that you have everything set up now, I will be taking my leave do have a good day." She finishes as she starts to walk away as Thorax says bye "She was nice, well let's see what this room is all about."

As we make our way up the stairs and to the right hallway we count the numbers on the door as we try to find ours "139, 140, oh here we go 141."

All three of us stand outside as Thorax looks confused before turning around to us "Isn't it supposed to open?"

I'm trying to contain my laughter as Pharynx scratches his head trying to think of a solution "I don't know, maybe we insert what your carrying into the barrier and then it'll open."

"Oh good idea."

He then presses the key onto the door and backs up letting it fall. "Try to open it now."

Thorax then pushes against the door with no success "No, hmmm I'm lost at how we open this, Joseph you got any ideas."

Shaking in barely contained laughter i decide to finally get us into the room "Y-yeah, let me try something."

I pick up the key as I insert it into the lock twisting and unlocking it as I push open the door. "Tada."

Thorax looks on in wonder while Pharnyx looks impressed that I figured it out and we make our way inside."

Surprisingly as we step in our room it looks decent, not anything amazing but the living room is spacious enough to not feel cramped as right next to it is a dining table near the kitchen. Meanwhile as we make our way down the hallway i see two bedrooms with one bathroom at the end of the hall.

I turn to them "I'm gonna put my weapon in my room, Pharynx you should do the same since we still have to go to the farm."

He nods as Thorax starts whining "Awwwww, but i wanted to see what this place has to offer."

I shake my head amused by his endless curiosity "Later, we still need to go to the farm and hope they'll be able to give us some bits."

Thorax starts pouting "fine, but tomorrow i want to explore here."

I chuckle "Of course, now let's go and make our way to the farm, you still remember the ponies directions right?"

He nods "Yeah, don't worry."

"Alright let's go then."
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"Well I'm gonna guess that this the place that pony was talking about."
Pharnyx states as we see a sign posted on the front of the entrance with an apple etched into it as only name comes to my mind.

'Sweet Apple Acres'

Just like Ponyville its still a surreal experience to be able to walk up to a place you've seen in a show you always watched for the past 8 or so years.

"Well let's go inside." As we push open the fence we start walking in as I take my time walking and looking around at what I can see at the front of the farm .

As I'm deep in my thoughts Thorax spots someone as he waves one of his arms on greeting.

"Hello."

"Well hello there back to you too." Says a voice says sweetly back.

I pause '.......Thats not Applejack.'

Slowly looking up, I take in the mare that responded back to Thorax with her cream fur and orange hair flowing down halfway her back with a sunflower planted In her hair wearing overalls over an yellow shirt with blue jeans as she extends her hand out introducing herself.

"Names Pear Butter, nice to meet you."

Unaware of my internal crisis Thorax goes up to greet her as he shakes her hand "Hi! Nice to meet you too, my names Shining Star and over their is my brother Dusty Diamond and our friend Midnight Shimmer."

Smiling, Pear goes up to Pharnyx to greet him as they exchange pleasantries until she comes up to me as extending her hand towards me as I do my best to calm my nerves and shake her hand as she pulls back and looks over all of us.

"Im guessing since your here you must of saw our flyer, usually we manage fine on our own but it seems like a bit of help nowadays wouldn't go amiss."

She claps her hands "So, I'll show you around, tell you what you need to do and then you can get to work tomorrow, got it?"

We all nod "Good, come on let me show you around."

As we followed her i was still reeling in the fact that I was indeed before the show 'So I'm before the show huh.'

I sigh 'Fine, its not that big of a deal, just gotta wait a couple of more years until stuff actually starts happening, and besides, I can still make changes that actually might matter down the line. So you know what, this actually works out for me since now I have the opportunity to make more changes for the better like this.

I look up at the back of Pears head as we still follow her 'Starting with you.'

Pear starts to slow down as she starts to show us around the farm. "So this is the chicken coop sometimes we'll assign you here though its not too hard of an job to do, since all you gotta do is wake the chickens up, throw out some feed though make sure its outside of the coop, don't want any pests getting in their and their such a hassle to deal with once they are."

She shakes her head before moving "Over there you can see our other crops like carrots, corn, we also have grapes we gather up for events only usually though sometimes we gather them for ourselves too."

She then starts grinning "Though this right here is the real pride of the farm."

She says as when we pass the house we see acres of apple trees going into the distance with the sun shining down on them like a perfectly painted peaceful picture.

I look over at Thorax and Pharynx as I swear I see their eyes filled with stars at the scene."

"Woahhhhh, there so many trees!"

Pharnyx still shocked nods slowly "Yeah, its weirdly, nice in a way."

"Thats where we'll do most of our work from time to time."

She then turns around "Alright, thats basically it for today, usually I'd introduce you to the others but there out doing something so tomorrow you'll meet, well, almost, the rest of the family." She finishes with a somber smile.

We all notice her emotion changing for a second but I cut in before anyone can say anything "Well thank you for letting us work here Miss Pear, i look forward for working here tomorrow though we'll probably be heading out now."

She nods "Alright then, ya'll take care now."

We all start to make our way down the road back into town as Thorax speaks "I wonder why she felt sad all of a sudden?"

Pharnyx shrugged "Don't know, think its best not to mention it to the her though."

Thorax frowns "I guess, it just fe-Woahhhh."

Just then the ground started shaking making us fall to the ground as I look to the sky seeing a rainbow go streaking across leaving behind a circle of rainbow expand off in the distance.. 'Well I guess that confirms it if anything, good going Rainbow.'

"What Was That!?"

As I look down from the sky I see that Thorax and Pharynx also seemed to have saw the Rainboom going off in the sky as well.

Pharnyx has no words as he looks up into the sky in shock and a little bit of fear until he starts calming himself down to think more rationally "I don't know, but whatever it is I think its best of we stay far away from it if it can cause whatever that was."

Thorax slightly shaking a bit nods "Yeah, I think that might be for the best."

Pharnyx grabs both of his shoulder as he looks in his eyes "Hey, its ok just take deep breaths innnn and outtttt."

Following his instructions Thorax closes his eyes as he slowly starts to calm down again opening his eyes."

Thorax smiles gratefully at Pharnyx "Thanks again for that."

He returns the smile "Its alright, just doing what I'm supposed to."

Thorax giggles at that "Alright, enough if that, let's just get back to the building so we can relax."

Pharynx snorts "your just saying that because you want to see everything in our what did they call it again rooms? Yeah rooms."

Thorax looks away sheepishly "Mayyyybe."

As we continue walking down to the building we just talk with eachother the rest of the way.

'This is nice, just spending time with people you care about and pretty soon."

I look up into the sky where Rainbow did her first Rainbow a couple of minutes ago "A few ponies are going to go on a journey that will change their lives forever."

Turning back around I enter the building with my friends as we officially end our first day being here in Ponyville.