Author's Note

This and Making Amends take place in the week time skip mentioned in A Nice Change of Pace.

As always, let me know if you spot any mistakes or if you have any suggestions for me :)

Tour of the Village

“Is he still asleep?” you heard a muffled voice say… something.

“Yes, Pinkie, he has been ever since you all left yesterday,” another voice replied. Jeez whoever they are, they should really just go away.

“Truly? The poor thing must’ve been utterly exhausted. Who knows how long it could have taken him to travel through the Everfree before finally arriving in Ponyville,” yet another, much more posh, voice said.

…

Wait a minute…

Why did they sound so close to you?

With a jolt and a fearful cry, you jumped up from the couch you were sleeping in and backed up against the wall, your eyes scanning your immediate surroundings for the voices you were hearing. Why were there voices!? Did they find you!? What's going on!?

“Nopony move!” you heard a familiar voice shout.

Glancing over to where the voice came from, you spotted six tiny, colorful horses staring up at you with looks of fear and trepidation. Suddenly, all of the memories of yesterday rushed back to your head, causing your panic to slowly ease away, and for shame and nervousness to wash over you. You looked away from their fearful gazes and began to twiddle with your fingers anxiously. You didn’t mean to scare them, you were just a bit startled is all. Surely they’d understand, right?

“Goggles..? Are you okay..?” you heard Violet say as she slowly approached you, being careful not to make any sudden movements.

You whimpered as you felt tears begin to slip from your eyes, “I-I’m sorry… I d-didn’t mean to scare you,” you mumbled as your hands began to shake.

Out of the corner of your eye, you noticed the butter-colored horse perk up slightly, peeking through the wings hiding her face, your whimper catching her attention and bringing concern to her features. You continued to fidget in place, not knowing what to do and fearing that any action you take would scare your hosts.

“Um, I c-can leave if you w-want,” you mutter, pointing a finger at the door of the library.

Suddenly, the butter-colored horse extended her wings and lifted off the ground with gentle, rhythmic beats. As she began to fly towards you, you found yourself a bit too captivated by her presence to question how she was able to fly with such small wings. She continued to fly toward you, stopping just in front of your face. Her soft expression radiated a sense of calm, bringing you an sense of ease. For a small moment, it felt as though everything might actually be okay.

She then began to reach out to your still outstretched hand.

“Fluttershy? I don’t think you should-”

“It’s okay, Twilight. He's just a bit frightened is all.”

Butter gave you a warm smile as she grasped your hand in her gentle hooves…

And immediately started to fall to the floor.

Acting quickly, you grabbed the pegasus by her armpits and held her up as she let out a startled shout, her wings flailing erratically in an attempt to keep her aloft.

“Wh-What’s happening!? Why can’t I fly!?” Butter shouted fearfully as she clutched your arms tightly.

“Fluttershy, calm down! That’s what I was going to warn you about before you touched him!” Violet said, “I don’t think he’s doing it on purpose, but he has some sort of magic-nullifying ability that activates when he touches something or when somepony is touching him.”

“O-Oh.”

Whatever Violet had said managed to calm the flailing horse in your hands, and you took the opportunity to step off the couch and gently place her down on the floor. Once you let go of her, her drooping wings began to move in a more controlled manner and they folded back neatly at her sides.

“Um, thank you for catching me, Mr. Goggles,” Butter said, directing a small smile towards .

You nodded, “Uh, yeah, okay.”

Butter giggled, “I don’t think we got off to a good start yesterday. Why don’t we try again?” She pointed a hoof at herself. “I’m Fluttershy,” she then introduced her other horse friends from left to right, “That’s Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie.”

“It’s nice to meet you again,” Violet waved with a smile.

“Pleasure to me ya, partner.”

“It’s very nice to meet you. Maybe we can pass by my shop so I can design you something more… er, appealing?”

“You already know me,” Skittles said with a cheeky grin.

“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie, and I’m super-duper-wuper excited to meet you!”

Now, let’s start off by saying that you had absolutely zero clue what they were saying. However, based on the way they took turns speaking, you could make an educated guess that they were either introducing themselves or saying hello. If that was the case, then it only seemed polite for you to say hello in return.

You raised your other hand and meekly waved it, “Hello… It’s nice to meet you all..?”

After your greeting, an awkward silence settled over the group, neither you nor them seeming to know how to continue the conversation—if it could even be called a conversation, given the apparent language barrier.

Thankfully, Violet was there to save the day.

With a smirk on her face, Violet turned to the pink horse, “Hey, Pinkie. I have an idea. Why don’t you go and start setting up Goggles’ welcoming party, and we’ll give Goggles a tour of Ponyville in the meantime?”

The pink horse gasped and her pupils dilated to the point of almost blacking out her large eyes. You shuddered at the creepy sight. That was going to find its way into your nightmares for sure.

Suddenly, faster than your eyes could see, she disappeared, leaving a cartoonish outline of her body in the dust as the doors slammed open. Peeking outside, you could see a large cloud of dust quickly disappearing deeper into the town.

“Holy shit…” you mutter in disbelief, not believing what you just saw.

Turning back to you, Violet's horn glowed as she activated her magic, levitating a sheet of paper and a quill from the coffee table by the couch. Lightly dipping the quill’s tip in some ink, she began to sketch a series of drawings. You waited patiently for her to finish, curious to figure out what she wanted to communicate with you this time. Once Violet was done, she turned the paper over to you.

The drawings took the form of another comic strip, laid out in four panels. The first panel depicted you and the group leaving the tree-shaped library. In the second, Violet led the group, a text bubble above her head as she addressed the stick figure representing you. The third panel mirrored the second, but this time the group had stopped in front of a building, with Violet seemingly explaining something about it. Finally, the fourth panel showed the group returning to the tree library.

Ah, so it was a tour of the town. You could do that. It's best that you learn the layout of the town with Violet as your guide rather than get lost trying to navigate it later. Though, you weren't sure how Violet was going to explain things to you when you couldn't understand her.

You gave Violet a nod and thumbs up before putting on your boots and slinging your rucksack over your shoulders. You gestured over to the door with your head and Violet smiled.

“Well, girls, let’s give Goggles a tour of Ponyville!”

The moment you stepped back into the heart of the town, the lively hustle and bustle abruptly quieted. Nervous eyes from all the horses present locked onto you. Some looked ready to scream and bolt again, but Violet and her friends were quick to say some reassuring words to the horses. Their words didn’t completely ease the tension present in the air, but they at least managed to stop all the horses from screaming their lungs out and boarding up their doors and windows.

Speaking of doors and windows, was it just you, or had the town already finished rebuilding? You glanced around at the numerous cottages and buildings, noting that not a single one appeared damaged in the slightest from whatever natural disaster had struck just a day ago. Had they truly managed to finish rebuilding that quickly? You chuckled to yourself. If this had been your local government, it would have taken at least a week tops for everything to get back to normal.

Violet resumed the tour, and you watched as all the horses around you made sure to give you a wide berth as you passed, whispering things to each other's ears. Things that were probably about you no doubt. You wondered what they were saying. Maybe that you were some big monster? That you were going to eat all their kids? or maybe that you were going to steal those weird marks on their butts?

You allowed a light chuckle to escape your lips, noticing how it made some of the locals flinch back.

‘This cannot be fucking real,’ you think. And yet, despite your denial, you’re still here.

You can clearly feel the sun’s heat beating down on your body, the steady bounce of your rucksack with each step, and the way your clothes cling uncomfortably to your sweaty skin. You can see the complex little details on the buildings around you—the hundreds of strands of thatch on the roofs and the strong, polished wooden frames. You could even faintly smell the perfume that stuck to Pearl, the white unicorn you’ve named.

All these intricate little details all tell you the same thing: that this is reality, and whether you like it or not, you were going to have to live with it.

“Goggles? Are you there? Equis to Goggles!” Skittles said as she waved a hoof in front of your face.

You jolt back, a bit surprised the action. You shook your head before looking towards Skittles and mumbling a quiet apology. Looking around, you noticed that you and the group had stopped in front of a large building. Around you were some tables and bales of hay for seats. Some horses were occupying them, but it seems like most of them left once you arrived if all the abandoned food on the tables was any indication.

Looking up at the building, you notice a sign hanging above the door which was a stall door. The sign depicted a simple three-leaf clover and nothing else. Peeking inside, you saw what appeared to be the interior of a restaurant with a bunch more tables and actual chairs inside instead of hay bales.

“This is Café Hay. It’s one of the many restaurants we have here in Ponyville. This restaurant mainly serves breakfast and a brief lunch menu before closing for the day,” Violet said before showing you another comic strip.

This time, it was of you and her eating something here in the morning and early afternoon, but there was a big X over you both eating here in the evening.

So it was a restaurant that served brunch. That’s nice to know, even though you probably won’t be eating here anytime soon. You gave Violet a thumbs up, showing her that you understood her drawing. Violet smiled happily before leading you and the group away from the restaurant.

Violet continued guiding you through the town, showing you various shops and buildings. Her friends occasionally joined in, chiming in with comments or explanations, which Violet quickly sketched out to convey their messages to you.

Eventually, you all stopped by a shop resembling a carousel that was owned by Pearl. As soon as you stepped inside, you quickly noticed what kind of store this was, and that fact made you a bit uncomfortable. It was a clothing store, and by the way that Pearl eagerly smiled at you, she was going to want to make something for you. A fact that was confirmed once Violet showed you a picture of Pearl using you as a model to make clothes that suited your bipedal frame.

Yeah, no, you weren’t doing that. Not right now, at least.

Despite your declining of Pearl's offer, she remained persistent and relentlessly tried to convince you through a chain of pictures to make something for you. She went from drawing pictures of you modeling in elaborate suits, to basically begging you through picture form. Her final drawing depicted herself with a sad, puppy-dog expression, a single tear rolling down her cheek. She had her hooves pressed together in a pleading gesture and held a measuring tape aloft with her magic.

You almost broke right there and then. Almost.

You managed to convince her and the other horses that you simply were not comfortable taking off even a single layer of clothing. They gave you weird looks—Butter's being one of concern—but they didn’t press you further. However, you did assure Pearl that you would come around someday when you were comfortable enough, and she was satisfied by that.

And so, the tour continued. However, Apple, the orange horse, took the lead this time. She guided you and the group to an isolated path out of town that was lined with trees on either side to give some shade to travelers. You and the group continued walking for about five minutes until you saw something in the distance.

It was a farm with a large red barn situated at its center, surrounded by numerous chicken coops, animal pens, and a sprawling field at the front designated for growing corn. To the left of the barn, in the distance, stood a carrot-themed building with its own dedicated patch for cultivating carrots. To the right of the barn, past all the chicken coops and pens, stood a just as red farmhouse that was two stories tall. Looking at the porch, you could see a green blotch of color sitting on a rocking chair and watching you all. Judging by the greyish color of their mane, they were probably on the elderly side.

Behind all of this lay an expansive orchard stretching across what seemed to be many acres, its boundaries marked by an extensive white fence that lined the entire property.

“This here is Sweet Apple Acres, the home of the Apple family and the best place to get your apples from,” Apple said in a slow drawl, “This farm has been here for many generations of Apples and I happen to take great pride in the orchard.”

Apple then gave you a serious look, “So I hope you don’t mind me asking for some kind of repayment for eating all those apples you didn’t pay for yesterday.”

Was she threatening you? It sure sounded and looked like she was. But why was she… Oh, was it because you ate all those apples yesterday? Yeah, that’s probably why. You frowned in guilt, feeling only a little shameful about your actions yesterday. You didn’t regret it—it was the first actual meal you’ve had in a long time, and you’d do it again in a heartbeat—but you can understand why Apple is upset.

“Now, Applejack. I know you’re still upset about Goggles eating your apples yesterday, but don’t you think you can give him some time to settle in and for everypony to get used to him? I don’t think he’s going to be able to repay you if he doesn’t have a job to earn bits,” Violet said.

Applejack nodded, “Yeah, Twilight. But I was thinking of something simpler. Why doesn’t Goggles work on the farm here with me and Big Mac for a day to settle his debt? And if he wants, he can continue to work with us to earn some bits. Celestia knows we sure can use the extra hooves to help us out.”

“That’s… a very generous and reasonable offer, Applejack! Here, I’ll tell him,” Violet said before beginning to draw on another sheet of paper.

Your eyes perked up at the sight of Violet drawing on another sheet, and you waited eagerly to see what she would show you this time. After finishing her drawing, she flipped the paper over to you to decipher.

There were six pictures this time. The first depicted you and Apple at the orchard. The second showed the two of you kicking a tree, causing apples to fall neatly into buckets below. You couldn’t help but feel a bit skeptical. Surely Violet didn’t mean you actually had to kick the tree. You could barely kick open a semi-secure door, you doubt you’d be able to make apples fall from a tree by just kicking it.

Moving on, the third one then showed you and Apple hauling buckets full of apples back to the barn before heading out again. The fourth and fifth images mirrored the third but the sun was positioned differently in the sky to show the passage of time.

Finally, the sixth picture showed her talking to you, with a text bubble above her containing a drawing of a coin—perhaps their currency? The seventh picture depicted you leaving the farm, with Apple in the background sporting a silly smile as she waved goodbye. Another text bubble hovered above her, showing an image of you returning at sunrise.

Hmm, was she offering you a job? Or maybe she wanted you to labor for you as payment for all the food you ate from her stand yesterday? Yeah, it was probably the latter. You glanced at Apple and gave her a thumbs up and a nod showing her that you accepted the proposal.

“Alrighty! I look forward to seeing you come by in a day or two,” Apple said with a smile.

After another hour or two of touring, you had finally reached the end of the trip and you and your guides found yourselves back at the tree library. The town was pretty charming now that you had a more in-depth look at it. After all, you can’t say you remember visiting a literal gingerbread house that sold sweets back at home. Apparently, the pink horse worked there, but for some reason, she wasn’t there when you and the group had passed by.

The owners of the place seemed kind enough, though you could easily tell just how nervous they were around you. Despite that, they gave you a free donut! The chocolate donut with rainbow sprinkles was gone in less than three seconds, your ravenous stomach making it so. Ah, eating in a dark bathroom had never been so fulfilling before in your life.

Other than that, the only other notable thing was Butter’s home. The place was Disney Princess incarnate. There were so many animals both inside and outside that you were wholly surprised when you didn’t spot a single shit stain anywhere. Not a single one. Do you know how well-trained all those animals have to be for that to happen?

And if that wasn’t enough, apparently Butter took care of all the animals by herself. She fed them, groomed them, washed them, and gave them a safe place to sleep, among other things. You wouldn’t be surprised if Butter even read them a bedtime story before going to sleep herself. It seems like the kind of things she'd do.

Approaching the door to the tree library, you took a moment to glance at everyone else. Ever since you all left Butter’s home, your guides have been uncharacteristically silent and constantly whispered things to each other. Even Skittles was quiet, and she had been yapping almost constantly during the entire tour. Just what were they up to? You hoped it was nothing bad.

Opening the door, you stepped inside the dark building and waited for Violet to turn the lights on. Once she did, you were met with an unexpected sight.

“SUPRISE!” the missing pink horse shouted as she threw party streamers up into the air.

You looked around in shock as the room burst to life with an explosion of colorful party decorations. Balloons floated gently in the air, banners draped from the shelves lining the walls, and multiple tables held sugary sweets such as cupcakes, cookies, and even frosted cakes. In one corner, a very old record player blasted whimsical music, adding another layer of fun to the party.

Your shock quickly turned to confusion, however. Just who was this party for? You never told any of the horses your birthday, so who was all this for? You wouldn’t get an answer to your questions as a party hat suddenly found itself on top of your head and you were quite literally dragged into the fun by the pink horse.

You played “Pin the Tail on the Horse” instead of the usual donkey version, dabbled in this world’s take on Connect Four, and even had a fun match of checkers against Violet.

To top it off, you introduced everyone to Uno, which quickly turned into a mistake. They say Uno tests your friendships in ways you couldn’t imagine, and that statement was proven true when Apple leaped across the table mid-game to slug Skittles for starting a chain reaction that left her picking up ten cards.

The table flipped over, scattering cards everywhere as Apple beat down Skittles with a vengeance. Everyone quickly moved to separate them, but by God, that had to be the most unexpected and hilarious shit you had seen in a while.

Apple and Skittles were then forced to sit out the next game to cool off, and that’s when Barney made his entrance. He was Violet’s assistant and, judging by the green fire that casually erupted from his mouth when he burped, an actual dragon. Can you believe that!? A dragon! So cool!

He was a bit cautious around you at first, but once he joined the game in Apple and Skittles' place, he quickly turned into a little monster. And that made him the perfect partner for screwing everyone else over in the game. he coordinated +2s with you, switched to colors you needed, skipped others so you could go and vise versa. Though, the best part was when you and him managed to make Violet draw +8 when she was on Uno.

You had never seen so much barely contained rage in a person until that very moment. Violet looked like she wanted to explode on Barney, but she took a deep breath and drew her cards. You didn't win a single round after that. Not a single one.

After the games, you all decided to eat. But you only joined in once you convinced Violet to cover the windows. Even then, you didn’t take off your mask entirely, only lifted it up enough to expose your mouth. Everyone gave you curious looks once they saw your mouth, Violet even went so far as to start taking notes while she watched you eat. It felt pretty unnerving seeing her do that, but as long as she wasn’t planning on experimenting with you then it was fine.

The food was also the highlight of the entire party because it also gave you a name to call the pink horse. That name was Kirby, and it’s exactly why you think I gave her that name. Not only did this pink horse eat a whole cake without chewing once, but that cake just so happened to have multiple layers and was about three Uno cards wide. It was a cake that was meant for multiple people to eat, and she ate it all in one big swallow.

What the fuck…