Chapters My Little Pony: Courage of Corona
EPISODE 1: A Human in Equestria Part 1
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic – Courage of Corona
My Little Pony, My Little Pony~
Ahh, Ahh, Ahh, Ahh…
My Little Pony~
I used to wonder what friendship could be,
My Little Pony~
Until you all shared you its magic with me!
Big adventure!
Tons of fun!
A beautiful heart!
Faithful and strong!
Sharing kindness!
It's an easy feat,
And magic makes it all complete~
Yeah, My Little Pony,
Do you know you're all my very best friends?
EPISODE 1: A Human in Equestria Part 1
Falling…
Falling…
The feeling of falling through an ocean of darkness is apparent, the strange sensation, feeling the ripples of water touching your body as you slowly descend to the bottom of an empty darkness with no end or light in sight. A strange creature is floating aimlessly in the darkness, a young boy to be accurate.
The young boy opens his eyes, slightly, to see the echoing of the world presented in front him before closing his eyes once again. Suddenly a fresh breeze hits the boy's body as the sound of cloth tearing is heard and the force of the fall more real and controlling than the lifeless floating sensation in the darkness.
The boy once again flickers his eyes to see the world around it, those deep blue sea eyes staring out into the new world, to see cloud after cloud as it seems they are moving at a rapid speed downward past his feet. However this is strange… clouds shouldn't be moving to the bottom, until the boy realizing he was upside down and facing the world below it headfirst.
However, directly below him was a large lake and continued to fall towards it and within a matter of a few seconds the boy splashed into the water, indicating that he wasn't that high up in the sky when he dropped into the world. The force of the dive wasn't strong nor did it hurt, but the young man spun around in the water with no sense of direction as he was in a panic trying to get out of the water and get some air as he didn't think to breathe at first when he came crashing down.
Finally emerging from the lake and reached for the shore nearby, gasping for air, coughing, and panting as he got out of the water, and shakes himself off like a dog to get rid of the excess water on his clothes. The young man has short spiky black hair, with the tips of his hair fading into white as if they were frosted, and deep blue sea eyes as he surveys the land around him, his young features showing that he's in his mid-teen or younger. He wore a red open short-sleeve hoodie jacket, a black t-shirt underneath, blue baggy shorts that went past his knees, black fingerless gloves, and black sneakers and around his neck was a eight-pointed star pendant, one side white and the other black, and in the center a circle that spun into a black and white color with a small dot in the opposite color. A symbol called "Yin & Yang" known throughout the world from where he came from.
"Sheesh, what was that about?" the boy complained as he wiped the rest of the water around his mouth as he took a look around him, and saw vast amounts of nature around him with lots of trees and hardly any forms of houses nearby, "OK… where am I? This doesn't look like home. I know I live in the small suburbs, but… "
However the most daunting experience of this place wasn't that the boy was in a place he never knew before, but how colorful the world seemed to be. Everything seem to brighten up the world even more, in a sense making it seem a more happier, peaceful place than back at the boy's original home, and the boy took a look at himself to see that he magically blended in with the world as his appearance has become more bright and lively as this place with colorful outlines.
But before the boy could explore the world to determine where on Earth he is, he stops to think about the events that led him here.
Hmmm… if I remember correctly, I was… I was… the boy pondered on the last thing he did before waking up in this strange new place, until a realization dons on him.
"Oh… oh dear, I can't remember at all," the boy said, still smiling but his eyes widen in shock to discover he has no memories of his past. The boy stands there with his arms still in their thinking position, until he bursted out excitingly and grinned like a little kid getting a new toy and with great enthusiasm shouted, "This is SO cool! So this is what amnesia is like! No access to any memories or recollection of the past… it's a really interesting experience! Though how does one manage to get amnesia? What part of the head needs to be hit to cause the brain to have trouble accessing the memories to recall them to help the person remember themselves? Why all of the memories are gone or only a selected part? What exactly causes the amnesia to affect certain memories? Though being free from the past is a strange thing it's pretty cool to experience it itself… erm… I really shouldn't be excited about this. Hehe, I better start looking around."
The boy laughs to himself as he scratches the back of his head, then suddenly gives a disheartening sigh… though he can't fully remember himself, he can feel parts of his past in his heart still… both good and bad. He faintly recalls living a rough childhood, having no friends whatsoever for years, but enjoyed his time with his family who now might be worried about him. He still doesn't know how he got here, but he ventures into the forest nearby to hopeful find a town nearby to call for help.
Shrugging off the last bit of wetness on his clothes, he walks into the forest, however he is unaware of a strange faint pink aura that appeared around him for a second and the swirling vortex above him where he fell from as the vortex closes itself and disappears without a trace... and...
Taking a stroll through the forest, he studies the field around him and noticed he hasn't seen a single soul yet.
"Strange… My neighborhood had some nature around it, but not this much since I don't live in the city!" the boy said to himself, "Hmm… it seems I do have some of my memories intact, but only the right topic seems to bring themselves out unconsciously. Good to know, at least I don't have to worry about having lost memories for a long time, hehe!"
*Chirp*
The sound of a bird chirping draws the boy's attention to a nearby tree as he spots a little baby blue bird looking down at him from its nest. The branch wasn't that high up, as it could practically reach out and touch the nest where he stands despite having average height for his kind.
"A baby bird? This is a rare sight… I never got to see a baby bird before!" the boy smiled as he waved at the little bird, "Hi there little guy! I don't suppose you can tell me if there's a town nearby, would you?"
Though the boy wasn't expecting an answer from the baby bird, however he didn't expect the little baby bird to jump up and down excitedly only to fall from its nest and heading to the ground. Seeing as the baby bird can't fly yet, the boy panics and instinctively dives for the bird catching it safely in his hands.
Standing up tall and sighing in relief, the boy gives the baby bird an amusing scolding-like smile, "That was close, I'm glad you're OK, but you need to be more careful. I won't be around all the time to catch you if you fall again and I don't think your parents would be happy if you got hurt."
The baby bird nods as if it understands what the boy is saying, "Alright then, time to put you back into your nest," the boy said as he grabs on the nearby branch to give him leverage to reach the bird's nest with one hand and places the baby bird safely back into the nest.
"Still… I have no idea where to go," the boy sighed.
The baby bird jumped up and down again to get the boy's attention once more as the boy looks up to the bird, "Huh? What's up?"
The baby bird lifts its wing and points to a path up ahead with a dirt road, and further ahead what seems to be a small town nearby.
"Heh… smart bird," the boy chuckles and smiles at the baby bird, "Thank you! And no more falling from your nest, you hear me?"
The boy sprints off, waving goodbye to the baby bird that was flapping its wings to signal goodbye to its new friend as well, and the boy runs down the dirt road to the town up ahead.
"I have to say, I never met a bird that smart before and to be treated so nicely by a bird more so than people," the boy hummed sadly, "Hmmm? Whoa! That's a LOT of apple trees!"
The boy looked to his side and notice fields upon fields of apple trees covering the entire acre, easily over a thousand trees. The boy whistles upon the sight, thinking that the farmers who own this field of apple trees must make a lot of money, seeing as there's way too many trees placed together that could be naturally be on their own without some form of help. He spots a red barnyard in the distance, and makes a mental note to check it out later as he continues to walk towards the town.
After several minutes of sprinting he comes across a small bridge leading to the town, and he stops to catch his breath a bit. He's not an athletic person though he has good stamina, but he tired out very quickly as it's been a while since he did any form of exercises.
"Whew… I made it… *pant*… oh boy, I need to work out some more," the boy panted, "Finally I made it here… though I feel a little strange now that I think about the running I did."
The boy flexes his arms and notices he's not as tired as he should be and ponders to himself, "Curious… I don't know how to say it, but I feel slightly stronger and faster than before. I got here much quicker than I thought, but my stamina seems to be the same more or less. I'll worry about that later… time to see if anyone can…"
"LOOK OUT BELOW!" a voice from the sky.
"Wha-?" the boy blurted out and looked up barely catching what exactly was speeding towards him and knocking him out cold as whatever it was collided with him. Before passing out, he saw a faint trace of a rainbow that slammed at him and falls on his back as the thing that collided with him laid on his belly.
The creature that crashed into him was… a Pegasus, a pony with wings on their side to fly through the skies! This Pegasus had a slightly light cyan body color and rosy pink eyes, but the most distinctive and eye-catching appearance of this Pegasus was the mane it had the color of the rainbow, each section of the mane in a different color of bright red, bright orange, light yellow, strong blue, and a moderate green and all of them together reflects the appearance of a rainbow and not only that but her tail was well was in a rainbow color theme.
"Ouch… oh nuts, I thought I nailed that trick down!" the Pegasus sighed, female no doubt but with a tomboyish voice, she stands up rubbing her head with her hoof.
"Rainbow Dash? Are you alright? You really need to be more careful with these stunts of yours," another voice called out, as a group of 5 more ponies came rushing to the rainbow-theme Pegasus, and the voice belonging to a purple Unicorn. She had a lavender purple coat and has violent eyes, and her mane was dark blue in color yet two strands of her mane was in two different colors, one in pink and one purple.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," said the cyan Pegasus named Rainbow Dash, "But did you see my trick earlier? It was totally awesome… until the part I messed up on the landing, heh."
"Twilight's right, it ain't no laughing matter Rainbow Dash, ya really could've hurt yerself this time," one of the ponies said, and this one wearing a cowboy hat and speaking with southern accent. She had an amber yellow coat, green eyes, and her mane light yellow and there's seems to be the faint sight of freckles on her cheeks.
"You worry too much, Applejack," Rainbow Dash said with her hooves crossed.
"Um… girls," another pony spoke out, though one very shy in nature, who is another Pegasus like Rainbow Dash. Her coat is light yellow color, bright cyan eyes, and has a pink-colored mane and tail. Everypony looked at the shy Pegasus to see what she wants to say.
"Something the matter Fluttershy?" asked Twilight, the purple Unicorn.
"W-Well if I may… I don't mean to interrupt your conversation, but… I mean… to point out… um, Rainbow Dash, who is that you're sitting on?" whispered Fluttershy directing her hoof right below Rainbow Dash to the creature she is sitting on.
"Huh? Oh, I forgot I did hit something when I crashed," Rainbow Dash looked behind her to see a giant creature she's never seen before and jumps into the air, hovering a few inches from whatever it was, "Whoa! What in Equestria is that?"
All of the ponies finally noticed the strange creature that Rainbow Dash has crashed into and landed on, and until just now, noticed the creature's presence. To them they have never seen a creature like this throughout Equestria, it seemed to be a bipedal creature of sorts considering its forelegs and hind legs were different from each other, it had a furless body except for the clothes the creature wore and the only source of a 'mane' it had was on its head.
"Well, I'll be a donkey's uncle!" Applejack expressed her surprise and turns to the purple Unicorn next to her, "Twilight, do ya know what kind of creature this thing here is?"
Twilight shakes her head, "No… I've read many books on many different creatures that live throughout Equestria, but I've never heard or seen anything like this before! I don't have the faintest idea what it could be."
"Oh, whoazie! I've never seen anything like this! Look at that mane, look how tall it is! How come it doesn't have a tail, what a weird pony! Do you think it's friendly? Do you think it like parties? I hope it does because I want to throw a surprise party for the most surprising thing I've seen before! I've never been more surprise by anything in my life, I mean except it even beats that time…" another pony hyper-actively starts chatting up a storm with no signs of slowing down. She is a pink-colored pony, with matching pink mane and tail that were puffy who matches her excited behavior, and blue eyes. And she is currently hopping around the creature without a care in the world or a thought it might be dangerous.
"Pinkie Pie, not now! I think its hurt," Twilight scolded the pink energetic pony as she took a closer look at the creature lying down. The creature is unresponsive and the look of the eyes has a spinning swirling daze to them to show it's been conked out cold when Rainbow Dash crashed into it.
"Not only that, but look at its clothes!" the last of the ponies gasped with a sophisticated accent belonging that to a higher society, a white-colored coated female pony who is also a Unicorn like Twilight, looked over the creature's body with her azure-colored eyes with shadow eyeliners, her indigo violet mane bobbing up and down as she looks over the creature a few times, "I mean, look what happen to its magnificent clothing! There's dirt all over its rather unique and unusually outfit and, if I do say so myself, this creature has quite the good taste in fashion especially with the color choices. It's a fashion disaster that its clothing has been ruined with dirt all over it!"
Applejack rolls her eyes on the white Unicorn's comment, "Right… 'cause that there is what's really important. Rarity, we'll worry about… um… its clothing later, I think we all need to help this poor critter get to the hospital."
"O-Oh dear… I hope it's not hurt too badly," Fluttershy mutters, shuffling her hooves nervously as she's still wary of the creature as they haven't determine if it's dangerous or not but worried for its safety nonetheless.
"Come on everypony, let's get it to Ponyville's hospital," Twilight said as her horn glows a purple aura around the creature, only for the aura around it to frizzle out and disappear. Everypony looked surprised at this and looks towards Twilight.
"Well that was strange… this has never happened before," Twilight was perplexed at her magic not working on the creature, "I guess we have to carry it the old-fashion then."
"Hopefully it's not too heavy," Applejack pointed out as the girls lifted the creature off of the guard.
"Wow! This guy is really light! Almost like a cloud!" Pinkie Pie giggled.
"Huh, well I'll be… Ah wasn't expecting this critter to be this light, but it's still going to take everypony to carry it," Applejack spoke in surprise by the weight of the creature.
"Huh… it must not be very strong if it got knocked out from me crashing into it. Though it is a rather cool-looking creature, I wonder what kind of sports it likes! It looks like it's very athletic! Maybe I can get it to help me with some of my tricks!" Rainbow Dash commented as she helped carry the creature with her friends.
"Rainbow Dash…," Twilight rolls her eyes.
"Eh…," a voice groaned.
The boy slowly flickers his eyes open to see a white ceiling above him. Remembering everything before getting hit by a rainbow earlier, he opens eyes to a half-awake state and hums to himself.
"I guess everything was a dream?"
However he clearly remembers he can barely remember his past and sighs. He lifts himself up as the blanket covering him falls down and takes a lot around his surroundings. There were desks, medical equipment, and a curtain to his side and he realizes he's in a hospital but doesn't recall ever going there.
"Huh… that's strange? Was I dreaming about something earlier about a memory loss telling me that I indeed lost my memories in the real world and my family brought me here? Or was everything real before?" the boy pondered to himself.
The door suddenly opened, possibly a nurse or a doctor came in to check on him, and the boy looked towards the door, but what he saw wasn't what he was expecting at all! It was a pony, or something very similar-looking to the creatures back home as he recalls now, and the pony had a white coat, a pink mane and tail with the bottom of her mane tied into a bun on the back of her head, wearing a nurse's cap with a red cross on it, and the boy noticed a strange tattoo on the pony's flank that looked like a red cross with four tiny hearts in the corners of the cross. Since when did hospitals allowed ponies into them, let alone have them as potential nurses? The boy was so taken aback his eyes widen and backed away further to the bed to keep his distance, he wasn't sure how to react to this situation.
The nurse pony saw that the boy was up and smiled as she approached him, causing the boy to back away a little though not as much as before, "How are you feeling today?"
"What the what?!" the boy blurted out as he scampered backwards away from the pony, almost falling from his bed, freaking out a bit with his eyes shot wide open. OK, he did NOT expect the pony to talk to him since he recalls clearly that ponies don't talk or more specifically not in his language, "Y-You… you c-can talk!? How?"
The pony was taken surprised at first from the boy's sudden reaction and tilted her head, perplexed by his behavior as if he ask a strange question to her, "Why, of course I can talk, everypony around here talks as well. You're a very strange creature since I presume you're not from around these parts, are you? What exactly are you as we've never seen such a creature like yourself and where are you from? Sorry for asking such question as soon as you woke up, but I'm curious and perhaps learn something about you to help speed up your recovery."
"Um…" the boy hesitant to answer, he wasn't exactly sure how to respond but this pony doesn't mean any harm seeing as she was most likely the one taking care of him and slowly lower his guard, "I-I see… sorry, I wasn't expecting any other creatures besides one such as myself that could talk. Then again I assumed we spoke different languages."
The pony nodded, "I understand. I was a bit surprised when Twilight and her friends brought you here, unconscious as you were. We ponyfolk have never seen a creature like you before, but we weren't going to turn a blind eye to an injury patient, pony or no pony at all."
"I see, thanks… and who's Twilight?" the boy asked, as the door behind the nurse opened revealing a group of six different ponies coming into the room, causing the boy to once again back away again with slight fright. There was a purple Unicorn, a white Unicorn, a blue Pegasus, a light yellow Pegasus, a pink Pony, and an amber yellow Pony in the group along with a reptile-like creature riding on top of the purple Unicorn's back from what the boy could tell.
"Oh, what perfect timing!" the nurse pony said as she spotted the group of ponies entering the room, "However girls, please remember, he just woke up so don't take long as he needs his bed rest."
She walks out of the room, but turns away and looks at the boy and smiles, "Sir, I'll be right back soon so please don't leave the room until you're all better and we've given you permission to leave."
"Thank you Nurse Redheart," said the purple Unicorn as the nurse pony left the room and turned her attention to the boy walking over to him as he shifts himself in the opposite direction still a little wary with talking ponies and getting close to his personal space.
"Hello there! I'm Twilight Sparkles, it's nice to meet you!" the purple Unicorn said to the boy, "My friends and I brought you to the hospital after you… um… were out cold. So, what's your name? Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?"
The boy fiddled his hands together, a little nervously, and looked at the purple Unicorn before him, "O-Oh I see… um… thanks. Where exactly am I?"
"You're currently in Ponyville Hospital , and Ponyville is where me and my friends live which is located far southwest from Canterlot . Our land is called Equestria which is ruled by our co-rulers, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna , the former whom I'm her number one student and both Princesses live at the Canterlot Castle ," Twilight explained happily.
The boy nodded, understanding the basics of the pony's explanation, "I see. I have a better understand where I am now. Definitely not back home. Well let me introduce myself, my name is Christopher Corona , but everyone calls me Chris , and my kind are called a Human , and if you're not aware yet I'm a male of my species, and I'm currently 16 years old and I'm from a world called Earth seeing as I've never heard of Equestria before and is completely different from my world has it doesn't have talking ponies and the world here seems much brighter and colorful than back home."
The ponies were a little surprised with the information the boy told them and nodded to show they understand.
"Oh wow!" The pink-color Pony with the puffy mane suddenly blurted out and jumped over to the boy's side in lightning fast speed that the boy didn't notice her until she touched his hand which he pulled back in recoil, "We already have something in common! You're from Earth and I'm an Earth Pony ! And you have blue eyes just like me! And you have such a crazy mane, which means you must like to party! Ooh, this is so amazing meeting a human for the first time and you're new in town, too, which means I get to throw you a party! I hope you like parties, because I like parties, but I mean who doesn't like parties? I've never been more surprised or excited in my life, except for that one time when I went *GASP* when Twilight came to Ponyville for the first time but seeing as Twilight was new in town of course I would be surprised! But this tops this! I hope you enjoy your stay in Ponyville, because we're going to be the bestest-best-friends ever!"
Chris blinked, completely in stun by what exactly happened, and darted back and forth to Twilight and where Pinkie Pie was a moment and finally got out of his daze, "Wha… What just happened? I just blinked and it was over!"
Twilight giggled, "Yeah, Pinkie Pie has that effect on everypony. You'll get use to it."
"O-OK…," Chris stuttered, not sure if he'll ever get use to that.
"Well, as you could already tell, this is Pinkie Pie," Twilight said pointing her hoof to the energetic pink Pony that spoke a mile a minute earlier to Chris who was waving her hoof at him happily.
"And this here is, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said pointing to the blue Pegasus with rainbow-colored mane and tail.
"Yup, that's me!" Rainbow Dash boasted with pride in a tomboyish voice as she took a proud stance, her head held high and her left hoof up as if she was in a crouching position, "The fastest flyer of all Equestria, and one day to become a member of the Wonderbolts! There's no pony else who's cooler, faster, amazing, or more awesome than me and I'll sure surprise you with all of my amazing moves! It's nice to meet ya!"
Chris sat there gawking at the Pony, "Wow! T-That's so cool!"
The boy's eyes lit up with a twinkle in them, "I mean, not only does that sound cool, your mane is… amazing! It's like the rainbow itself! T-That's just… so cool! So what kind of stunts do you perform? Are you some sort of dare devil? How fast can you go? Erm…"
Rainbow Dash was a little surprised when Chris started praising her like that, but she smiled at his enthusiasm. Chris blushed a bit and looked away embarrassingly, "Um… sorry. I tend to get very talkative and passionate when it comes to a topic I'm interest in or get into."
"No worries, I don't mind at all! If you want to learn how to become 20% more cooler and everything, I'm your Pegasus!" Rainbow Dash proudly said.
Chris chuckled a bit and rubbed the back of his head, until something clicked, "Wait a minute… before I passed out, I recall a blur… a rainbow-colored blur . Wait… that wasn't…"
Rainbow Dash suddenly blushes in embarrassment and her eyes looks down to the floor, with an embarrassed smile plaster on her face, "Oh yeah about that… Yeah, I'm sorry for crashing into you like that. I was performing a new trick and I messed up on the landing. Oops… hehe."
"It's OK, I forgive you," Chris smiled and Rainbow Dash let out a sigh of relief and smiled, "And next time, I'll remember to step away when you crash land." And that comment earned a playful chuckle from the Pegasus and a "Hey!" from her as well.
"Well it's seems like you're good friends already," Twilight smiled.
Huh? Friends? Chris thought to himself for a second when Twilight mentioned the word 'friends'.
"And moving along, this here is Rarity," Twilight pointed to the other Unicorn, a beautiful white pony with purple-colored mane and tail that waved and curved at the end giving off an elegant and gorgeous appearance for the pony, even the light eye liner makes her appearance glow even more.
"Hello darling, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Rarity said as she took a little bow towards Chris, who in return blushed a little bit.
"O-Oh! Y-You don't need to bow or anything… it's alright," Chris said nervously.
"Think nothing of it my dear. It's just my way of showing courtesy after what befell you," Rarity smiled, "Oh! And if you don't mind, I took the liberty of cleaning your fine clothes after they got all dirty and brought them with me in this bag and I so happen made that hospital gown for you that you're currently wearing. If I do say so myself, I quite enjoy making such a unique and new type of clothing that I could've never had imagine in my entire life!"
"I-I see… your welcome?" Chris stuttered, he wasn't exactly big on fashion and this pony was obviously passionate about fashion and design clothes, though when she mentioned she made him his hospital gown he looked down and notice he was indeed wearing one. He was so stunned by the appearances of the ponies he didn't notice, "And thank you for cleaning my clothes and making this gown, you didn't have to."
An embarrassing thought crept into Chris' head, If I'm wearing this gown now, that means… one of these ponies undressed me. OK… that's embarrassing. I don't even want to know which one of them did it or how.
A slight pink hue burned on Chris' face, but he kept his head down slightly so none of the ponies noticed.
"But of course! I was given a chance to make something entirely new, something no pony has seen before, and I thank you for giving me such an opportunity to do so and I would so like to return the favor," Rarity smiled, who was all too happy to do so and Chris was taken aback from such a generous nature as he recalls no one has ever be this kind to him before. Rarity's horn started glowing with an azure color, one matching her eyes, as her bag opened up and Chris' clothes floated to the desk next to him, sneakers and all, "And here are your clothes back, so when you're ready to leave the hospital you'll have your clothes ready to put on."
"Whoa!" Chris jumped back a little as he wasn't expecting his clothes to magically float into the air.
"Oh dear me, I'm so sorry!" Rarity apologized as she believes she scared the poor boy when her magic without meaning to, "I didn't mean to scare you or harm you in anyway. I take it you're not familiar with magic ?"
"W-Well no," Chris waved his hands frantically, "I just wasn't expecting it, that's all, even though unicorns are magical creatures back home in stories and humans don't actually have magical powers so it's not like I was expecting it so suddenly like that."
"Wait… Humans can't use magic?" Twilight asked, quite puzzled by it.
"Well yeah, I mean there's stories and legends that certain humans can use magic, called wizards for males and witches for females, though there's no one around today that can use magic," Chris explained, "So I can't say for certain if humans can or cannot use magic."
"Really? So humans can't use magic? But are there any that can fly?" Rainbow Dash butted in.
Chris chuckled, "Sorry to say, nope. Humans can't fly or perform magic, except for a few cases though no one can confirm or deny it and most people now-a-days don't believe in it. Sorry, I can't exactly remember clearly since my memories are a bit hazy."
"Your memories are hazy?" Rainbow Dash asked rather worried, thinking she might have caused it.
"Hehe, don't worry! My memories were unclear when I got into this world, which had me splash down in a cold lake I might add," Chris said with a smile, "It's not your fault, don't worry! I'll get my memories back… eventually…"
"Wait… so you don't know how exactly you got into Equestria?" Twilight asked surprised.
"Don't know… I just woke up when I was free falling from the sky and splashed into the lake. Swam to the shore, walked through the forest, got to the entrance where Ponyville is I assume as that's where Rainbow Dash here crashed into me. That's all I remember clearly so far," Chris said as he holds his head, "I really don't know how exactly I enter into this world to be honest."
"I-I see… sorry for asking that," Twilight apologized, her ears shifting down.
"It's OK, I'm fine! I have to say the experience is quite interesting! I never imagined a land like this exists, or that I found talking ponies here! Back home ponies don't speak or speak in the same tongue as humans," Chris smiled trying to cheer up Twilight.
"Well, we're here for you darling so feel free to ask us for anything!" Rarity chimed in, "And once you're discharged from the hospital I would quite like it if you could come down to my boutique shop as I would make you any clothes you need in the future, and I would love to make more of your unique clothing."
"Thanks," Chris scratched the back of his head embarrassed-like, "I will… I don't think wearing the same clothing everyday is good for me. I'll definitely stop by!"
Rarity smiles at Chris' response, happy to know she'll be making more 'human' clothing in the future and really see what kind of fabulous styles she can make with them.
Twilight smiles as well as she points to another one of her friends, "I'm glad to hear it, and moving along this here is Applejack!"
"Howdy there partner, name's Applejack, and it's a pleasure to meet ya!" Applejack said as she walked over to Chris and takes shaking his hand with her hooves was rather strange, as he wasn't expecting this amber yellow-colored pony wearing a cowboy hat to come over and shake hands and hooves with him. Her yellow mane and tail, which had a knot tied at the end of her mane and tail to give off a slight ponytail look, bouncing up and down as she continued to shake his hands until she let go of them, "Ah live over at Sweet Apple Acres just outside of Ponyville, so feel free to stop by and my family and ah will give you a grand o' tour of the place. Don't worry we'll take real good care of ya!"
"Thanks," Chris chuckled then remembered something, "Wait… outside of Ponyville? Oh! You mean those fields of apple trees and farm I saw on my way to Ponyville? Is that where you live? That's so cool! I would love to check it out sometime as I've never been to a farm before."
"And don't be afraid ask for anything, if there's something ya need just say so," Applejack smiled, "I'll be happy help ya out, honestly and truthfully. Ya can always count on me."
Chris smiled at the pony's honest nature, and starting to feel a strange warmth around these ponies. Here they are talking to a total stranger and a very alien creature at that to them, yet they're incredible friendly and nice to him. Back home no one paid him any mind at all, except his folks, and brought a smile to him… but he still feels wary. How can they trust him so quickly like that? Humans… aren't that trusting or not that trusting any more. He's not exactly sure how to react to this sort of… social gathering as he's never be in others company before as he's not anti-social as he's more socially awkward.
"Wait that reminds me… you walked through a forest to get here, right?" Twilight spoke up, "You didn't happen to be at the Everfree Forest , did you?"
"The Everfree Forest ? I'm still new here, so I'm not sure, but the part of the forest I was in wasn't exactly dense and easy to navigate through," Chris recalled back when he first appeared in Equestria.
"Oh, that's good… you were only in the outskirts of the forest," Twilight sighed with relief, "Though you have to be a little careful around there, it's a dangerous place and we don't know much about that place or what other creatures live there. So don't go wandering in there alone, alright?"
"Got'cha," Chris nodded, making a mentally note to avoid that place if possible in the future and let out a mental sigh to know he didn't encountered anything dangerous in that place.
"I'm glad you understand," Twilight smiled and pointed her hoof to the last pony in the room, who was a little further away from Chris, "Now let me introduce you to Fluttershy here."
"H-Hello…," Fluttershy said in a hush low voice, a very gentle voice at that but also a shy one which is appropriate given her name, "I-I'm Fluttershy…"
She had a light yellow coat and a long pink mane and tail, as her bring cyan eyes glance back and forth from Chris and to the floor and Chris could understand as she probably doesn't trust him completely like the rest and is wary of him which doesn't surprise him that much given he's a very strange creature to her.
"Um… hiya," Chris mutters, too, and just as shy as Fluttershy with a slight nod understanding her actions. The room quickly became more awkward over the past few seconds, as Chris wasn't sure how to break the uncomfortable atmosphere but tried his best, "I-It's nice to… um… meet you Fluttershy."
Fluttershy still darted between him and the floor with her eyes, but gave a very subtle nod, while she still remained silent while shuffling her hooves. Chris also looks around unsure, though returns his gaze to the shy pony from time to time, feeling very awkward and embarrassed all of a sudden.
"I-I'm sorry… I guess I spook you," Chris apologized to Fluttershy, feeling that his appearance is making her very uncomfortable despite slowing warming up to him.
"O-Oh… no it's not that…," Fluttershy muttered quietly, "I-It's just that… um… I'm very shy…"
"I-I understand…," Chris answered back equally as quiet as Fluttershy.
"I see that Fluttershy and Chris have a lot in common," Rainbow Dash whispered to Pinkie Pie with Pinkie Pie giggling at Rainbow Dash's comment.
"I know, right? He's like the ultimate best friend ever, having everything in common with everypony here!" Pinkie Pie answered back to Rainbow Dash with great joy as she throws her hooves up into the air.
Chris and Fluttershy continue to glance back and forth from each other, not uttering another word, and unsure what to say next. Twilight looks back and forth between the two, as if they were on the same wavelength and understood each other without words already however they are simply respecting each other and not wanting to embarrass the other any further which seemed to be happening regardless of them trying hard not to.
"Ooook then…," Twilight said to break the ice and cough to get Chris' attention and pointed her hoof to the last person… erm… creature in the room to greet, "And, finally, this here is Spike, my number one assistant and good friend since the day he was born."
The purple reptile-like creature that was standing by Twilight's side, and remained quiet until now, walked over to Chris' bed and hopped onto the desk next to his bed while avoiding standing on his clothes that Rarity place there a few moments ago. The reptile-like creature had a purple-color scale body with a lime green underbelly, bright green eyes, green scales on the top of his head that looked like a mohawk, lime green feather-like wings on the side of his head which would be his ears, claws and an arrow pointed tail and was about half the height of the ponies in the room.
The reptile stretched out his hand, or claws, to Chris and smiled, "Hey there dude, my name's Spike! It's nice to meet you and I hope we get along together!"
"Nice to meet you, too, Spike," Chris smiled back and shook Spike's hand for a handshake, and the contact was an odd one compared to shaking Applejack's hooves as they felt soft and smooth, despite some of the fur, and here Spike's scales felt a little rough but also soft for some reason which was an interesting handshake to say the least as they broke shaking hands after a while.
"You got some strange hooves there, buddy," Rainbow Dash pointed out.
"Huh?" Chris looked at Rainbow Dash with a curious look.
"Rainbow Dash, those aren't hooves… he's not a pony, so those are… um… ah… Chris what do you call them?" Twilight corrected Rainbow Dash only to be unsure to what the correct name for a human's 'claw' hands are.
"Fingers?" Chris answered, a little unsure about the situation as its common knowledge… back home, and here ponies don't know humans so it's alright if they're unsure what to properly call his fingers.
"Ah, fingers, so that's what they're called! I see," Twilight smiled.
"Yeah, they're really soft and squishy… I thought they were claws there for a second there," Spike said looking at Chris' hands.
"Squishy?" Chris seemed a little confused on that bit of fact, "Are you saying I'm fat?"
"What?" Spike exclaimed, "No, I didn't mean it like that!"
"I'm just pulling your leg there for a second," Chris chuckled, "Sorry about that… by the way. Spike, what kind of creature are you?"
"You can't tell? Spike's a dragon , well a baby dragon in his case," Twilight answered Chris' question.
"A-a… a dragon!?" Chris' eyes widen and looked completely freaked out, causing everypony and dragon in the room to look surprised and worried by Chris' sudden expression.
"You… don't like dragons?" Spike hesitantly asked, fearing the answer as he doesn't want to lose the only chance to have a male buddy to pal around.
Chris stood there gawking at Spike… until the return of those sparkles in his eyes came back and smiled widely than before, "So cool!"
"Huh?" everyone in the room blurted.
"You're a dragon, really, truly?!" Chris shouted with excitement looking at Spike with great admiration as he draw in closer to him, "That's amazing! I love dragons, they're totally awesome! I mean, dragons don't exist in my world except for stories and legends, but they're the most awesome, radical, cool, and the most majestic creatures in my book! It's just so amazing to meet one, and even more awesome being friends with one! You're so lucky Twilight! I'm… just so happy to meet one! This is a dream come true! And… erm… I'm doing it again aren't I?"
"Well, well, well," Spike said proudly and looked back to Twilight with a smug and cocky grin, "Did you hear that? He thinks I'm majestic ."
"Heheh, sheesh this guy's a riot," Rainbow Dash giggled at Chris' admiration for Spike, especially with the way he express himself.
Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes, "*Sigh* There's not going to be no living with him now."
"I wonder… can you fly? There are all kinds of dragons in legends that fly, like the Chinese dragon that can fly without wings and bring good luck to people and then there's the classic European dragons with wings and breathe fire! I always enjoy reading different mythology books on many legendary creatures!" Chris explained without rest, clearing overjoyed to meet a real live dragon for the first time.
"Wait… there are dragons that can fly without wings in your world?" Rainbow Dash said intrigued with her eyes showing interest in this little detail.
"Yup! I've read many books on the different cultures around the world back now, when I went to the library from time to time as I recall," Chris smiled.
"So you like books, too?" Twilight seemed very pleased with this, "I'm happy to hear that! So do I and I stay at the Ponyville Library, the Golden Oaks Library , which is also my home so you're welcome to stop by and read any books you want!"
"Books…?" Rainbow Dash seemed surprised and sighed with disappointed, "Aw man, so you're a bookworm? I thought you were the athletic type given your clothes, though you do look kinda scrawny. Oh well, that means I get you to train you and have you exercise regularly then!"
"A-Ah well… I do know martial arts a bit, so I exercise from time to time… if you have that here in Equestria," Chris muttered quietly.
"So you have kung fu back at your world, like here?" Rainbow Dash seemed to brighten up, "Awesome, so you are an athlete after all! You must've had instructors to help you out a lot!"
"Well… I know martial arts, but I didn't have instructors… I've practiced the forms from the books I read by myself so I'm self-taught," Chris stuttered embarrassingly and smiled awkwardly, which Rainbow Dash sighed in defeat and everyone in the room burst into laughter.
The door to the room opened up and the nurse pony from before, Nurse Redheart, walked back into the room.
"Alright, everypony, that's enough for now. He needs his bed rest now, you can come back tomorrow to pick him up as he'll be ready to leave the hospital tomorrow," Nurse Redheart said as she entered the room.
"Oops, looks like time's up," Twilight said, "We'll continue tomorrow and work out a place for you to stay since you're new here and don't have any money or thought on where to go yet."
"That's true…," Chris pondered to himself, "I really don't know yet, but I guess that can wait until tomorrow."
"Alright, take care, Chris! It's was fun meeting you!" Twilight smiled and waved a goodbye hoof as she exited out of the room with her friends.
"Okie-Dokie-Lokie take care! Don't let the bed bugs bite, and sleep tight! Have fun tonight since tomorrow is going to be the bestest-best-day ever and even more speculator fun!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed happily as she bounced out of the room.
"Take care sugercube, and get plenty of bed rest!" Applejack kindly advised as she stepped out of the room.
"Well it was very nice meeting you! We're definitely going to have a lot of awesome things planned in the future to do, so be ready! See ya!" Rainbow Dash said as she galloped after her friends.
"Um… take care, Chris… I hope you feel better tomorrow," Fluttershy said kindly despite saying it in a hush tone and followed her friends out.
"Now darling, listen to what the doctor and nurses said, alright? I like for you to make a full recovery so I can have you come over to my boutique store so I can start making all of your clothes you'll be wearing at once, but only when you're ready," Rarity generously offered helping make more clothes for Chris to wear, which is a good thing since he'll have to re-wash his clothes every day since he only has one set, and off with a smile Rarity follows her friends elegantly.
"Well it was great meeting you! When Twilight told me about you, I have to meet you for myself since it sounded like you were an awesome creature to meet and I'm glad I did! Since we're both guys we got to hang out together and do a lot of guys-only activities! See ya later, dude!" Spike told Chris, looking forward to have someone to pal around now as he hops on Twilight's back as he joins his friends and everyone leaves the room, save only for Chris and Nurse Redheart.
"I hope you feel right at home already, Twilight and her friends are the greatest ponies to be friends with here and I believe you'll have a grand time here in Ponyville," Nurse Redheart smiled as she strode over to Chris' bed and had him lay down and shifted the blankets over him, "But for now, you need your rest so you'll be ready to leave tomorrow and it's getting late."
Nurse Redheart walked over to the wall and turned off the lights, "If there's anything you need, just press that button over there. Don't be afraid to ask, we'll do the best we can to help you."
"Thank you," Chris blushed embarrassingly then recalled something important to ask, "By the way… how long was a sleeping before coming to?"
The nurse simply smiled as she turned her head back to him, "You've only been sleeping for a day so far, so don't worry, you weren't out for long and the injury was very subtle."
Ah… so I was here already for the day at the hospital and that would make two days since I entered this world, Chris thought to himself and smiled. Happy to know he wasn't out cold for days on end, but a sad thought popped into his head… how were his uncle and aunt taking his disappearance?
"Thank you for answering my question," Chris smiled warmly back at the nurse, shaking off the thought as there's no point in dwelling on it for now, who also returned the kind gesture.
"And good night, you're going to need, especially what Pinkie Pie has in store for you tomorrow," Nurse Redheart giggled as she left the room and closed the door leaving a certain human boy laughing at the little comment about Pinkie Pie given her enthralled personality.
"Wait…," Chris stopped his laughter as he recalled something Pinkie Pie said earlier, "Did she say… a party?"
EPISODE 1 END
Author's Note
(Originally from FF.net starting before the story)
I have to say, I fall in love with it in the first two episodes of the series. It's amazing for a kid's show and one towards a younger girl audience, than again I did watch the Sailor Moon series so I'm not one to judge others, and I watched every single episode released. And then I took a look at FanFiction to see the various stories on MLP and I have to say some were good, and some… not so good. In note, I took an interest in the Human in Equestria stories (HiE) and I found a good portion of them which were… not very good, too much swearing, too much mention of war and weapons, I mean humans are like that but could we move away from such vulgar ways? Where's the pure and compassionate side to humans?
After reading an excellent My Little Pony story over at FanFiction, Magic in the Stars, I plan to make both a regular pony-only MLP story and after reading the HiE stories a HiE My Little Pony story which is the reason for this story. I want to make a friendly, clean, kid version of a HiE without the swears and violence mentioned in those other HiE stories… not saying they're bad but some of them has bad spelling and grammar mistakes, as well as improper sentence structures that it makes it hard to read and hardly shows the story's true potential consider some have very good stories!
And to let you know this story is like a semi-insert character placement in the first season of MLP, taking place between Episode 3 and 4 of Season 1, that's after the Gala ticket episode and the Applebuck Season episode right? And I plan to continue with this route with Season 1 and 2, with some original chapters with the main character interacting with other background ponies, like Derpy Hooves whom I've grown to like a lot and Magic in the Stars by AustralianChaos made me love her even more, as character exclusive chapter dedicated to those characters so expect on seeing Derpy Hooves center chapters and a few other ponies as well. Only a couple of them planned so far.
This story has a light 'harem' bit to it, though I might go with either a single pair or multiple pair route, but I will have a few fun surprises in the ending, so for now the romance will be light and not be the main focus until like Season 2 arc so it's mostly friendship center with subtle nods to romance. Also I'm aware of Season 3 has finally aired, but I planned to finish the story after the events of the Season 2 finale with an original final short arc between Season 2 and 3 to end the story. However I do plan to make a sequel to my story regardless if my story is popular enough and have the endings planned sometime after Season 3's end kinda like Zero's ending in X6 where it takes place further down the timeline or make subtle nods to the ending throughout Season 3.
I hope you guys enjoy this! This is a Human X Pony type of story, so if you're not a fan of it please leave and if you leave any rude or insulting remarks in the comment/reviews section I will take them down as I will not tolerate haters but constructive criticism is most welcome. Read on fellow bronies!
Author's Note 2: Alright, this was one long chapter! I was originally around 18,000 words long but a friend of mine couldn't keep reading the long chapter so I decided to split it into two. My original Author's Note from Chapter 1 will be in Chapter 2.
This is VirusChris signing off!
My Little Pony: Courage of Corona
EPISODE 2: A Human in Equestria Part 2
EPISODE 2: A Human in Equestria Part 2
A day has passed after everything that happen at the hospital, and Ponyville's one and only local human boy was sleeping peacefully like a baby as it becomes morning in Ponyville. The sun rose brightly and brilliantly, the sky cleared with hardly a single cloud in sight as a gentle breeze passes through town, and all of the ponies in town slowly woke up to begin their daily lives with talk about the strange creature that Twilight and her friends brought in the other day.
The door to one of the patient's room, one belonging to the human Chris, opens up to reveal the same nurse pony from the other day this time pushing a cart with warm soup for the patient as she enters the room.
"Good morning, I've brought you your-" Nurse Redheart cut her sentence short when she saw the human boy was still sleeping.
Chris was sound asleep, hardly making a noise except for talking in his sleep which he muttered out loud, "ZZzzZz… Hey, let go of my eggo waffle… that's mine… zzZzzZz."
Nurse Redheart giggled to herself and smiled, That's adorable, it's amazes me what kind of dream everypony has or in this boy's case every human. Though what is an eggo waffle?
"Chris, it's time for you to wake up," Nurse Redheart smiled as she walked over to the side of Chris' bed and gently nudged his arm to him to wake up, and it seemed to work as Chris started to stir and his eyes slowly flicker open and close as he gets the sand out of his eyes and wakes up, stretching and yawning as he stood up sitting.
Rubbing his eyes and looking over to his side to spot Nurse Redheart, Chris smiled warmly at her but still has that groggy look in his eyes, "Mornin'… *Yawn*"
"Good morning to you, too, sleepyhead," Nurse Redheart smiled as she pushed the cart over to him, "I've brought you your breakfast, it's the important meal of the day to make sure you're healthy and we need you to make a quick recover so please eat up. I've brought you some warm soup and a glass of orange juice so I hope this is acceptable for your kind to eat."
"Oh! Yeah, soup is good and orange juice is excellent to have as well! Thank you, Nurse Redheart," Chris smiled back, now fully awake, as Nurse Redheart places the tray on Chris' lap to eat. Chris noticed the spoon by the side of the bowl, and looked at the nurse with a surprised expression, "Huh? You're aware humans can use utensils?"
"Well considering Spike always has hands, and you have as well, I believe you do. Plus other ponies also use utensils as well, so it isn't strange to think that at all," Nurse Redheart smiled, "Now, eat up. You're going to need your strength today."
Chris nodded and took a spoonful of the soup before him, the soft faint warm fragrant of the soup had a very alluring scent to it as Chris took a whiff and the delicious aroma of the soup made his nose jumped in delight as he has never smelled anything this good in a long time except for his aunt's cooking, as he blew on the spoon to cool down the soup before inserting the spoon into his mouth to eat the soup.
Chris' eyes shot wide open, frozen in place, while having the spoon still in his mouth. Not reactioning after a few seconds of eating the soup, Nurse Redheart began to worry and panic.
"Oh dear! Is something the matter? Is it too hot, do you dislike it?!" Nurse Redheart began to worry as she wasn't sure if the soup didn't boat well with a human, thinking there might be an ingredient that he didn't like or something.
Chris slowly got out of his daze and smiled widen, with a twinkle in his eyes, and he claps his hands together, "Amazing!"
Nurse Redheart was taken aback by Chris' sudden change of behavior from being frozen in place to energetic happiness.
"This is the BEST soup I have ever had in my entire life!" Chris exclaimed happily as he quickly wolfed down the soup at great speed and drank his glass of orange juice soon after looking very satisfied with his meal, "That was absolutely delicious! Thank you for the meal!"
Given a slight nod at the nurse, Nurse Redheart shook her head in surprise and gave a very half-amused smiled, "Well, I have to say, I've never seen anypony scoff down on soup like that before! But I'm very happy you've enjoyed it and thank you very much."
As soon as Chris finished his meal, there was a knock on the door and Nurse Redheart went over and opened the door, to reveal the six ponies and dragon from yesterday coming into the room.
"Oh, welcome back everypony. He just finished his meal and we're allowing him to leave today, but please allow him to get ready first," Nurse Redheart smiled as she walked out of the room.
"Hey everyone!" Chris welcomed back his new friends since yesterday with a smile.
"Good morning, Chris, I hope you're feeling much better today!" Twilight said.
"I am sure! I feel much better! Better than usually anyway," Chris noted as he took note of his body as it felt a bit stronger than normal.
"Yay! That sounds great! That means we can party all night long! Ooh, you're going to love it, but everypony loves parties and I throw the best parties, so I'll make sure your party is the super-duper-uber-best there ever was!" Pinkie Pie bounced around happily until she stopped directly in front of Chris' face with an over-exaggerated beaming face.
"Eh… OK," Chris said with a stunned look in his eyes as Pinkie Pie backs away with glee, "Though I'm still wondering where I'm going to stay."
"About that… we thought about it and…," Twilight began to speak up to get Chris' attention, "You can stay at my place. My home is your home and since you love books there's plenty to read and you can learn about Equestria and everything there is to know about our world that way!"
Chris seemed taken aback by this suggestion, "Really? Are you sure? I don't want to impose on you or anything."
"It's no trouble at all! I'm more than happy to let you live with me and Spike!" Twilight said with a reassured smile.
"Why, thank you so much! You're really kind, you didn't have to!" Chris smiled warmly. This is the first time in his life anyone has shown him such kindness… in the back of his head recalls the faint words his uncle said to him, though barely.
Twilight suddenly gasps and claps her hooves together, surprising everyone in the room, "Ooh! I just thought of something! I think this is a perfect chance to have one of those 'sleepovers' at my house!"
"Yay! A party AND a sleepover at Twilight's house! This is definitely going to be the best day ever!" Pinkie Pie agreed wholeheartedly and jumped up and down excitedly.
"A sleepover? Sounds like fun, I'm definitely up for it!" Applejack expressed her thoughts on it.
"Aw yeah, that's what I'm talking about! This is going to be so much fun!" Rainbow Dash zoomed around the air happily.
"A-A sleepover at Twilight's…? Oh, I would love to go," Fluttershy smiled, showing a bit more earnest than yesterday and the girls starting discussing about the sleepover as Spike walks over to Chris.
"Wow! I would have never have thought they go this far already and so fast too! You're really something! But, man, am I glad you're staying with me and Twilight! It's going to be a blast, dude!" Spike exclaimed, happy to know he'll get to pal around with Chris very soon.
Chris sat there, completely stunned. He never thought he could make others this happy, but no one has ever invited him over to their houses or sleepovers and are hardly nice to him except for some adults and his family. A sad smile washes over Chris' face as he faintly recalls his memories, blurred as they be, and feels the warmth and sadness underneath them.
"Are you alright there, sugercube?" Applejack asked, who was just a few inches away from Chris' face. Realizing how close Applejack was to his face, Chris yelped and shuffled away to the back of the bed.
"Huh? Me? I-I'm fine… it's nothing, really," Chris said with his hands frantically waving in front of him with a nervous smile to try and play it cool.
Applejack didn't seem like she believed him, given that suspicious glance at him, "Are ya sure? Ya look like ya were thinkin' about something there for a second… ya really had nothin' on yer mind?"
"Yeah, don't worry about it Applejack," Chris said with a reassured smile.
"If you say so," Applejack said with a nod, but still didn't fully believe him but dropped the subject all the same.
"Well, I think we wasted enough time at the hospital! Come on, let's show Chris around Ponyville," Twilight brought up to like everypony know what the real reason was for coming to get Chris from the Ponyville Hospital.
"Yeah! It's about time, come on let's go Chris!" Rainbow Dash shouted with joy.
"Alright," Chris smiled as he slowly gets out of bed.
The moment Chris' bare feet touch the floor, a cold shiver jumped from his feet all the way up to his spine and head, and caused him to twitch in response to the sudden coldness, "Whoa! That's cold!"
As he fixes and straightens himself up he looks around to see the ponies gawking at him, now getting to see how truly tall he was which compare to them he was a giant! At least two ponies tall and about a quarter as well and the ponies stared at him with awe. He might be taller than Princess Celestia herself they thought to themselves.
"Wow… you're so tall," Fluttershy stuttered still looking at him in disbelief at his height. True when the ponies found and carried him here to the hospital they didn't really think he was that tall, but now seeing him standing up they were surprised at how tall he really was.
"Amazing! So all humans stand on their hind legs?" Rainbow Dash asked in awe and she circles around Chris to get a better view, which was making Chris a little bashful.
"Well, there's just legs and humans are bipedal creatures, two-legged animals, so yeah… but we can crouch on all four if we want to," Chris explained, feeling the heat on his face as the ponies stare at him like that.
"And Rainbow Dash, they're called 'feet'… just like Spike here. You haven't forgotten what Chris told us the other day, now did you?" Twilight reminded Rainbow Dash with a playful gesture.
"Yeah, yeah, I remember," Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes in amusement.
"Alright… let me get changed into my regular clothes, and we'll go," Chris spoke up as he went over to the desk next to his bed to grab his clothes that Rarity cleaned and left there for him yesterday. However he realized he was in a room filled with girls, ponies or not they were still girls, and felt his cheeks turning red again as he looks back to see that the girls are still present in the room, "Um…"
"Huh? Is somethin' wrong, sugercube?" Applejack asked, seeing Chris stopped in his track and look around the room with an embarrass look in his eyes.
"Erm… well… you see…," Chris was hesitant in telling them because it was really embarrassing for him to say it out loud.
"Yes, what is it?" Twilight spoke up, curious as well.
"W-Well… Y-You see… I'm a guy… and you're all girls, except Spike here, but… I… um," Chris fumbled on his words trying to get out his meaning to them.
Only Rarity caught on what Chris was trying to say and gasped upon realizing it, "*GASP* Oh dear heavens me! How could I forget! Girls, we need to give Chris his privacy so he can change into his clothes. Come along now, we must leave the room for him."
"Huh? Why?" Rainbow Dash asked, clearly not getting the message.
"No buts! We must give him his space," Rarity said while nudging Rainbow Dash out of the room as the rest of the girls and Spike followed suit and left the room, "Now take your time and come out when you're ready Chris."
"*Sigh* Thank you so much, Rarity," Chris sighed in relief when Rarity realized why he was so embarrassed and felt uncomfortable changing in front of girls in the room, even if they're not humans themselves.
Finally alone, and no wandering eyes to watch him, Chris changed back into his regular clothes and removed his hospital gown. He put on his short-sleeved black t-shirt, his baggy blue shorts, socks and black sneakers followed by his red short-sleeved hoodie jacket, black fingerless gloves, and finally put his family heirloom necklace now which he noticed was also cleaned. He mentally thanked Rarity for taking the time to clean his pendant as well.
Chris steps out of the room, kicking his sneaker's tip on the ground to see and feel the springiness of it and smiled seeing his sneakers are still light but tough as usually, and everyone… erm… everypony greeted him with a smile.
"Whoazie! You're clothes look amazing, I love it!" Pinkie Pie shouted happily and hopped around Chris.
"Heh… um… thank you?" Chris said with a wry smile, still having trouble getting use to Pinkie Pie's enthusiasm.
"So where to? What's the plan?" Chris asked seeing as he's completely new to Ponyville and not sure where to go.
"Plan? Oh! That reminds me, ah still have some work left back home. I'll catch up with y'all later! Take care," Applejack suddenly remembered as she galloped away.
"Goodness! I totally forgot about those orders I have to finish! I must be off, but I look forward doing business with you Chris about your clothes! Until then, take care darling," Rarity bowed as she left in a hurry.
"Um…," Fluttershy spoken up floating in the air and she starts to leave, "I just realized… I forgot to feed the animals as I wanted to see how Chris was doing, so I must be going. Goodbye."
"Oh, that's right! I had some stuff I had to take care of first!" Rainbow Dash clapped her hooves in annoyance and hovered in front of Chris, "Now listen here buddy, I'm leaving Twilight with you so you better not do anything funny or hurt her in anyway, got it mister? Or else I'm going to take you down in 5 seconds flat!"
Rainbow Dash playfully punched his right arm and smiled, "I'm just kidding, since you're a nice guy and all, but if you do, do something to her, I will come after you! Alright, see ya later!"
And with that she flew off like the wind out the window, leaving a dazed Chris looking where she took off to and then… slowly rubbed his right arm, "Ow… that kinda hurt."
"Oh no!" Pinkie Pie suddenly gasped and stopped hopping around mid-air and looked at the clock on the wall, "I have to get going as well! I have a lot of orders to fill, like baking some cakes! Chocolate cakes, cupcakes, milkshakes, oh my! Okie-Dokie-Lokie then, I'll be seeing you guys later! Bye bye Chris!"
And goodness graces she flew with that one hop, defying the laws of physics in the process, as she goes off her merry way to her work place. Chris stood there in awe from seeing Pinkie Pie's leap of faith and couldn't believe it… was she really an Earth Pony or secretly a Pegasus?
"OK... see you all later, I guess?" Chris stood there baffled, not sure what to say.
Twilight giggled in amusement at the look on Chris' face, "Don't worry about it, you'll eventually get use to it and you'll find how much fun Ponyville really is! C'mon, me and Spike will show you around."
"This is going to be great! Where should we start first?" Spike asked excitedly on Twilight's back.
Chris giggled but his eyes caught sight of a pink-haired nurse from before, Nurse Redheart, and walked over to her, "Nurse Redheart?"
"Yes, dear?" Nurse Redheart answered the boy's question with a smile, happy that he was saying goodbye to her in the end.
"I would like to personally thank you for taking care of me all this time, despite the fact I'm such an alien creature to you ponies," Chris respectfully bowed to her as he thanked her.
"There's no need to bow to me, I'm happy to help. Now if you ever feel sick or got hurt don't hesitant to come to this hospital again or come see me. Our doors are always opened up to you and I will take care of you again once more, but please refrain from hurting yourself too much in the future," Nurse Redheart said with a smile.
"Will do! And thanks!" Chris smiled and waved goodbye and he followed Twilight and Spike out the front doors of the hospital.
Nurse Redheart stood there as she watched her patient leave in good health and high spirits.
What a good boy , Nurse Redheart thought to herself.
"Wow! So this is Ponyville!" Chris exclaimed as he, Twilight, and Spike wandered around throughout the town of Ponyville and it was a pleasant quiet little town. There were no tall buildings, just normal houses, lots of trees and flowers, and there seemed to be a lot of streets with a bright blue sky in the air with no a single cloud in sight. A perfect little place to live, and Chris could see various kinds of ponies as far as the eye can see in this town, each with a different style of mane, many different body and mane colors, some with clothing and some without, and each with different body types.
It was a little overwhelming to see so many ponies, as Chris never seen so many before especially with the various body colors they had, but it truly was an amazing sight to behold.
"Whoa… that's a lot of ponies!" Chris stood there in awe, as Twilight and Spike laughed at his expression and reaction to the sight before him.
Twilight giggled at Chris' gawking face and rolled her eyes, "Sheesh, you make it sound like you never saw a pony before!"
Chris chuckled embarrassingly after Twilight points that out, but suddenly remember something he wanted to ask something about them, "Oh yeah, that reminds me… Twilight, I've notice this from time to time, but… what are those strange tattoos on you ponies' flanks?"
"Tattoos?" Twilight repeated the word with a perplexed expression and it donned on her, "OH! Those aren't tattoos, they're called cutie marks !"
"Cutie wha-?" Chris asked bewildered, not having a clue what Twilight said.
"Basically a cutie mark is a special mark that appears on a pony when he or she have discovered their unique talents that set them apart from the rest and they acknowledge their talents, whether they are aware of it or not," Twilight explained, smiling to herself near the end of her sentence possibly referring to herself on when she got hers, "They all appear in due course, but it's the thrill of discovering who you are and what you're meant to be is the best part of learning about getting your cutie mark. Any pony can be great at anything, so it's a special time for the ponies to experience all kinds of things. Don't humans have cutie marks as well?"
Cutie marks, huh? So that's what those markings on the girls' flanks were before. Twilight had a pink six-pointed star with sparkles around it, Rarity had three blue diamonds, Rainbow Dash had a cloud with a lightning bolt coming from it with the lightning being a rainbow-colored one with four of Dash's colors, Pinkie Pie had three balloons two of which are blue and the other yellow, Fluttershy had three purple butterflies, and lastly Applejack had three apples on her flank. Though Chris wasn't exactly sure what each of the marks represent for their talents.
"So that's a cutie mark… a symbol of one's own unique abilities that oneself has discovered," Chris hums to himself, "And as for your question, no. Humans don't have anything like a cutie mark to show their talents… the closest thing would be a beauty mark , but that's something some humans are born with but has no real meaning to them. Humans have to show their talents or work at them to show everybody what they're good at… sometimes humans have more than one talent as humans are very adaptable. They are humans with many multiple talents."
Twilight looked surprised by this new information about humans as clearly they have things that set them apart from ponies greatly despite having some common grounds between the two, "Really? Humans don't have any cutie marks AND they can have more than one talent? That's amazing!"
"Yeah! I mean, usually ponies have one talent they're really good at and their cutie marks show it… but humans can have more than one talent? I guess that's why they don't have cutie marks then as they have so many different talents at once," Spike said quite impressed with humans, "Though… why do you say everybody? Why not everyhuman like with everyone here saying everypony?"
"Hehe, well that sounds weird firstly and second humans are a 'somebody ' so that's why we say 'everybody' to refer to everyone. Now that I think about, the letters b and p are the same… flip them over and they can be either b or p so everyb ody and everyp ony," Chris chuckled as he explained and the little bit about the flipped letters to make two different words.
"I suppose your right, that's interesting to know," Twilight giggled, "Now let me show you some of the places around here."
Twilight pointed with her hoof to a very strange building, to Chris' standards, as it looks like a gingerbread house with a brown chocolate roof with frosted on it, the tower being a layer cake in design with real candles on top, candy canes and more, "That there is Sugar Cube Corner , where Mr. and Mrs. Cake live and bake all of the goods for everypony to enjoy as well as where Pinkie Pie works and lives by renting the loft area of the building. The tower with the layer cake design is her room. So if you ever want to get some goodies, this place is best place to get them!"
Chris stood there in awe at the building and whispers to himself, "That place looks like something out of the Hansel and Gretel story!"
"Now, Chris, you can't eat the building," Twilight giggled misunderstanding his staring that he wanted to eat the place.
"Wha-? No! I mean… we don't have buildings like that back home, so I'm just in shock that's all! But it does looks delicious," Chris commented.
"Really? So I guess regular houses then?" Twilight pondered.
"Mostly," Chris answered.
"Moving right along," Twilight continued, "That there's the Carousel Boutique , which is where Rarity lives and her store she manages. She makes the best clothing in Equestria, though ponies from Canterlot mostly buy them, and she is looking forward to doing business with you, considering you're going to need some more clothes, so now you know where to go to visit her."
The building that Twilight pointed to had a normal yet unique design. The top of the building had a merry-go-round theme with the two purple pony silhouettes and continued down to the next floor except without the pony figures instead with the purple bars where they would be, and in front was a door and a few windows. It had a very unique appearance and Chris was impressed with its simply but unique design.
"Wow… that's a really beautiful building. Did Rarity design? It looks amazing!" Chris said in awe.
"I'm not sure, but I guess since it fits Rarity's style. She'll be happy to hear what you think of her home," Twilight smiled, "Well then moving onto the next…"
"Hey! Is that, that 'human' thing?!" a voice suddenly interrupted Twilight as Chris, Twilight, and Spike looked around to see a whole herd of ponies circling around them… or more precisely Chris.
Chris looked around him to see a whole bunch of ponies came up to meet him, most of them curious and excited while some seemed a little hesitant to approach him and merely stared at him from a distant, but this kind of attention was not something Chris was looking forward to. Chris tried to tuck his head back into his shirt as he didn't like the sudden spotlight he was receiving and it made him very nervous and slightly afraid.
"Whoa! Look how tall he is!" a young filly said excited look up at him who was towering over her.
"Look at those clothes! They're something alright! And look at that mane! I've never seen one that faded into a different color like that!"
"He's not dangerous now is he? Though he does look harmless," another mare said, "Do you suppose he likes ponies? Is he very friendly?"
"Hey! Where's your cutie mark? I can't find it anywhere!" another colt said searching around his 'flank'.
"Eh… wha?" Chris blushed in embarrassed and covered his rear with his hands, not feeling comfortable they're checking his 'flank' for a cutie mark that doesn't exist for his kind.
"What's your name? Can you tell us how you got to town!?"
"So this is that strange creature that Twilight and her friends brought into town the other day? My, he looks quite charming," another mare noted.
There seems to be a lot of female ponies around here than male ponies , Chris thought to himself even though there were a number of males in the crowd as well. However the more attention he was getting the more he felt pressured and nervous and he wanted to run away but was paralyzed with fear to move from his spot.
"Now, now, everypony! Give him some space! You're making him nervous!" Twilight shouted, as she could see the unrest in Chris' eyes and body and clearly did not like the unwanted attention. The ponies suddenly stopped and took a few steps back, feeling a little ashamed of surrounding him like that and apologized.
"Well now, as much as you like to ask him questions, we have a tour to continue to show our guest here so if you excuse us," Twilight said as she nudged Chris out from his spot he was frozen in and galloped away with him as he was more than willingly to get out of there as quickly as possible.
"Ahaha… pant… thanks Twilight… pant… I really didn't have a clue what to do back there," Chris panted as he manages to get away from the herd of ponies, "Honestly I don't like being in the spotlight… I'll take the sidelines anyday!"
"You're not much of an attention seeker, are you?" Spike asked.
"Nope," Chris smiled.
"Well let's continue with the tour, shall we?" Twilight spoke up again, "And hopefully we won't run into any more ponies wanting to ask you questions."
"Hehehe," Chris chuckled, "It's never that easy…"
After spending a few more hours showing the rest of Ponyville to Chris from the Marketplace, Spa, Bowling Alley, Café, and to other various stores located throughout the town, as well as more groups of ponies interested in Chris and started to ask him more questions which Twilight had to pull him away time and again as he didn't feel comfortable yet around such a large group, but was slowly getting use to it.
"Well… that was a fun day," Twilight said as the sun had already set and night has fallen, "The other ponies did ask me and my friends about you when we first brought you through town, but I didn't think they would be that curious and suddenly surround you like that! Sorry about that."
"No problem… it was an interesting experience to say the least," Chris said, though he would be lying if he said he enjoyed the attention he was getting as they moved around town.
"Come to think of it, you're very comfortable with being in another world considering you've been here for a couple of days," Twilight brought up with her hoof to her mouth as she thought about it, "Normally wouldn't you be worried and nervous to be in another world?"
"Well," Chris folded his arms and closed his eyes, "Truthfully most people would, but to be honest with you I'm quite the very open-minded person. Besides…," Chris opened his eyes with sparks in them and smiled, "It's not every day you get to go to another world, so I might as well enjoy the ride! I may be able to go home one day or not, so I want as well enjoy this experience to the fullest, ya know? It's a once in a lifetime opportunity!"
"Hehe, it doesn't seem like anything fazes you," Spike said, "But that's awesome to think like that. I don't know, but that sounds really cool when you think about it… traveling to other worlds! How amazing is that?"
"Yeah," Chris chuckled as he looked up to the sky and sees the stars and the full moon and smiles happily to himself, "Even the sky is the same back home."
"Is something the matter?" Twilight asked looking up to the sky to where Chris was looking at.
"Nothing, it's just… I really love the night sky," Chris hummed happily with a big goofy grin on his face, "Nighttime is my favorite time of the day, though I do like daytime, but there's something so magical about the night that I can't help but like. When I look up at the stars as I feel the magic in the stars and see the different worlds up there… countless worlds with the same sky."
"Wow! You sound quite the romantic," Twilight giggled with a mischievous smile on her, "And I think a certain somepony would be very happy to know somebody loves the night skies and appreciates as well."
Chris blinked and looked at Twilight with a curious twinkle, "Really? Who are you referring to?"
"You'll see one day," Twilight laughed as she strolled over to a big tree up ahead, "And this is the final stop of the tour… my place! This is the Golden Oaks Library where yours truly lives and is Ponyville's local library, and as of today your new home!"
Chris looked up at the gigantic tree before him. It was a natural tree but there are many features added to, especially the windows and door, to make it more like a building but still retain its origins as a tree with the beehive that Chris spotted and made him nervous as he's scared of bees with their little stingers of death, two balconies with one with a telescope for stargazing, a lantern, and more.
"Wow," Chris was utter flabbergasted by the tree's outward appearance and his mouth hanged open, "This place redefines the word 'treehouse'! Just look at this place! It's amazing! Do I really get to live here?"
"Yup," Twilight smiled, finding his expressions adorable, "Though I have to find you a room first to stay in, but for now let's go in and check out your new home."
Twilight walked up to the door and opened, and looked back at Chris, "After you my good sir."
Chris stood there with an amused smile on his face and folded his arms, "You know, it's the gentleman that opens the door for the lady, not the other way around, so next time allow me."
"Oh! How very thoughtful!" Twilight giggled, "I'll be sure to remember next time. It's nice to have a gentleman around."
"Hey!" Spike cried out loud, resenting that statement.
"Oh, Spike… you know what I meant," Twilight smiled, "Now then, let's get inside."
"Very well," Chris said as he stepped inside Twilight's home however the entire place was dark and couldn't see a thing which was normal since Twilight was out and no one was home, "Um… Twilight do you have a light switch or something?"
"Oh don't worry," Twilight smiled, "The lights should be coming on… now!"
"SURPRISE! "
Chris was greeted by a huge and loud announcement from the room filled with ponies, causing him to jump in the air yelping and step back as he wasn't expecting it, and noticed that it seemed like the entire town of Ponyville was in here, somehow despite the large space of the house, spotting some of the ponies he encountered in town today. Among them he spotted Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy in the crowd as they all walk up to him.
"Girls? What is this?" Chris blurted out, but recalled Pinkie Pie saying she would throw him a party… but he didn't expect right away!
"Hi Chris! And can't you tell silly? It's your welcome and Pinkie Pie's newest bestest-best-friend party!" Pinkie Pie giggled out loud at Chris' silly question as this was the most common thing in the world, "I've invited everypony in town, as I know everypony in town, to come to your party!"
"My… party?" Chris breathed out the words from his mouth, but didn't register to him. This was really a party… and it was for him? This wasn't a joke or a dream is it?
"Yeah! Sorry for leavin' ya like that at the hospital, but we needed to get everythin' done so we could help Pinkie Pie set up this here party for ya!" Applejack explained.
Chris looks back at Twilight to see if she knew, and she smiled back at him to confirm his suspicious and smiled back. So the tour was a clever decoy to keep him distracted so they can set up the party in secret, but also get him learning about Ponyville so it didn't seem suspicious. Ingenious Chris thought to himself.
"I hope you find it to your liking, since we're not exactly sure what humans like at parties," Rarity said pointed out the number of decorations throughout the room.
Chris could spot the banner on the highest point in the room, 'Welcome to Ponyville and Pinkie Pie's Newest Bestest-Best-Friend Ever Chris Party" was written on it and Chris shook his head in amusement with a smile on his face when he saw it, and pointed the colorful decorations around the room with the pink streamers, table filled with various snacks and treats, a disco ball… in the middle of the room? Chris had to double-check his vision to be sure he was seeing it right, but there it was a silver disco ball hanging. And then there were the large stereos and DJs in the back with records and tapes to play with a white-colored blue mane pony with shades stationed at the DJ, and many balloons around.
This wasn't a simple welcome party… this was the ultimate huge welcome party for a celebrity or those night clubs, except it didn't have that night club vibe to it. Chris could hardly believe it… this was his party. He never, ever, in his life has been to a party before let alone his own since his family couldn't afford parties as he recalls. Seeing everypony here for him, even if most of them didn't know him, made him feel completely warm and happy inside. A single tear rolled down his cheek hardly believing this was all real.
Everypony suddenly looked worried and concern, as they never see anypony at Pinkie Pie's cry a single tear like that, and Pinkie Pie looked even more worried and sad thinking she did something wrong, "Are you alright, Chris? Why are you crying? Do you not like the party?"
"What?" Chris shook out of his daze and felt the tear on his cheek with his hand and smiled, "No, nothing's wrong… it's just that… I… no one has ever thrown me a party before or invited me to one. It's just… a shock to me that you all went out of your way to do this for me. I'm just… really happy… no one was never this nice to before."
"What!? You never been to a party before?! And no one even invited you!? Why! That's totally unheard of, I mean everypony likes party so everypony should join in on the fun!" Pinkie Pie seemed completely shocked and floored to even think, let alone hear or relish the idea, of leaving others out to party.
"It's alright… it's alright… it's all in the past, anyway. But thank you Pinkie Pie," Chris smiled, wiping the tear away, "So let's party! Um… seeing as this is my first one… what exactly do I do?"
Pinkie Pie jumped up and darted over to Chris and giggled, "What you don't know? C'mon, I'll show you!"
Everypony in the room started to have fun, dancing on the dance floor with the rock and roll type of music playing in the background, some eating at the snack table, other chatting with each other, and others doing who knows what in the other areas of the room with their own party games some even playing 'pin the tail on the pony' which Chris thought was very ironic.
Pinkie Pie showed Chris to the dance floor, with the disco ball lighting up the room, and asked him to dance with her, but Chris stated he didn't know how to dance and didn't quite like being the center of attention of the room. Pinkie Pie did her best to encourage him to dance by doing anything he feels no matter how silly or awesome it seems and so Chris starts by shuffling his feet back and forth as Pinkie Pie grinned happily that he was dancing, even if he was shuffling his feet, and slowly warmed up to the dancing as he started added more fluid motions to his arms and legs and did a little silly dance with his arms circling and his legs swinging around with Pinkie Pie shouting "That's it!" and made her happy that he was enjoying himself as he grin from cheek to cheek and started to use some of his martial arts to form a unique dance in the mix.
After the dancing Chris headed over to the snack table and grabbed as many desserts as he saw, licking his lips in anticipation as they all looked delicious to him as he has a very big sweet tooth and took a bit into a few of them and fall in love with the food here. It tasted much better than back home, even better than his aunt's which he has to agree with himself, and chatted with Applejack who made some of the desserts along with Pinkie Pie. He continued to chat with his new friends and some other ponies from before, finally answering some of their questions which in turn caused them to ask more.
A few hours has passed since the party started and it finally came to an end as it slowly becomes midnight. All of the ponies left, saying goodbye to Chris and wishing him the best as he stays in Ponyville with everyone and hopes to meet with him again as they returned home leaving only Chris, Spike, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy left in the house.
"Now that the party is over… it's time for the sleepover!" Twilight expressed herself with delight as her horn lit up with a purple aura around it and summoned sleeping bags, pillows, and books to her and her group as she starts to set up the sleepover with her friends.
"Um… Twilight," Chris tapped Twilight's shoulder to get her attention, "I hate to put a damper on the mood, but… shouldn't we clean this place up first?"
Chris pointed to the mess all around the room as Twilight gasped upon seeing it, folding her ears down, and smiles nervously.
"Oh, right," Twilight laughed nervous, "I forgot about that."
"Don't worry everypony, I'll get right now it. You girls just enjoy your sleepover!" Spike said as he picked up a dustpan and brush to sweep up this mess.
"You sure you want to do this alone? Don't you want any help?" Chris asked seeing the mess around the place was a lot and didn't like the idea of Spike cleaning it up all by himself.
"Don't worry, dude! I got this!" Spike smiled proudly, but Chris still wasn't convinced.
Chris pondered a bit and smiled, "How about you let me help you? The work will go by twice as fast with me helping along."
"What?" Spike seemed surprised by his offer, "It's OK, you don't need to do that! I got it covered and this is no big deal, really."
"But it was my party and I feel bad letting you do all the clean up, so allow me to help out, OK?" Chris said as he crouched down to Spike's level and stretched out his hand, "Friends help each other out, right?"
Spike looked at Chris' hand and back at him, and smiled, "Yeah, that's right. I appreciate your help dude! To be honest, I wouldn't mind getting some sleep soon," and Spike took Chris' hand and shook it.
"Look at that, they're best friends already," Twilight said, "But you boys better not stay up too late, you hear me? We got a busy day ahead of us!"
"Sure thing Twilight! Also would you girls like some tea, while we're down here cleaning up?" Chris offered as he grabbed a broom from the closest that Spike pointed out to him earlier.
"Oh, that would be most divine! Thank you for the offer," Rarity said, "Two cubes of sugar, please, if you would."
"Alright, Spike, let's do this!" Chris pumped himself up, "When we're done cleaning we'll show they won't recognize this place! It will be even cleaner than before!"
"Yeah, you got that right!" Spike joined in on Chris' fun.
It took them about a half an hour to clean up all of the mess, throw away all of the trash, and remove all of the decorations from the room and are currently in the kitchen cleaning the dishes.
"Wow! We cleaned up so fast! If I was doing it alone, I still wouldn't be half way done!" Spike said looking back to the even cleaner room that both he and Chris spent cleaning earlier, "You've been a big help and your height certain helps a lot too!"
"Glad to be of some service!" Chris smiled and then softly whispers to himself, "To be honest, it's nice to be needed by someone."
"You say something, dude?" Spike asked.
"O-Oh! N-Nothing, nothing at all! Let's hurry up and clean these dishes so we can bring the girls so tea," Chris said while cleaning the last stack of plates.
"You know, it feels like we're the servants, doing all of the housework for them," Spike joked a bit.
"Yeah, it does, doesn't it?" Chris joked with him too, but suddenly got an idea and leaned over to Spike, "Ooh! Spike I got an idea, listen to this!"
"Huh?" Spike lend Chris' his ear, or feather-winged ear, and listen to Chris' idea as he whispers to him and Spikes chuckles at the notion, "Hahaha! Oh man, that's a good one! We have to do it!"
After finishing their chores, Chris made their tea and brought one tray up and Spike carrying the other up the fleet of stairs to the girls' room which is Twilight's room and opened the door to see all six of them huddled together around in a circle who were possibly having girl-related subjects to talk about which either Chris and Spike know anything about.
"I hope we're not disturbing you ladies, we've brought you some refreshments," Chris said as he settled down the tray of tea and Spike likewise with some snacks for them as well.
"Oh, thank you so much Chris and Spike! That was very thoughtful of you," Twilight smiled.
Chris smiled at Spike and gave him the signal as both of them suddenly did a bow with their arms under their chest, like a proper gentlemen would, and both said, "Your welcome, your Majesty."
Twilight's suddenly bugged out and blurted out random words together to try to form a sentence after the little stunt Chris and Spike, not expecting it all especially their word of choice, "I-wha-your-Majesty-what-the?"
Both Chris and Spike laughed to themselves for a mission success and walked over to Spike's side of the room to set up their sleeping bags as the two shared another good laugh together.
"Oh man! Did you see the look on Twilight's face! That was priceless! That was a good prank Chris!" Spike couldn't stop himself from laughing.
"I know, right? I do enjoy a good prank or two now and again," Chris snickered to himself showing off his 'devilish' side.
The other girls in the room were initially shocked at first but suddenly burst into a bundle of laughter at the boys' little prank.
Twilight suddenly snapped out of it and rolled her eyes as she placed a hoof on her head.
"Boys…," Twilight muttered to herself, but also got in a giggle.
In the mist of shadows, hidden away from plain sight, a strange glow watching over all of the events that has transpired that day in Ponyville with the arrival of the mysterious creature known as a Human called 'Chris Corona'. The pink glowing sphere giggled, a rather feminine laughter quite fitting to its gender, as she watches the Human, in amusement, as he interacts with the residents of Equestria. The faint pink glowing aura of the mysterious sphere slowly fades away into the darkness… while uttering these words to no one in particular, but to the one the mysterious entity has been watching;
"Will you be the one who will able to fulfill my request?"
EPISODE 2 END
Author's Note
At the request of a friend, I have split the original first chapter into two parts. I will try in the future to keep my chapters at best around 10,000 – 12,000 words or less per chapter to prevent it from getting too tedious a read. Enjoy part 2!
Author’s Note 2: And it’s done! Whew, that was a super long chapter! I hope you guys don’t mind me adding in the show’s theme song at the start of the chapter. When I did that I decided to have the chapters be called ‘episodes’ instead of just chapters to reflect the show this story is based on and it feels like it’s own show as well. But I’m not going to have EVERY chapter with the theme song, just the first chapter only but when the story does update and you click on the story sometimes you go back to the first chapter so there’s your theme song to enjoy.
I hope I did my best presenting the Mare 6, even if some of them didn’t get enough screentime. I hope I’ve captured the spirit of their characters and their personality down, as well as the feeling for the show, while throwing in my own personal flair to the mix.
I hope you guys like the human character, Chris Corona, as I wanted to present a really kind-hearted and pure human into the story. However even though I mention he knows martial arts, he’s a mix martial artist, he DOES NOT fight as he’s a pacifist and will try to overcome problems by solving them so don’t expect him to fight off a horde of evil pony soldiers or anything like that in the future. He’s meant to a friendly individual that helps his friends from the sidelines and learns more about friendship along the way. But don’t worry, he’ll have his share of ‘heroics’ later on in the story but he tries to be subtle about it and avoid gloating about it.
Right now I’m not sure what to do for the next chapter, as I was deciding to do another original chapter before doing to the Applebuck Season episode chapter with Chris thrown into it but ultimately chose to do another original chapter to have him bond with the characters so more… and I plan to add Derpy Hooves next chapter to get him started forming a bond with her! In the meantime, while you wait for my story to update if you like it, go check out Magic in the Stars by AustralianChaos at FanFiction.net which is a REALLY good My Little Pony fanfic staring his own original male Pegasus character and Princess Luna as a love interest. He does a really amazing job capturing Luna’s personality and I love his presentation of Derpy Hooves in his story which made me even love her even more!
Well that’s it for now, so I hope you enjoyed the story! Please review and tell me what you think about it! But hater reviews WILL BE REMOVED and I WILL NOT TOLERATE IT.
This is VirusChris signing off! Take care, my fellow bronies!
My Little Pony: Courage of Corona
EPISODE 3: A Sun's Tale and Meeting
EPISODE 3: A Sun's Tale and Meeting
The sound of birds singing in the morning fills the air with a harmonious sound and the soft rays of light beaming through the curtains of a certain pony's house and the light gazing onto the eyes of the newest addition to the world of Equestria.
Chris stirs in his sleep as the sun continues to shine on his face, slowly waking him up, as the young human boy flickers his eyes open and as he awakens shielding his eyes with his hand from the sun as he slowly sits up, groaning a bit as he tries to get up. Rubbing the sand from his eyes he looks around the room and remembers clearly what happen to him the other day. He fell into a world called Equestria where talking ponies live along with dragons as well as had a party thrown for him by Pinkie Pie, a pink-colored pony that he befriended once he got into this world, and was allowed to live at Twilight's place which is where the party was held and the sleepover.
Stretching and yawning as he got out of his sleeping bag, quite a number of them that Twilight had just in case she ever had a large sleepover one day, revealing that he was simply wearing his black t-shirt and black basketball shorts. Chris originally wore the black basketball shorts underneath his baggy blue shorts, covering it, and when he takes off his jacket and shorts it becomes his pajamas or work out clothing and in a sense it's his all-purpose clothing for any situations which is very handy in his case.
Chris looked around the room, and spotted his six new friends sleeping together in the same circle last night and Spike is seen sleeping soundly next to him in his own bed. Not wanting to disturb them in their sleep, Chris quietly tip toed out of his sleeping bag and went downstairs. He wanted to repay their kindness for taking care of him, throwing a party for him, and giving him a place to stay by making them some breakfast. It was the least he can do for them and had the perfect idea for breakfast as it came to him in a dream the other day… some waffles!
Looking around the place, which is indeed a library with the rows of books all around him, Chris finally found the kitchen area which was a bit small and simple, but perfect for making meals. However he wasn't exactly sure where Twilight kept all of the ingredients to make those buttermilk waffles he wanted to make, and wasn't exactly sure if Twilight had a waffle ironer to begin with which puts a damper on Chris' perfect breakfast plan.
"Looking for something, dude?" a voice called out from behind Chris.
"AHH!" Chris yelped and jumped into the air as he wasn't expecting anyone to say anything at all in the quiet kitchen, and turned around to see who it is which was none other than Spike.
"Spike? Don't sneak up on me like that! You nearly gave me a heart attack," Chris exasperated with a low growl, "Next time, tap on my shoulder… or leg or something."
"Heh, sorry about that, I didn't mean to scare ya," Spike apologized as he scratches the back of his head and started to ask Chris what he was doing in the kitchen, "Just wanted to know what you're doing so early in the morning? I saw you sneak out of the room so I followed ya… so what are you doing here in the kitchen?"
"Oh!" Chris scratches the back of his head, embarrassed, "I wanted to make everyone… erm… everypony, that's going to take a while to get use to, breakfast as thanks for everything they've done for me so far. It's the least I could do for them, but I'm having trouble locating the stuff I need to make breakfast."
"Oh! That's cool!" Spike smiled, "So what are you planning on making for breakfast?"
"Waffles," Chris smiled.
"Waffles? That's sounds perfect for breakfast!" Spike licks his lips at the thought, "Though I personally wouldn't mind some gemstones, but let's get right now it!"
"Eh… gemstones?" Chris looks at Spike with a bewildered look, so dragons in this world primarily eat gems for food, though shakes it off and continues with his breakfast plan, "W-Well anyway, I wanted it to be a surprise for everyon- everypony so I guess I'll have some help this time. Do you have a waffle ironer?"
"Right here, dude," Spike opened up one of the doors to the cabinets, "And all of the ingredients are in the fridge over there."
Spike pointed to the white fridge on the side of the kitchen and Chris went over and opened it up and sees that he has everything he needs to make the best waffles in town! Though he feels a little bad for using Twilight's food without permission, even if it's to make her and her friends breakfast, he plans to pay her back by going food shopping later and also was a bit surprised to see that the ponies in this world have electricity for the refrigerator but it doesn't come as much as a surprise given the party last night had with stereos playing music.
"Alright, Spike, I'm going to need a bowl and a whisk, it's time to make some waffles!" Chris smiled as he sets the plates on the table.
Back at Twilight's room, the girls slowly wake up and stretch their bodies out, welcoming the morning's sun as they get out the last bit of sleep from their bodies.
"*Yawn*! That was a good rest," Twilight yawned as she gets up and shakes her head.
"Eeyep! That sure was one fine mighty nap, time to rise and shine everypony!" Applejack shouted as she fully woke up from her sleep and shrugs her shoulder to relax her body.
"G-Good morning, everypony," Fluttershy gently called out as she gets up.
"OH. MY. GOSH! This is a totally disaster!" Rarity cried out and everypony looked at her, "My mane! It's completely messy! Where is the brush? I need to freshen up and look presentable."
Rarity frantically looks for a brush and spots one on the desk nearby and levitates it to her using her magic and summons it towards her and starts brushing her messy bed mane. Most of the girls shook their head in amusement.
"Fluttershy, come here darling. Allow me to brush you mane," Rarity said offering to brush her friend's mane.
"Why thank you Rarity," Fluttershy smiled and thanked Rarity as she proceeded to brush her mane.
"Alright! I'm rested, fully recharge and ready to go out there and try out my latest newest awesome move!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she jumped up and started zooming around in the room, pumping her hooves up in excitement.
"Rainbow Dash, aren't you forgetting something?" Twilight called out getting Rainbow Dash's attention, "You're forgetting about breakfast, which is the most important meal of the day. Can't perform any tricks on an empty stomach, right?"
"I suppose your right, Twilight," Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head as she nodded in agreement, "So let's get some breakfast already!"
"YAY! Morning time means we get to have breakfast! Breakfast time! Breakfast time!" Pinkie Pie jumped around the room happily, as if she never slept at all and has an endless supply of energy, "Ooh! I wonder what's for breakfast! It smells so good! *Sniff* *Sniff*, ah! I smell waffles! It's waffles!"
"Oh my, that is quite the lovely smell," Fluttershy also took a whiff in the air to smell of waffles coming from downstairs.
"What? Waffles? What are you talking about Pinkie Pie" asked a confused Twilight as she wasn't sure what Pinkie Pie was getting at until she took a whiff of the air, "Huh? You're right… I do smell waffles? But who could of…?"
"Uh… everypony? Does anyone know where Chris and Spike ran off to? They're not here," Applejack called out to get everypony's attention pointing to the empty beds of Chris and Spike over on their side of the room.
Twilight smiled, "I have a pretty good guess where and what they're doing."
The girls all walked downstairs, following the smell of waffles in the morning, and entered the kitchen area where they see six plates with waffles on them stacked together one after another in a mini-tower with butter and syrup on stop. Along side of the plates where glasses of milk, forks and knives, and the girls spot both Chris and Spike over near the stove cooking their batch of waffles with Twilight's waffle ironer. The girls simply smiled and watched at the boys continue making their waffles.
"And there! Another perfect waffle! You're getting the hang of this!" Chris smiled as he watched Spike make another waffle from the waffle ironer.
"Thanks dude! You're a really good cook, you know that?" Spike smiled back.
"Not really. I did help cook some meals with my aunt so I learned how to make some simple dishes, nothing fancy, and we're using a waffle ironer to make these. So this is nothing special and has nothing to do with my cooking skills," Chris humbly waved off the praising thinking it was nothing special making some waffles with these.
The girls giggled at the conversation the boys were having, causing both of them to drop what they were doing and look behind them to see the girls were up and around and watching them, as well as listening in on their conversation.
"Oh! Good morning ladies!" Chris called out nervously, he wasn't expecting them to be up so soon, and fidgeted a bit, "Spike and I made you girls some waffles! Sorry about using your ingredients Twilight without your permission, but I hope you don't mind!"
"It's not a problem," Twilight directed a reassuring smile at Chris as she took her place at the table to eat her waffles that the boys made for her, "It was very thoughtful of the two of you to make breakfast for us, thank you."
Chris blushed, feeling extremely happy that Twilight wasn't mad at him and was quite happy having breakfast made for her. He feels obligated to do his best for the sake for the very pony who allowed him a roof over his head as well as wanting to do something for his new friends.
"Golly! This is delicious! Ah can't remember the last time ah had waffles that were this good!" Applejack complimented as she devoured some of her waffles already and was grinning from cheek to cheek from the delicious food she had partake from her plate. She was very pleased with the food.
"These are the best waffles I have ever had ever!" Pinkie Pie squealed, "Ooh! You have come over to Sugar Cube Corner one day and help me bake some goodies for the store! You're amazing and together we can even make even more amazing goodies! Doesn't that sound like fun? Sure sounds like fun! Let's do it!"
"Usually I don't partake getting messy with my food, but in this case I'll make an exception. Both of you are quite excellent chefs! I wouldn't mind if you continue to cater to us every breakfast with your scrumptious meals," Rarity praised both Chris and Spike as she levitated a napkin to wipe her lips clean from the syrup, "But that's asking too much and I don't want the both of you to burden yourselves for us."
"Rarity loves my cooking…," Spike purrs with delight as he made googly eyes at Rarity, with heart-shape pupils taking place in his large orbs for eyes, and Chris sees this and makes a half-amused, half-mischievous smirk as he sees the young dragon's affections towards Rarity.
"Not bad! These bad boys are awesome… just like me!" Rainbow Dash declared as she stuffs another waffle into her mouth.
"T-These are really good… you boys didn't really need to, but… thank you so much for the delectable meal," Fluttershy hummed as she enjoys her waffle-filled breakfast, "I-If it's not too much to ask… can I please have more?"
"Sure thing!" Chris whistles as he places more waffles on Fluttershy's plate, after finishing his and Spike's batch of waffles and sit down with the rest of the girls to eat their breakfast.
The group continues eating their meals in silent, but from time to time the girls idly chatted with each other as the boys mostly kept to themselves as they wolf down their waffles. Chris sighs in delight from taking bites from the waffles he made, surprise how good they came out, and enjoyed eating every bit of them and becomes quite sadden when he finishes the last of his waffles, wanting to enjoy the sweet sticky sweetness of the waffles with butter and syrup on top.
"Chris, I've been meaning to ask you," Rarity clearing her throat, as well as wiping the waffle crumbs from her lips with a napkin, and spoken up to get his attention, "Can you tell us a little bit about where you lived? What was your home like?"
"I'm quite curious about that, too," Twilight chimed in, eager to know, "Do you remember your hometown? What about your family? What are they like?"
Chris stopped and pondered that himself. His memories were still hazy at best and could only faintly recall events in his life, cryptic and broken as they are, and tried his best to dig deep into his subconscious to remember at least something about his hometown. His expression puzzled until his eyes widen a bit when he recalled some details about his life, and let out a heavy sigh… sadden what he remembered.
"Huh? Is somethin' wrong, sugarcube?" Applejack asked in a concerned tone as her and the rest of the ponies looked worried.
"It's nothing much… just remember something about my folks, but I also remember my hometown a bit," Chris quickly averted the mood by telling them something good in his life first, "My hometown is a quiet little suburb, a cul-de-sac if you will, that's quite similar to Ponyville in a way but smaller and with less nature around and not that many people around as well and nothing really to do there like in Ponyville here. Also the stores are a bit further away from my little town as we have to go a little ways away to go to them."
"Really? Doesn't seem like a lot to do," Twilight spoke up, a little sad to hear, but perks up again with another question, "Aren't there more of your kind around?"
"Mostly in cities, where thousands or millions live depending on how large the cities are but I'm nowhere near those kinds of cities," Chris answered back truthfully, "And now that I think about it, in my neighborhood there were mostly girls living around me as I was actually the only boy around but there were older than me and just a few similar to my age. But I mostly kept to myself."
"Why? Don't you want to be make loads of new friends every day!?" Pinkie Pie piped up expressing her opinion with zealous, "Even if I was far away from the city I would still like making new friends, throwing them parties, and make everypony happy! It's no fun just being by yourself, silly! Hehe, so why didn't you ask those girls to be your friend?"
"I… rather not talk about," Chris said quite crestfallen as he hung his head down to prevent the girls from seeing his sad and hurt expression, "It's not… exactly a happy memory, from what I can recall from my faint memories."
Everypony in the room looked at one another, not sure what to say.
"O-OK… we won't pry anymore on that subject," Fluttershy understanding that Chris didn't want to talk about and the other ponies nodded in agreement.
"Oh! Ah know, how about ya tell us about yer family? What's yer parents like?" Applejack inquiries Chris interest to know what his folks were like.
"My mom and dad? They…," Chris was hesitant at first, not looking at the girls' eyes, as he spoke, "Passed away a long time ago."
The room suddenly got quiet as everypony looks to one another, nervous to utter another word and not sure how to respond to this. They weren't expecting an answer like this and were afraid to ask any more questions now, however Chris spoke up again and this time with renewed confidence.
"However, my aunt and uncle have been taking care of me for years now!" Chris smiled proudly and happily with a powerful warmth of happiness emitting from him, and continued on, "True we didn't have much and we're poor, but to me they were like a mom and dad and they were extremely happy to have me around! My aunt can't have kids but with me around she thought of me as her son and I'm happy I can make her smile and be happy with me around! So I always wanted to help out around the house and also wanted to help others out because I wanted to make them smile and be happy as well! And my uncle taught me lots of things to always be positive and think on the bright side of things! I guess… that sounds weird coming from me, right?"
"Not at all!" Rarity was the first to speak up, "It was quite delightful to hear about them darling, and your aunt and uncle sound positively wonderful! I wish I could meet them, I believe we would get along famously!"
"Ah think that's great to hear how much ya love yer aunt and uncle! Now that's what families are for, to always be there for ya," Applejack smiled proudly, showing her own feelings on how much she cares for her family in her words.
Twilight smiled as well, "I understand that you miss your aunt and uncle a lot Chris and so we promise you… we will do our best to find a way for you to return home so you can be reunited with your family."
Chris nodded happily, but stopped himself coming to a conclusion. If they find a way to send me back home, I'll have to leave and never return to this world? True I miss my aunt and uncle and they surely miss me… but this world, this is where I made my first real friends and I have to leave them? I want to stay here longer, but… I'm not sure… what do I do?
"Alright, that's enough for now about Chris," Twilight closed the book on that conversation and opens up another one, "Now what's next on our agenda for the day?"
"I have a request," Chris raised his hand and everypony looked at him, making him feel a little nauseous at the sudden attention. He's still not use to it but he digresses and continues with his question, "I would… like to go to Applejack's place. I'm really curious about her farm and I like to meet her family."
Chris expressions his interest as Applejack made a comment earlier to him that he picked up on as he figures Applejack truly appreciates her family and would like to meet them and also get a closer look at the farm.
Applejack smiles with a big grin on her face, "Well how 'bout that? Sure thing! I'll show ya the grand tour of the ol' place and it would be a pleasure to introduce ya to mah family."
"I see, well I have to return back to my store. I need to finish the rest of my orders," Rarity spoken up and begins to take her leave, "I will see everypony later. I can't wait to unveil the next line of my work, it will be dazzling!"
"Oh! Rarity," Chris hustles over to Rarity's side as the Unicorn looks up to Chris in question, "You don't mind, after Applejack's tour of her home, I could stop by your place? I like to get my new clothes ready as soon as possible… if that's not too much to ask."
Rarity's eyes sparkle with delight upon hearing that, "Why darling, I would be honored if you did! I would love making human clothes for you! It will be the experience of a lifetime! But please take your time, I don't want you to rush through with your tour of Applejack's home just to see me, come when you feel like it. I will be waiting, and with that I'm off! Take care, darlings!"
And Rarity leaves Twilight's house back to her store to work on her designs.
"Well then, partner, we should get going soon," Applejack said leading the way to her place.
"Alright!" Chris smiled and glanced back to the other girls and Spike, "Well, I'll be leaving! I'll be back soon, and thanks again for everything you've done for me so far! I will never forget it!"
And both Applejack and Chris left as well towards Sweet Apple Acres.
"Well, I suppose, it's time for me to go as well. Thank you Twilight, the sleepover was oh so very wonderful," Fluttershy thanked Twilight with a smile and went her merry way.
"Yeah! We need to do another slumber party again soon! Ooh! I know the perfect party setup, lots of music, games, foods, drinks," Pinkie Pie went on with her lists for things to do next slumber party at Twilight as she bounces off out of Twilight's house after telling her friends she has work to do.
"It was a blast, Twilight! But I have get back to what's really important, practicing my totally awesome moves that will wow the Wonderbolts!" Rainbow Dash waves a goodbye to Twilight and Spike as she zoomed out of the place in a flash of rainbow, "See ya guys!"
"So that just leaves you and me, right, Spike?" Twilight looked at her dragon companion.
"Yup, well I better get these dishes cleaned first then," Spike said as he starts to grab the first dish.
"Before that Spike, we have a letter to write first," Twilight said as she levitates her pen and parchment, and Spike knew who they were going to write to.
Applejack and Chris arrive at Sweet Apple Acres after several minutes leaving Twilight's house. On their way to Applejack's home, Chris took a look around the place. Hundreds of apple trees all around him, the fresh smell of wood and the sweet aroma of the apples fill his nose as he takes in the pleasant whiff, and more trees than he can count. He was completely dazzled by the endless sight of tree, and Applejack smirks at his excited expression finding it adorable for the boy to always be amazed by the most simple of things and truly was glad he was enjoying himself.
Chris licks his lips as he looks up to one of the apples at a nearby apple tree, the tree was tall but the branches were close to the ground that Chris could reach out and just grab out to one of them.
"Whoa! Those apples look so delicious! I just want to reach one and grab one and eat it," Chris said, with a slight drool, but wiped it away as Applejack looks at him with a sly look, "W-Well, I didn't mean… I-If it's not too much trouble to ask… do you think I could have one?"
"Sure thing sugercube! Ah don't mind, help yerself, but remember just take one only!" Applejack allowed Chris to take an apple from the tree to eat after he asked, and his eyes lit up with delight as he goes for the nearest apple and pucks it from the tree and happily chomps on it. Applejack giggled to herself at the human boy's cute antics as his expression are absolutely delightful.
"Amazing~! This apple is soooo delicious… the apples back home were never this good! I could eat these forever!" Chris sang with an adorable sigh and blushing face as he continues eating the apple happily to the core, "Oh… do you have a garbage can in your home or something? I don't like to litter your fields, even if it's an apple."
"It's alright, it's just an apple. No problem leaving it as is, the seeds from the core will grow into a new apple tree one day," Applejack smiled letting him know it's OK to drop the nearly completely eaten apple on the ground, though Chris still wasn't sure to do so. Applejack could tell he was raised to be a good boy and respect the lands and truly expresses to herself to meet his aunt and uncle, they truly must've been great folks to raise him so well.
"I-If you say so, though I'm still not entirely OK with it," Chris said dishearteningly as he drops the apple onto the ground.
"You're not one to speak up for yerself that much, huh?" Applejack added.
"No, not really," Chris agreed.
"Well, here's mah home!" Applejack announced at they made it to the barn where Applejack and her family lives. A large red barn with a large double-door entrance to it, a field where they grow their vegetables to eat, a small pen for other activities it seems, four smaller version of barn where other livestock live, and a house nearby where Chris assumes where they live.
"Wow! This is a really nice place to live," Chris commented as he takes a look around and Applejack smiles.
"Welcome back sis," a voice calls out to the pair as the two of them turned to face the speaker of the voice. It was a red-colored coated pony, a little larger than the normal stallion, with orange mane and tail, green eyes, a yoke around his neck, and a piece of wheat in his mouth as he approaches the two. As Chris got a closer look at him he noticed he had freckles just like Applejack and has a green apple as his cutie mark, but with a piece of the apple cut off to see the inside of the apple like how people chop up apples into smaller pieces to eat.
"Ah, there ya are Big Macintosh!" Applejack smiled as she greeted her brother, "Chris, let me introduce ya to mah big brother, Big Macintosh! Big Mac, this here is Chris! Ah hope the two of you get along now!"
"Ah, pleasure to meet ya Chris! Applejack has been telling me about ya since the day you arrived in Ponyville. It's nice to finally meet ya!" Big Mac said as he extends a hoof towards him and Chris cautiously shakes his hoof.
"N-Nice to meet you, too," Chris muttered, still a little wary of the ponyfolk despite the kindness they showed him and welcomed him with open arms before which was something Applejack picked up on.
"Chris? Is somethin' the matter? Why are you so nervous all of a sudden, sugercube?" Applejack asked, curious about Chris distance manner, "He's not going to bite ya."
"W-Well it's not that, but… I'm still a little baffled with how everypony is so open with everybody… excuse me, everypony which is still a little strange to me," Chris explained shuffling his feet together, "And honestly I've still not completely trusted everyone here, aside from you and her friends and Spike, but humans are primitively cautious to one another. It's just how we are, sorry about that."
Applejack blinks, with an unsettling and uncertain expression written on her face, but shakes off her surprised reaction and smiles, "A-Ah see. A understand it is a little unnervin' for somepony meeting somepony new for the first time especially if they're different races. But if there's one thing I've learned from one of mah good friends is that ya should always show a little kindness to everypony ya meet, and besides ah always greet everypony with a smile. And mah family is no different, trust me. There's no need for ya to box everyone away from ya, so ya don't have to feel alone anymore."
Chris lets the words sink into him and understands what Applejack is trying to say to him and smiles at her, "I-I see… I feel a little better now, hearing that, so I'll try not to be so passive with everypony I meet anymore but it's going to be tough. Sorry for making you worried about me like that."
"Ain't no problem! 'Sides, what do ya keep on apologizin' all the time for? There's nothin' for ya to feel sorry for," Applejack said, slightly scolding him.
"Ah! Sorry about that!" Chris waves his hands in front of him in defense, a naturally reaction of his, "It's just that back home, whenever I try so hard to help people or get them to like me I always screw up and everyone yells at me. In a way, I always felt apologizing for everything I did even if it wasn't anything major… it's a bad habit of mine that I need to get rid of."
"That's understandable," Big Mac said, speaking up after listening to Chris and Applejack's conversation, "However ya don't always need to apologize for every little thing, just remember that, partner."
"T-Thank you," Chris said with blushing a bit, feeling a bit happier now that his friends talked to him and has revealed some of his thoughts and feelings about meeting new people surface.
"Big Mac! Applejack! I'm goin' out to play with Twist, I'll be back by dinner!" a younger voice said as a young pony comes dashes from the house and passed Big Macintosh and Applejack, but doesn't see Chris and accidentally bumps into him without realizing there was somepony else besides her family. She smacked right into his leg, which in turned knocked him down as he wasn't expecting it with both parties saying "Ouch!" as they landed on their butts.
"Ow! What did ah bump into to?" the young filly said as she rubs her head and notices the giant before her, who shook her head in disbelief, and blinked several times at the creature before her.
"Yikes… I wasn't expecting that! That's the second time a pony has crashed into me!" Chris exclaimed as he stood up and patted off the dirt from his body.
"What in Equestria is that!?" the young frilly shrieked as she darted behind Big Macintosh and looks at Chris from behind his leg.
"Applebloom! Ya need to be more careful where you're goin' next time! Ya don't want to bump into somepony like that, now apologize to Chris for bumpin' into him," Applejack spoken up, scolding her younger sister for not paying attention to where she was going.
"Chris? Ya mean that 'human' thingie you've been tellin' us about at dinner the other night?" Applebloom asks as she approached Chris after learning it was the human that Applejack spoke of a couple of days back.
"We talked about this at dinner before, remember Applebloom? I'm glad ya listened, but ya need to apologize to Chris here," Big Mac chimed in, "And don't be late comin' back home from Twist's, alright?"
"WOW!" Applebloom squealed as she happily hopped around Chris studying his appearance as she circled around him, "So this is Chris! It's really nice to meet ya! And sorry about crashin' into ya like that, I'll make sure not to do that again."
"It's OK, no big problem, I'm glad you're not hurt when you crashed into me. Let me properly introduce myself, I'm Chris Corona," the human boy said as he extended out his hand, though Applebllom looked a little hesitant at first by his strange hand to her but grabbed his hand and shook it. As Chris got a closer look at her, he noticed she didn't have a cutie mark and had a blank flank .
"I'm Applebloom, Big Mac and Applejack's little sister!" Applebloom chirped happily, and she looks around his body once again, "How come you're so tall? Where's yer cutie mark? Do humans have one? What's it like back home in yer world? How do you like Equestria?"
"More questions," Chris said with an amused deadpanned look in his eyes.
"Oh! Why are ya and Applejack together? Are ya dating mah sister?" Applebloom asked.
The question came out of the left field so sudden that Chris head shot up in surprise with his eyes widening and a red hue on his face, likewise Applejack let her mouth hang open in shock and her cheeks getting rosy as well.
"I-we-I mean to-um-that is to say-Wha!?" Chris blurted out trying to form a sentence, but Applebloom's question completely caught him off guard.
"Applebloom!" Applejack shouted and glanced at Chris, hoping he wasn't embarrassed by the question, however looked away when Chris looked back at her causing her face to burn even more. She's a little unsure now to look at him after the question as she never really thought about dating before.
"Applebloom! Ya shouldn't be bothering them like that, now run along," Big Mac said trying to diffuse the situation from further embarrassing his sister and Chris.
"Alright, sorry about that," Applebloom's head dropped and then perked up, "Well I'll be off now! I'll see ya around Chris! Bye!"
And the young frilly darted away to go visit her friend.
"T-Thanks Big Mac, I really didn't know what to do as no one has asked that kind of question," Chris sighed in relief.
"Not a problem, so how about we introduce ya to Granny Smith," Big Mac say pointed to an elderly pony sitting in a stair near their house.
"That sounds good," Chris smiled.
"I'll go wake her," Applejack said as she strode off, still haven't gotten Applebloom's question.
"So…," Big Mac spoke up as Applejack walked off on ahead and Chris looked towards him, "What do ya really think of mah sister?"
"WHAT!?" Chris shouted taken aback and thankful that Applejack was ways away from them to her his shouting and as waking up the elderly pony.
"Hahaha! Just messin' with ya," Big Mac laughed.
"That wasn't funny," Chris said un-amused by Big Mac's joke.
"Granny Smith, Granny Smith! Wake up! There's somepony ah want ya to meet!" Applejack gently nudged her grandmother's arm trying to wake her and it worked.
"Eh? What's that ya sayin'? Somepony ya want me to wax?" Granny Smith groggily opened her eyes and muttered something out of her mouth without realizing what she just said.
"No! Ah wanted ya to meet mah good friend, Chris, here," Applejack said pointed to Chris who arrived with Big Mac in tow.
"Oh! Well put it there here, sonny!" Granny Smith said getting a closer look at the human boy before her. She had a lime green-colored coat that looks fragile and wore out, white mane and tail to show her age clearly with a few strands out of place, amber orange eyes with a few crow feet around them, and her cutie mark is that of a baked apple pie . She also had a four-legged crutch next to her which she uses to get around as it seems like she has bad hips and needs the crutches to help her walk.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Granny Smith," Chris bowed to her to show her respect, even back home you should always respect your elders.
"It's nice to meet ya! Oh?" Granny Smith said as she narrowed her eyes and got closer to inspect Chris, causing him to step back a little going "Um…" as he wasn't comfortable with the sudden intrusion of his personal space, "Ya look familiar? Have we met before? Are ya that pony from before?"
"Huh?" Chris opened his mouth in bewilderment. He would remember meeting somepony like her and how did she mistake him for a pony?
"Uh… Granny Smith," Applejack started to say, "Chris is a human from another world and this is his first time in Equestria and this is the first time you've met him."
"Oh, ah see, sorry there deary," Granny Smith smiled, "These ol' eyes aren't what they use to be."
"I don't mind," Chris waved his hands and smiles wryly.
"Oh, that reminds me… I have some pies baking in the ovens, would ya care for one sonny?" Granny Smith offered.
"Pies?"
"Eeyep, some of our best apple pies and there's plenty to go around," Big Mac said.
"Can I really have some?" Chris' eyes shined with delight, hoping to try out the apple pies. He does love his sweets.
"Of course ya can!" Applejack smiled, "And well we're at it I'll show ya more of our home."
"Alright!" Chris smiled happily as he grasps his hands in a pumped up manner. It's OK to time for some lunch, right? And he has plenty of time to go visit Rarity, but now all he can think of was trying out those apple pies.
After eating his fill of the apple pies and saying goodbye to the Apple family, as Applejack had work to do as something known as the 'Applebuck Season' was around the corner soon, and headed back to Ponyville to go see Rarity about getting some new clothes.
Chris wander through the streets of Ponyville looking at all the different shops around as this was the first time he went to venture through the town on his own and along the way he spotted numerous ponies, some he recognized from the party, as they all smiled and waved at him and it seems they have completely gotten used to his presence here despite only being here for about four days. He's still in shock and awe how they can be so opened with him clearly despite the obvious different species issues and hardly know a thing about him.
This wasn't like this back home as he faintly recalls. He remembers the bullies picking on him calling him a 'weirdo' and a 'freak' as well as the girls looking at him with disgust or ignored him. He didn't really understand it, why people hated him. To him, they simply hated for just existing and had no reason whatsoever to hate him or labeled him because of his hobbies. He eyes glanced downward as he recalls the painful memories with the kids laughing at him and him crying alone in his room.
At time he wanted to give up and lock himself in his room and never come out, but his aunt and uncle cheered him up every day of his life. And not only that, but some of the neighbors helped him out as well and it made him happy and so in turn he wanted to make other people happy. He tried his best with the other kids, but they still ignored him however they did become slightly less mean to him. He smiled as he recalls some kids smiling at him and thanking him for helping them out with a few things but still didn't warrant a friend for him. However he was OK with this, even if he burdens himself with all of the pain and sadness of the people around him he'll be happy that they are happy because that's what his name stands for and he's happy to have that name.
Just as he was walking around Ponyville, a sudden dizzy spell hits him which causes him to clench his head in pain and wobble around carelessly. His vision suddenly went double, seeing everything in two, and his felt his body being pulled away from him or he couldn't control his body normally almost having an out-of-body experience. The dizzy spell stopped and he panted.
"What in the name of…? What was that all about?" Chris panted trying to recover from it.
Will you be able to fulfill my request? As you are now and stand, it's too early to assess the situation, but your body as is will do for now, a female voice giggled inside his head, a faint glow of pink flashed before his eyes, a voice that sounded neither friendly or threatening.
The sudden presence of the strange being came and went like the passing wind and Chris stood there dumbfounded, and quite thankful there were no ponies around to see that. However there was something about it that was familiar… like he seen it in a dream, a dream inside an ocean of darkness .
What was that? That voice sounded familiar, but what did she mean about my current body? I recall being at the computer, working on something in my room, and then a pink light from behind me… Chris thought to himself in a pondering manner unaware of a certain gray object heading for him.
*CRASH*
"Wow! Again!? What's up with ponies crashing into me?" Chris yelled out as he landed on his butt again rubbing his template.
"Oh! I'm sorry about that! I just don't know what happened!" said a strangely deep, yet definitely feminine voice as Chris turns to see the speaker. It was a gray-colored female Pegasus, with a light yellow mane and tail, three bubbles on her flank as her cutie mark which he isn't sure what they represent as her talents, and her eyes were yellow but the most distinctive feature of hers that Chris notices wasn't her odd cutie mark but her eyes appeared crossed-eye!
Chris had to rub his eyes to double check to make sure he was seeing this right, but she indeed had crossed-eyes and Chris was starting to think maybe the crash into him was the cause of her eyes appearing crossed-eyed all of a sudden.
"Oh! You're Chris, aren't you?" the gray Pegasus said looking mighty happy and beamed a friendly smile to him. Chris was taken aback as he wasn't expecting her to be so friendly all of a sudden like that, "Oops, I forgot I bumped into you. Sorry about that."
The Pegasus smiled sheepishly as Chris waved his hands in front of him to let her know it's alright, "I don't mind, don't worry about it. However what were you doing before you crashed in to me?"
Chris noticed a bag around her neck, and sees a sack fill of mail, and it seems like she's a mailpony of the sort.
"Me? Well I'm doing my job of delivering everypony's mail to them, but right now I'm on break but one of letters blew right out of my bag and I was chasing after it! I guess I wasn't paying attention where I was going," the Pegasus giggled but apologized for her clumsiness.
"I see, and like I said it's alright," Chris wryly smiled.
"How about you join me on my break over at Sugercube Corner? It'll be my treat!" the gray Pegasus said as she took her hooves around Chris' arm and started to pull him along the way.
"Huh?" Chris taken by surprise, "It's alright! I'm supposed to be meeting one of my friends soon, and you don't have to really!"
"Nonsense! Besides it will only be for a few minutes, surely you're friend wouldn't mind the wait!" the Pegasus smiled and introduced herself, "And by the way, my name is Derpy Hooves , and it's nice to be friends with you!"
Ignoring his protest, Derpy dragged Chris all the way to Sugercube Corner, the giant gingerbread-house, that Twilight showed him during the tour when he left the hospital. As they enter the place, Chris was a bit surprised with the layout. There was a counter, with baked goods on display through the windows under the counter, and a kitchen off to the side that clearly shows where they bake their goods and manage their store but on the other side appeared to be more of a living room or lounge most suited for a family living together and stairs leading up the other floors. It's obvious this is someone's home but it was a bit of a surprise for Chris to see the interior design like this but found it very cool.
"Welcome to Sugercube Corner! How may I help you?" a loud and excitable voice bombarded the room, and there's only one pony Chris knows of who's that energetic. Chris looks over to the counter and sees the familiar pink pony who thrown him the party last night, Pinkie Pie.
"Ah! Chris, you're here!" Pinkie Pie squealed as she suddenly appeared in front of Chris, who in turn blinked and jump back spooked by her unbelievable speed as he didn't see her coming like that, "Ooh, does that mean you want to hang out with me! Or maybe you want to bake goods with me! This is so exciting! I'm so super-duper-happy that you're here now bestest-best-friend ever!"
"H-Hi Pinkie…," Chris stuttered a bit as he gave her a friendly hello wave, still not use to her rambunctious personality.
"Hi Derpy! How are you? What brings you in today, the usually? Ooh! And it looks like you and Chris are bestest-best-friends already too! Yay, that's great news! Now can I take your order?" Pinkie Pie says as she does a cartwheel back behind the counter. Honestly where does she get her energy from?
"How about a plate of chocolate chip muffins? I want to treat my friend Chris here after bumping into him like I did," Derpy said.
"Again, Derpy?" Pinkie Pie giggled as Derpy replied back with a sheepishly smile.
"Chocolate chip muffins…?" Chris' eyes shined with delight, he loves chocolate but he doesn't feel too happy that Derpy's paying for him but this time is alright, right?
"All righty then, coming right up!" Pinkie Pie singed, "While I go get the muffins, you two can take a seat over there, and I'll be right out in just a jiffy."
Pinkie Pie points to the tables and seats near the entrance to the store behind Chris and Derpy, which were all currently vacant to use.
"You sure? You don't mind if we take a seat here, Pinkie Pie?" Chris asked.
Pinkie Pie looked at him like he said a strange question, "Why of course, silly! I do hope you can take a seat!"
"Huh?" Chris blurted out a little confused, something about the way Pinkie Pie said it made it seem like he can't sit for apparently no reason whatsoever.
"Come on, Chris, have a seat!" Derpy gestured to a nearby table and pulled the human boy along with her and took a seat for herself as Chris took one across from her.
"I still feel like, I'm imposing on you, but thanks for treating me," Chris smiled, not sure how to express himself clearly.
"It's no problem at all! Besides I really wanted to talk to you when I got the chance!" Derpy smiled happy to get the chance to talk to Chris as she swings her arms in the air to express her happiness, but manage to knock the napkin box off the table. Surprisingly Chris manage to get it before falling to the ground, and Chris blinked as he unintentionally went for it and placed it back on the table.
"Wow! Nice catch there, Chris!" Derpy pointed out.
"Yeah… I know, I surprised even myself, I didn't really think about catching it at all!" Chris explained as he places the napkin box back on the table.
"Muffins are ready!" Pinkie Pie shouted, delivering a plate filled with chocolate chip muffins on it, and placed it on the table.
"Wow that was fast," Chris blinked as he wasn't expecting the muffins to be done already as he can still see the stream coming off of them.
"Yes siree! Well I hope you enjoy, I'll be right back!" Pinkie Pie said as she bounces away.
"Well dig in, Chris!" Derpy said as she grabs one of the muffins and takes a bit of it.
Chris reaches for one of the muffins, but stops himself and scratches the side of his face remember something earlier.
"Something wrong, Chris?" Derpy asked as she notices that Chris has touched his muffin yet.
"Well Derpy… I wanted to ask… um… did that happen when you crashed into me? I mean your eyes, I mean," Chris hesitantly said, feeling slightly responsible for Derpy's crossed-eye condition.
"Huh? My eyes," Derpy blinked and then smiled, "Oh, no, my eyes were always like this since the day I was born."
"Really?" Chris answered surprised.
"Yup! But I can make them look straight as well, check them out!" Derpy exclaimed showing her eyes looking normal and straight at Chris and then return them back to her 'regular' crossed-eyed appearance, "But I can still see just fine, so don't worry about me!"
"I see," Chris said while thinking about something, "You know, now that I think about it, that's kinda cool! It's like your eyes are like that of a chameleon as you can see in any directions! It's very neat to think about it like that."
"You know, I never thought of it like that, but you're right that is kinda cool!" Derpy laughed.
"I'm so glad you two are getting along!" Pinkie Pie said popping out of nowhere, which caused Chris to jump up from his seat for a moment. It's going to take longer for him to get use to her popping up out of nowhere more so than her speaking manners.
"Yeah, Chris is a really nice guy! I'm happy I got to chance to talk to him," Derpy said sweetly as she smiled, as well as enjoy eating her muffin, "Thanks for taking the time to hang out with me on my break!"
"No problem…," Chris muttered glancing downward to the table, troubled by something.
"Is something wrong, Chris, you haven't touched your muffins yet?" Pinkie Pie asked a little worried.
"It's just that," Chris began to speak, not sure how to explain it, "How are you girls so confident being yourself like that when introducing yourself to others? Aren't you afraid they'll think you're weird or strange and dislike you for it and stay away from you?"
"What do you mean? I'm just being myself and I want everypony I meet to be my friend! That's why I know everypony in this town!" Pinkie Pie smiled, not exactly getting what Chris is saying.
"She means that literally, too," Derpy chimed in, which surprises Chris as he didn't think it was possible for anyone to know everyone in town like that personally but back in the old days it wasn't entirely unheard of.
"Didn't you want to make friends back home?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"Well… I've tried, but I freeze up a bit, even when I tried being myself when I don't express myself clearly enough but nobody back home wanted to be my friend," Chris said sadly and he glances away from the girls, "They always called me weird and strange and didn't want anything to do with me, so I've also been afraid trying to interact with people or introduce myself and I'm afraid of getting hurt in the process as well… so that's why I tend to keep to myself."
"That's horrible!" Pinkie Pie sounded outraged, Chris thought to himself as he couldn't imagine Pinkie Pie ever getting mad given her sweet nature, "Why would anypony do that? Just because you're different from somepony else doesn't mean you should treat them horribly!"
"Pinkie…" Chris stuttered glancing in her direction now.
"I'll admit you're a little weird and strange!" Pinkie Pie smiled, though Chris looked taken aback from the comment, "But that's what I like about you! You're different from me, but you're also a really fun and amazing person and I'm happy to be bestest-best-friends with you! And I also like your mane… I mean, hair! Especially how it fades to white at the tips from black! You're truly amazing and a funny person! Everypony should get to know you and like that about you!"
"My hair?" Chris blinked dumbfounded on that comment as he feels one of the tips of his thread of hair, "Well, to be honest, back home humans' hairs don't fade into another color like this until their old age. My hair, for some reason, naturally fades from one color to the next at the tips which is usually referred to 'frosted-tip hair' however people have to pay to dye their hair like that. I guess the kids were a little jealous that mine's fades away like that."
"But they shouldn't hate for it like that," Derpy spoken up, "Everypony has at least one thing that's different from somepony else, especially our cutie marks, and that shouldn't be the reason to be mean to somepony else. I bet there's people that's weird and strange to you as well, but you still want to be friends with them as well, right?"
Chris ponders that for a bit and nods, "You're right, I did find some people who's like that to me but I did want to be friends with them still. That's surprising insightful Derpy, I wasn't aware of it myself."
"Siree! And you shouldn't be afraid of expressing yourself to others and letting them know what you're like! I want to know what hobbies you like and do and share that with me and my friends, as well as everypony else out that!" Pinkie Pie bounced around happily, "And if you're still don't feel confident about expressing yourself, then I'll help you, because that's what bestest-best-friends do for each other!"
Chris looks to both girls and smiles happily, touched by their concern for him and their words, "Pinkie… Derpy… thank you! I'll try to be more self-confident about myself and try to make more friends."
"Alright! That will be 12 bits!" Pinkie Pie said.
"What?" Chris blinked. What did those words of advice cost something and is 'bits' the currency in this world?
"Oh, that's for the muffins," Derpy said, as she pulled something out from her mailbag's pocket and dropped 12 pieces of gold-colored coins on the table. "Now you better eat up before your muffins get cold! And if you're still hungry I'll get some more!"
"Thank you Derpy," Chris smiled and looked back to the plate of muffins with a hungry look in his eyes, "So you're sure it's alright for me not to pay?"
"Sure thing! I told ya, it's my treat and I still have a few more minutes left on my break!" Derpy sweetly smiled.
Chris feels a little bad still for letting Derpy treat him to these delicious chocolate chip muffins and mentally promises himself to pay her back or treat her to a snack as well, but right now those muffins are calling to him. It's alright, for now right?
Chris licks his lips in anticipation, "Muffins…" as the girls giggled at his excited nature and the twinkle in his eyes.
"Hello, Rarity! I'm here to see about some new duds for me?" Chris called out as he entered Rarity's Carousel Boutique store after saying goodbye to Derpy after she treated him to a plate full of muffins at the Sugercube Corner where Pinkie Pie works at during her break after they're 'encountered' with each other and finished their little snacks together.
As Chris took a look around Rarity's home and shop, he was a bit surprised to see what the inside of the place looked like. He sees several mirrors throughout the room, three of which located on a stylist's salon counter where Chris assumes is where Rarity helps with trimming everypony's mane and tail, a small platform with three mirrors around it to get every angle of the dress the pony wears Chris thought to himself as he's aware of fashion shows like back home, stairs leading up to the next floor, desks and drawers with a sewing machine on it and fabric clothes as well as pony mannequins with pins and needles on a pincushion nearby.
This was the home of a fashion designer indeed and Chris truly felt out-of-place here given he's lack of talent or true understanding of fashion and wore what he liked and felt best on him though he did try to keep it unique with the clothing choices.
"Ah, Chris, you're here! Thank you for stopping by darling," Rarity called out as she emerged from down the steps as she approached Chris who was looking around the place. Chris was about to say hi to Rarity, but was taken aback by her glasses, as he wasn't aware she wore a pair but found that he liked seeing them on her.
"It's not a problem Rarity… um… I hope I'm not interrupting your work or anything," Chris spoke up as he looks around the room.
"Not at all! In fact, I just finished up all of my orders and in my free time I decided to make clothes suited to you and already made a few for you," Rarity smiled happily.
"Already? But you don't know my measurements yet? You can tell just by looking at me?" Chris exclaimed in bewilderment, astonished by Rarity's speed and talents of already doing so.
"Actually I still need to get your proper measurements, but I took a grander at it after making your hospital gown and I think you're going to like some of my designs! Come along, come along, I'll have you outfitted soon enough and I can get some measurements in!" Rarity said with glee, extremely passionate at getting Chris' measurement to start making clothes outfitted for him perfectly and a chance to make a new style of clothing.
"Wait… hold on a second… we're doing it now?" Chris protested as Rarity gently pulls him behind the folding room divider.
"Of course! The sooner, the better, now let's get started deary!" Rarity said as she got him behind the divider and levitated a measuring tape to her using her magic and started taking Chris' measurements.
She started with his waist, chest, height, length, then arms and legs and made some notes onto her clipboard as Chris was feeling a little queasy with Rarity taking his measurements as Rarity told him to relax and leave everything to her as she'll be gentle with him.
"Fascinating," Rarity muttered to herself as she checks her measurements on Chris in her notes and smiles to herself, "Ooh, I cannot wait until I get started on making your clothes but first I like for you to try out some outfits I made for you already and I like to hear your own input for your outfits since you clearly have good taste in fashion!"
"Not really…," Chris wryly smiled and humbly answered Rarity back.
"Now let's have you try out these clothings!" Rarity smiled as she pulled out a few different clothing.
Chris was surprised with some of them, ranging for a suit tailored to someone of high social standards, casual clothing that Chris normally doesn't wear, a slightly old-fashion dress, and a butler suit. Chris grimaces a bit with the choices as he doesn't normally wear those clothes save for the casual one, but the butler suit has him intrigued. Rarity made him wear the clothing she made for him, and he notices they were slightly too big or loose on him but understandable given that Rarity made these without measuring him first but praised her for making them extremely close to his measurements just by looking at them.
"Um… I have to yes, I'm liking the butler suit one the most," Chris said as Rarity combed his hair back as he wore a black butler suit with a black-matching tie, pants, and press shoes along with white gloves. Chris wonders if there's a pony equivalent to these clothes given that Rarity made them without prior knowledge of human clothing which makes Chris believe she's the best fashion designer in the entire world.
"Hmm… as I thought, I was a little off, but you absolutely look darling in them! What do you think? Do you like them?" Rarity said as she glanced at all sides of Chris when he tried out all of the clothing she made for him.
"Though I have to say, honestly, they're not my type but I really do like this butler suit you made for me! And those blue and black casual clothing with the long-sleeved shirt and jeans were nice, too!" Chris smiled happy with Rarity's designs, "You're really talented Rarity!"
Rarity smiled at this, happy to hear that, and then moves Chris over to a table, after he changes back to his regular clothing and his hair back to normal, and places some paper and pencils next to him, "Since you've seen my designs I would like to see your own outfit designs you want me to make for you, but if it's not too much trouble to ask. If you're not comfortable with drawing you can tell me and I'll draw the design and make them right away!"
"It's OK, I've got this," Chris said feeling very enthusiastic all of a sudden, since it's been awhile for him since he last drew anything. Chris quickly sketched out some simply design choices for his outfit he wants in the future, "Oh yeah, I need to think of some winter clothing too… I'll freeze to death wearing my spring and summer type clothing."
Rarity blinked at the speed and precision of Chris' drawing skills as he already has gone through several pieces of paper within a few minutes, and the drawings were simple sketches but detailed drawing even though the clothing were simply in appearance.
"Amazing!" Rarity breathed in astonishment, "I have no idea you were such a talented artist! Your drawings are beautiful!"
Rarity looked at the first picture, with was the same as Chris' outfit but was colored in green for the jacket along with a chain accessory to the side of the shorts adding a little extra something to the design. It was still simple, but it was very eye-catching and unique and Rarity found something quite amazing in such a simple design despite her going for the highest quality in appearance for the best.
"I'm not that good," Chris shyly said, "And is this good enough? How much will I have to pay you when they're done?"
"You don't owe me a thing, darling!" Rarity smiled as she looks over the designs quite impressed by them.
"Wha-?! But I can't take these for free!"
"Ah, but you already paid me darling," Rarity said with a serious glee in her eyes as she smiled, which Chris blinked in confusing, "You have paid me with your uniqueness, allowing me the chance to make something entirely new, and your designs are simply marvelous! I do hope you stick around and help me with my fashion, I could use your talent as you'll be a big help with your skills! Though you will have to pay in the future, but when you get your first set of clothes it will be free."
"Thank you, Rarity," Chris smiled.
"You're welcome," Rarity smiled back as she continue to look at the designs, "By the way, I've been wondering about this for some time now, you seem to fiddle with your pendant from time to time and one of your designs are quite… out there, similar to your pendant."
"I do? Well I've very interested in other cultures, especially the Eastern Culture with its myths and legends as well as some of the clothing there so I guess it got stuck to my head," Chris playfully stick out his tongue and knocked the side of his head, "And this pendant… the symbol is called Yin & Yang which refers to the light and darkness of the world and the balance they present as one cannot exist without the other. This is also… the only memento of my parents that they gave to me before they passed away."
"O-Oh… I see," Rarity's ears drooped down a bit as she heard this.
"It's OK, my aunt and uncle told me my parents loved me very much as they waited the day I was born and gave me this," Chris smiles as he recalls that faint memory, "Even though I could barely remember them, I always brought a smile to their smiles but they passed away due to illness and my family was poor to begin with. But I'm not sad anymore… I have this to remind me of their love and now I have friends for the first time! I'm not alone anymore and I know they're proud of me!"
Rarity gently pulled her hoof on Chris' shoulder and smiles warmly at him, "That's wonderful to hear Chris and I believe that as well."
Suddenly the door to Rarity's shop opens and both Twilight and Applejack walk in, surprising Chris altogether as both he and Rarity draw their attention onto them.
"Twilight, Applejack? This is a surprise, what can I do for you darlings?" Rarity asked.
"Well… we're here to see Chris, since I've been searching him after some time when he went to Applejack's," Twilight explained.
Chris blinked, not sure why Twilight needed to see him all of a sudden, "You need to see me?"
"Yup," Twilight smiled, "Chris, do you remember about Princess Celestia?"
"You mean the co-ruler of Equestria? Yes, why do you ask?" Chris said not getting where this is going.
"Well, I've wrote about you to Princess Celestia since the day you got here and again this morning as she mentions she's really interested about you and wants to meet you, and she's coming by today right now as we speak!" Twilight smiled as it is the highest honor to receive an audience with Princess Celestia.
"Oh! Princess Celestia is coming here? Why this is a great honor, Chris, aren't you happy?" Rarity squealed with delight.
"Easy there, Rarity, Celestia's coming to see him but it's great to see the princess again!" Applejack chimed in.
Chris stood there for several seconds before uttering a word, "So let me get this straight, Princess Celestia is coming to Ponyville?"
"Yes," Twilight answered.
"Since you've told her about me?"
"Yeah," Twilight nodded getting a little nervous.
"And she wishes to meet me and is on her way here soon?" Chris said with that same calm, but deadpanned tone in his voice.
"Um… Yeah, as well as check up on me and my friends," Twilight said now completely nervous, and Applejack and Rarity could feel the awkwardness in the air too by Chris' strange behavior.
Chris' face suddenly goes pale and his eyes shrink with terror in them causing all of the girls in the room to look worried and scared for his sudden transaction of expression.
"Oh dear, Chris is something the matter?" Rarity was the first to ask as she reached her hoof out to him.
"Sugercube, are ya alright?" Applejack also asked in concern for her friend.
Chris suddenly bolts out the door, before any of them could tell what just happened, as Chris shouts, "THIS IS BAD, THIS IS BAD, THIS IS BAD ! WHAT AM I GOING TO DO!?"
The girls just stood there, gawking at the door where Chris exited from. Applejack was the first to get out of her daze and clear her throat and asks at to nopony in particular as all of the girls were looking at each other, "Just what in tarnation was that all about?"
"I have no idea why Chris did that," Twilight said as she bolts out of the store with Rarity and Applejack in tow, "But we have to find him and calm him down before Princess Celestia gets here or it will be a disaster!"
Currently at Twilight's place, Spike is cleaning up the place after the breakfast and Twilight's studies as he's climbing a ladder to the top to place some of the books Twilight was reading earlier away after she received a letter from Princess Celestia after sending a letter to her sometime after. After placing the books back into their shelves, Spike takes out a feather duster and dusts the dust away until the door suddenly burst opened.
Chris Corona comes rushing in, clearly in distress and panic, and Chris shuts the door behind him making a loud bam that the sudden intrusion nearly knocks Spike off the ladder. However, because flow of action was so sudden some of the books that were sticking out of the shelves fall off.
"The books!" Spike cried out, as Chris unexpectedly catches all the books that fell balancing them on his knee and hand, and grabbing the rest with his hands.
Spike does a double-take as he was totally caught off guard by it, "Wow! That was awesome man, how did you do that?"
"I d-didn't even mean to do it! I just did!" Chris exclaimed, still in a panic, "And by the way Spike, can you get these books please?"
"Oh! Sure thing!" Spike rushes over to Chris, after sliding down the ladder, and grabbing the books off of him and placing them back to where they belong. "So, what's wrong dude? Why you in such a panic? Did Twilight find you yet?"
"That's the thing, Spike!" Chris shouted still freaking out, "Twilight, along with Applejack, came to see me and told me that Princess Celestia is coming to see ME of all people!"
"Princess Celestia? That's great! She's really nice and kind! I know you'll love her, she's really amazing!" Spike smiled happy for his friend that he gets to meet the Princess of Equestria.
"But that's the problem, Spike! I don't know how I should act around her! She's royalty man!" Chris exclaims as he paces around the room, starting to make a trench in the floor, "What if I do something wrong and upset her or unintentional insult her without meaning to! I've never met a princess before!"
"Wow, you sound like Twilight on a bad day," Spike comments, "First of all, you got to relax dude! If you stress yourself out it's not going to be healthy for you."
"Alright, alright… I'll calm down," Chris took in deep breathe, relaxing himself.
"And I know Princess Celestia personally, so don't worry about it and be yourself," Spike tells his buddy, "She's love ya the way you are and you'll love her right back just like everypony here in Equestria. She's really great, I'm telling ya!"
"OK, I feeling better now," Chris finally calms himself, "Thank you Spike, I needed that."
"No problem man!" Spike smiles.
*KNOCK* *KNOCK*
There's a knock at the door as the boys both look at and then at each other.
"Twilight must be back already," Spike says.
"No worries, I'll get the door. I need to apologize to Twilight for freaking out on her like that anyway," Chris said as he opens up the door, "Welcome back, Twilight! About early, I'm sorry for running… huh?"
However, the pony that was at the door wasn't Twilight, but a majestic white-colored pony with flowing multiple color mane and a tail consent of the colors light cerulean, light turquoise, very light cobalt blue, and pale heliotrope with a pair of magenta eyes staring at Chris. The human boy noticed she both had a horn and a pair of wings, meaning she is a Winged Unicorn or an Alicorn as another term, and she was nearly the same height as him though he was slightly taller than her and not only that Chris spotted a necklace of sorts around her neck and a crown onto of her head and Chris realizes who it is that's beforehand. And to top it all off her cutie mark is that of a stylish sun with yellow and orange colors.
Chris gulped as he wasn't expecting to meet her so soon, even though this was the first time meeting her he knew who she's suppose to be, and with him still not entirely ready yet was causing him to stress out again.
"Greetings, you must be the human boy Chris Corona I assume?" the elegantly Pegasus unicorn said kindly, "I am Princess Celestia of Equestria and it is my pleasure to finally meet you."
Meanwhile in Ponyville, Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity rounded up the rest of their friends as Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy join them of searching for Chris throughout Ponyville after his little panic attack back at Rarity's Carousel Boutique store and home.
"Where could of Chris ran off, too?" Twilight asks to nopony in particular as they search every nook and cranky of Ponyville's streets looking for their human friend.
"Well ah wasn't expectin' him to bolt off like that, ah tell ya. Though he is quite the runner," Applejack comments as she asks everypony around if they saw Chris which none of them done.
"Hah, now that's a sight I would've love to see! I wonder how fast he is!" Rainbow Dash giggled, not taking the situation too seriously and more curious about Chris' athletic abilities given his previous status as a book worm. However Twilight glances at Rainbow Dash in a scolding manner, "But, finding Chris is our first priority."
"Goodness graces I do hope he's alright, he looked quite spook when it happened," Rarity speaks up recalling Chris' early reaction.
"So what exactly happened? Why he freaked out all of sudden?" Rainbow Dash inquiry curious on why Chris freaked out and ran.
"Well, all I did was tell him that Princess Celestia was coming to Ponyville today and she wanted to see him," Twilight answered, "And his face went pale and ran out saying 'This is bad! What am I going to do?' which I'm not sure why he say that."
"Maybe…," Fluttershy spoken up, catching everypony's attention, "This is the first time Chris has ever met a princess and isn't exactly sure how to act around her. I mean, he's going to meet a very important pony and princess after all, if I were him I would be spooked too."
"Ah! I didn't think about that at all!" Twilight cried out now realizing it, "When I first met Princess Celestia it was so sudden that I was so surprised and honor I didn't know what to do and say! How could I have not realized it? Poor Chris, I should've let him known ahead of time! We have to find him before Princess Celestia gets here first!"
"But we have no idea where he went!" Rainbow Dash said.
"Silly fillies!" Pinkie Pie said as she hops around carefree, "Chris didn't run away, he just went someplace else! It's obvious where he went!"
Everypony stopped in their tracks and look at each other and then back to Pinkie Pie, completely dumbfounded.
"What do you mean? Where else could he have-," Twilight started to say until it donned on her, "Oh! That's where he went! It has to be my house ! Come on girls, follow me! I hope it's not too late!"
Back at Twilight's house, Chris has started making some tea for Princess Celestia as she took a sit in the lounge area along with Spike whom the two were discussing how everything is between the two of them at the Canterlot Castle and at Ponyville as Chris came out of the kitchen and placed the plate of tea for three on the small table near them.
Even now Chris is still nervous around the princess as he's still not entirely sure how to respond but he's determine to be myself like Spike suggested and remembers from his earlier conversation with Derpy and Pinkie Pie to have confident in myself as well.
"Why thank you, Chris, you didn't have to," Princess Celestia smiled as levitated the cup of tea with her magic and brought it to her muzzle and took a sip, "Oh my, this is quite delicious!"
"W-Well I learned from my aunt when I helped her with brewing tea or making food," Chris said after taking a sip of his own tea as he sat across from the princess.
"So…," Princess Celestia started to speak, getting right to the heart of the matter as Chris tightens his grip on his chair, "How are you doing here in Ponyville? Have you adjusted already to your new surroundings? And how are you getting along with Twilight and her friends?"
"Oh, well… I…" Chris stuttered.
"Come on, dude, just relax and be yourself," Spike whispered to Chris to encourage him, as the boy in question nodded.
"I've adjusted pretty quickly to Ponyville and I love it here! Everyone… um… everypony here is so friendly and nice to me words can't describe my feelings of gratitude for them after they welcomed me into their town and took care of me with open arms," Chris smiled recall his first day in Ponyville as his best memory, "And about Twilight and her friends, they've been really great! Out of all the ponies here those six have been the most kindest to me and really help me get on my feet since I got here and I owe them everything."
"I see, I'm glad to hear it," Princess Celestia smiled, "I don't see any problems with you staying here and your welcome to stay in Equestria as long as you want."
"Why thank you, princess!" Chris stuttered with happiness.
"Please, you don't have to be so formal, you may call me Celestia if you want," the Princess of the Sun smiled, "Though I am curious, how did you find yourself in Equestria? Do you remember anything at all?"
Chris recounts how he started falling in the sky when he woke up in Equestria, landing in a lake, how Twilight and her friends found him, being taking care of by Nurse Redheart at the Ponyville Hospital, and the rest of his time here in Ponyville until today as well as his memory loss.
"Interesting…," Princess Celestia mutters to herself, "I will look into this matter myself and see if I can find a way to return you back home."
"O-Oh, I see," Chris replied back hesitantly, he's happy that there might be a chance he might go home but at the same time he wishes to stay here with his new friends which was a difficult decision. Princess Celestia caught this and smiled to herself, she knows what he is thinking and she leaves him with the decision to choice which path he will take when the time comes.
"Well then, since I still have a little bit more free time, is there anything you like to discuss with me? I wouldn't mind getting to know you a bit more personally," Princess Celestia encouraged Chris to talk with her.
Chris ponder it to himself, thinking of something to ask and comes up with something, "Celestia… if it's not too much to ask, can you tell me a little bit about yourself and what you do at Canterlot Castle? Just to get a better idea of the world as well, you know."
The Princess giggled, "Very well, what I do at the castle is oversee the affairs of the pony communities all throughout Equestria as well as oversee my prized student's, Twilight Sparkle, studies and attend various meeting to discuss the welfare of all pony kind and seeing what way to help everypony. And my most important job is to rise the sun to start the day while my younger sister, Princess Luna, rises the moon as I lower the sun."
"Wait… what?" Chris blinked, clearly dumbfounded by what the princess just said, "You… rise the sun?"
"Yes," Princess Celestia answered with a smile, "It's one my responsibilities and something I do every day. I take it your world doesn't have anyone to rise and lower the sun and the moon?"
"Nope…," Chris said, still in shock with that bit of information… he wasn't expecting that! "Our world, or planet to say, orbits around the sun and the moon orbits around the Earth so night and day change on their own in my world. Though, there were ancient Greek legends about gods and goddess doing such a feat but no one does that back home."
"I see," Princess Celestia noted.
"That sounds weird," Spike finally speaks up after listening to their conversation for so long, but chose not to disturb them.
"And… is that all you really do at the castle?" Chris asked expecting a bit more.
"Nope, that's basically it, though I do occasionally come down from the castle to visit the pony folk but they tend to throw me parties and go overboard with the formalities," Princess Celestia said with a slight sigh and giggle.
"I see," Chris blinked, "Not to be rude or anything, but that sounds… dull."
"Chris!" Spike exclaimed clearly not expecting him to say that, but to the young dragon's surprise the princess actually giggled to that.
"I can't argue with that," the princess laughed.
"So… don't you ever have fun, like normally as everyone else does?" Chris asked, at this point not caring if she's royalty or not he just finds it sad that she doesn't enjoy herself that much as everypony else, "Don't you ever, I don't know, go out for the day not being a princess and just relaxing with friends?"
Princess Celestia blinked, this was the first time anypony or in this case anyone had asked such a thing of her but smiled at his reason, "Not exactly, duties and all, but I thank you for your concern however it's a little hard in my case getting everypony to treat me as they normally would with their friends."
"You don't mind, if I treat like you a friend except a princess?" Chris blurted out unintentionally, and slapped his hands over his mouth as he realized what he said and Spike gawked him as well, "T-That is too say… not like treating you NOT a princess, but still not caring about your status… I mean, just a really close friend… I mean as dear as a friend would be… I… aw man."
Spike tried his best to stuff his laughter in because of Chris' clumsy attempt to recover from his 'mishap' however the Princess wasn't angry at all but gave out a hearty laughter and enjoyed Chris' attempt to treat her equally like everypony else and not a princess all the time.
"Ha ha ha, I see," the princess smiled and giggled, "I thank you for expressing your honestly Chris and I look forward to just be 'normal' friends with each other."
"Sweet!" Chris pumped himself and both Spike and Princess Celestia looked at him curiously, "What? It's not every day I get to meet a princess… well I know what I said earlier… but being friends with one is awesome! T-That is too say… guys usually dream about meeting and rescuing a princess from the evil lord… wait, wait, wait! I didn't mean it like that! I'm not the Hero of Time or anything like that anyway!"
Both Spike and Celestia giggled again, he has a way to make everyone laugh and have a good time. Spike was the one to speak up, "Really? And why's that? Why so interest in princesses! And what's this 'hero of time ' you're talking about?"
"Well you see, there's this game where you play a forest boy in green clothing with a fairy that journeys across the world to save the land and the princess from an evil lord," Chris explains, his face burning up as he continued to talk, "And the name of the game is named after the princess despite the main character being the boy in green who the players get to name themselves, and basically he travels through time to save the world. In a way it's every guys' dream to meet a princess, even if it's childish and not a lot of people believe in that as there are no princesses in my countries but in other countries outside where I learn."
"I see, that's certainly quite interesting," Princess Celestia, "Does that mean you want to be my 'knight'?"
"I-WHAT!?" Chris blurted out in embarrassment, "T-That's…"
"I'm just kidding," Princess Celestia laughed, showing her playful side, "Though the offer still stands if you want to take it."
"Oh brother," Chris said deflated with a half-amused expression, "I shouldn't have say anything."
Spike nudges Chris in his side, "So… does that mean you like Princess Celestia in that way?"
"SPIKE!"
The three of them laughed and continued their conversation with each other as the sun was getting closer to setting.
As Twilight and her friends make it to her place to, hopefully, find Chris before Celestia arrives in Ponyville, getting a little worried that she might get in trouble with the princess if she makes her wait too long.
"We have to hurry! Before Celestia gets here!" Twilight shouted as she dashed even faster to her place.
"Ooh, lookie it's Princess Celestia's chariot!" Pinkie Pie giggled in a singing manner as she pointed to the princess' chariot with the two guardspony nearby.
"WHAT?!" Everypony cried and stopped dead in their tracks when they saw the chariot.
Twilight was the first to freak out, her face appearing calm and relax but anypony could tell up close that her eyes shrink in panic and had a nervous smile plaster on her face along with a few strands of her hair pointing out of place.
"OK, Princess Celestia is already here and I failed to notice or greet her," Twilight nervously chuckled, "That's not a bad thing… as long as we find Chris first to calm him down and help him get ready to meet her everything will be fine."
Everypony could hear the cackling in her voice as Applejack approached, "Are ya alright sugercube? Ya don't look so good."
"Oh! Princess Celestia must be at Twilight's house waiting which is where Chris is! Oh, I wonder how they're getting along," Pinkie Pie smiled as she bounced ahead.
"Oh…," Twilight stuttered. This is bad, if Chris really is at her house and the princess was there too where Chris is still being in a panic state this will make it seems like Chris is an utter weirdo and strange which isn't what he's like and Twilight doesn't want the princess to think that!
Just then, the door to Twilight's house opens, and Princess Celestia and Chris emerge from it and to the strange sight to the ponies were laughing together and seemingly having a good time with each other's company. The princess spots Twilight and her friends and approaches them with a warm smile.
"Hello, everypony, it's lovely to see you all once again. I take it you're all enjoying yourself together and everything is fine?" Princess Celestia asks as Twilight and her friends bowed before her.
"Why, yes, Princess Celestia everything is fine!" Twilight said, "Though we were looking for Chris, after he… was excited to hear you were coming and wanted to get ready for your arrival. It slipped my mind when he could've gone and I forgot to welcome you to Ponyville when you got here, and for that I apologize."
"There's no need to be so formal, Twilight," Princess Celestia smiled, "It's alright and besides I got to chat with Chris here, and I must say he's quite a delightful, charming, sweet, kind, and funny person and I enjoyed his company. He definitely knows how to put a smile on anypony's face and I felt quite comfortable around him."
The comment causes Chris to blush and looked down at his feet, kicking the dirt a little. Twilight sighed with relief to hear that and was even more happy to hear that the Princess and Chris got along swimmingly.
"Well, my time is about up as I must head back to the castle but I expect to hear more about you, Twilight, as well as Chris here and your friends," Princess Celestia said as she turns her attention towards Chris, "And Chris, again, it was a pleasure to meet you and I hope you enjoy your stay in Equestria and like I said I'll look into the events that brought you to this world."
"Thank you princess," Chris smiled, "And one more thing."
Everypony was curious to know what he was doing, but Princess Celestia seemed to know as she smiled a bit wider, as Chris took a bow and spoke in a mock knight voice, "Until we meet again, my princess."
"And, as to you, my brave knight," Princess Celestia says as she does a bow as well.
Everypony blinked in confusion at this little scene between the two as both Chris and Princess Celestia as the two shared a laugh together, as Princess Celestia steps onto her chariot.
"Until we meet again, my little ponies," the Princess of the Sun said as she took off back to her castle.
"That went a lot more smoothly than I thought," Chris said out loud as Twilight and her friends circled around him.
"Chris… what was that about?" Twilight said still a little stunned from the act both the Princess and Chris did, "And tell me, how did it went? Was everything alright?"
"My, it seems the princess was quite taken with you! You're quite the charmer," Rarity teased with a giggle.
"Hey, so what was that all about, between you and the Princess?" Rainbow Dash got in his face and gave a sly grin, "You seem a little too close with the princess there. What's that all about?"
"Hold it, hold it! It's nothing like that!" Chris quickly defended himself, "Let's get inside! I'll tell you what happened!"
Everypony quickly entered Twilight's house to hear the details of Chris' conversation with the Princess, with Spike also helping out with, but before Chris could go back inside the house a thought disturbed him.
Just what was that voice from earlier before going on about? What about my body? I wonder… this feeling… is that voice and however I got into Equestria related? And when the times comes, do I decide to go back home to my family that loves me or do I decide to stay here with my new friends and start a new life here?
EPISODE 3 END
Author's Note
Hey there! This one was tricky to write as I tried my best to keep the story under 10,000 words but to get the point across with this chapter I had to go with this length. Going by how my story first appeared with over 18,000 words long before I split it into two chapters I could see that it's too much of a wall of text to read and I want to limit the length of each chapter so it's not a hassle or a chore to read. I hope you didn't mind the length of this chapter and find it enjoyable. Sorry, didn't exactly proofread this time around.
First off, I like to mention most of my story's scenes were inspired by SHONENJUMPBOY 's story My Little Pony and Human: Friendship is Magic over at FanFiction and I got his permission regarding these scenes and incorporating them into my story but I fear they're a bit TOO similar with them at times and though the early scenes are similar I'm going with a more different route next time in the future with my story so it doesn't burrow too much from his story and I feel bad about doing it too, especially chapter 2. Though I ask permission AFTER the fact on FanFiction but he forgave me and said it was OK and I promised him not to do it again and he greatly enjoys my story a lot and even ask to do a little crossover story between our characters one day so all's well that ends well here and I manage to gain a new friend!
Also I see that some people find my Human character unrealistic (over at FanFiction), then again I did have a Japanese Anime archetype in my mind when making him which is also the fact I have him interest with Eastern culture as I wrote in this chapter, however I want him to be a pure-hearted and playful, happy-go-lucky guy that goes with the flow and I don't really intent to change his character but I'll try to get more insight on his feelings on the situation and give him a little more depth to his character.
And like I said, I promised Derpy, and here's Derpy in this chapter! I will continue to focus on certain background ponies or ponies with less importance to the stories and I have Derpy Hooves, Miss Cheerliee, and Nurse Redheart planned to interact with Chris so more so expect character central chapters on them in the future as well as Octavia as I've grown fond of her recently. And next, will be the Applebuck Season episode chapter, the first of the Episode Central Chapters, and will continue on them throughout the Season 1 story though not ALL episodes will be worked on. Also I hope I got both Derpy and Princess Celestia's personality down just right, please let me know if I did anything wrong.
That's it for now, and I hope you can continue to read this story and enjoy it! I can't wait until the Season 2 arc where the story really picks him on Chris' mysterious arrival in Equestria!
This is VirusChris signing off! Believe it, dattebayo!
My Little Pony: Courage of Corona
EPISODE 4: Applebuck Season
"Boy howdy! Ah got mah work cut out for me," Applejack speaks out loud as takes a look yonder at fields of apple trees as far as the eyes can see, "That there is the biggest bumper crop a' apples ah ever laid eyes on."
"Eeyup," Big Mac agrees, who's standing right next to Applejack, as he views the field of apple trees with her, and added what he really thought of the situation, "Too big for you to handle on yer own."
Applejack just giggles and playful nudges her brother in the side, "Come on, big brother! Ya need to rest up and get yourself better. Ah haven't met an apple orchard yet that ah can't handle."
However Applejack nudged Big Mac's in the wrong spot, where he has his cased around his sides and belly from where he injured himself earlier before, and the red pony glares at Applejack in irritation letting his sister know that she hit his sore spot.
"Oops, sorry," Applejack apologized and then looks back to the apple field, "I'll take a bite out of this job by day's end!"
"Biting off more than you can chew is just what I'm afraid of," Big Mac nonchalantly said.
Applejack takes offense to what Big Mac said and glares at him, "Are ya sayin' my mouth is makin' promises my legs can't keep?"
"Eeyup," Big Mac answered back truthfully.
"Why of all the-," Applejack stomps in protest and outrages at her brother, "This is your sister Applejack, remember? The loyalist of friends and the most dependable of ponies? "
Applejack gets right in Big Mac's face as she says this, getting her point across, but even with her brother slightly backing away he's still unconvinced, "But still only one pony, and one pony plus hundreds o' apple trees just doesn't add up…"
Applejack wouldn't hear another word and she interrupts her and points her hoof at him to let him know she will not hear any of this, "Don't ya use yer fancy mathematics to muddle the issue! Ah said ah could handle this harvest and I'm gonna prove it to ya!"
"I'm gonna get every last apple out of those trees this apple season," Applejack said proudly as she looks across the acre of apple trees, "All by myself! "
However as she takes one last look of the hundreds of trees she said will do, a look of uncertain appears in her eyes and hides this from her brother as she gulps. Surely this isn't going to be too hard now will it?
EPISODE 4: Applebuck Season
"Well ah better get kickin', these apples aren't going shake themselves outta the trees," Applejack says as she approaches one of the apple trees with her baskets ready to harvest.
In that moment, the ground starts to shake and one of the apples on the tree shakes and falls off landing right on Applejack's head.
"Hey!" Applejack complained until she looked in the other direction and realized what was happening, "Oh no!"
Applejack then starts galloping away as fast as she could as she heads towards Ponyville.
The morning rays of light beam through the curtains as the young man wakes up to greet the day again, slipping out of his bed, grabbing his clothes, and heading downstairs to have breakfast. It was a day like any other day, but something felt off… he couldn't quite place it but today he felt happier than he's ever been and he doesn't know why. The feelings of dark rainclouds over his head had suddenly vanished from the other day as he welcomes the day with renewed vigorous.
And as he comes into the kitchen, both his aunt and uncle greet him like usually. His uncle's long black hair that past his shoulder and gentle brown eyes looked at his nephew and smiled happily as the aunt with her amber brown hair, tied in a long braid and over her right shoulder, gazes at her nephew with her amber eyes as he comes downstairs. The two were a little astonish to see him up and about and looking more chirper than usually, considering the other day, but are happy nonetheless to see him smiling.
As he sits down to have breakfast with them, they asked how he was feeling today. For some reason, the day feels… different, separate, one ahead of the other or the other way around. Time feels like an illusion here as the boy doesn't know how to answer that… what he dreamt last night, was it real or a dream? Or maybe the dream is the true reality and the ones in reality are simply dreaming a dream.
As the boy begins to tell his aunt and uncle… the feeling of nostalgia washes over and everything blurs away as he talks to his family… about a brighter world than their world.
" Wake up… the connection is complete, there's no need to see that plane of existence at the moment," a feminine voice calls out from a strange pink glow.
Chris finds himself in his sleeping bag of sorts, or a futon as he likes to call it, which consists of a single layer of blanket for the bottom, a pillow, and a comforter to cover himself with. He stretches and yawns as he remembers he's currently staying with Twilight at her house and is currently sharing a room with both her and Spike, a baby dragon he's become close friends with, as he slowly gets out and grabs his clothes off to the side. His clothes are clean and dried as Twilight volunteered to clean them herself which Chris gladly accept and thanked her for, but wishes to clean his own clothes from now on.
As he finishes getting his clothes on, he stops and ponders to himself a bit over the meaning of his dream last night. The dream is very much how he wakes each day back home to greet his aunt and uncle, though something felt off though. Was it a memory of his past that he was dreaming? It felt like it as there were days like that, but at the same time was almost entirely new to him. He shrugs it off, including the same female voice from same time as there's no use to pondering it at the moment.
With a bundle of energy Chris makes his way downstairs without haste to be greet by his good friends Twilight and Spike, whom both have decided to let him live with them which he cannot thank enough for.
"Well, someone seems to have a lot of energy this morning," Twilight playfully teases as Chris jumps from the stairs to land downstairs perfectly.
"Mornin' Twilight, mornin' Spike!" Chris calls out happily.
"Morning, to you too, buddy," Spike smiles, "Slept well?"
"Yup," Chris smiles back thinking there's no point in telling him about his dream last night. It was probably part of his memory coming back to him as he's starting to remember certain things in his life.
"Well this is perfect timing," Twilight speaks up drawing both Chris and Spike's attention, "Since it's going to be a quiet day and nothing to take your attention away, Chris, I think it's about time I start having you read about Equestria's history and world with the books I've select for your lessons today."
"What?" Spike calls out, "On a beautiful day like this? Can't me and Chris go out and do something together? I'm quite happy there's another guy in our group so I can hang out with, and he can learn about Equestria's history and any other day."
"It's OK, Spike," Chris says, "The sooner I'll learn about this world, the better, and then after we can play. Work hard, play hard. By the way, how many books am I going to read today?"
"I'm glad you agree," Twilight smiles as she levitates a stack of books onto the table, quite large books as well, "And we're going to read all 22 books on Equestria's history and everything there is too know about our world."
Chris cringed a little when he saw all those books, he loved a good book as to the next book lover but isn't that a lot for the first day?
"Wow, Twilight… that's a lot," Chris stutters a bit surprise to see that many books, including how big some of them were, "Can't we start slow with, like, two books a day?"
"Nope," Twilight said sternly, "The sooner we get you up to speed with everything the better."
Chris sighs in defeat, until he remembers something he forgot to mention earlier, "Oh yeah, before I forget, there's something I forgot to mention the other day."
Twilight and Spike perk up as he says this as he pulls something out of his pocket, a golden ticket and both of them realized what it is, "When I was talking to Princess Celestia when she came to visit she gave me this ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala as she said it would be an honor for me to attend and she would be happy as well. She's seemed to like me enough to trust me to go to such a place, but… what's a Grand Galloping Gala ?"
Twilight jumped for joy as she heard this, "This is amazing, Chris! You get to go to the Galloping Gala with me and my friends, this is exciting! I'm really glad the princess trusts and likes you so much to have you attend with us!"
"Finally! Another guy to hang out," Spike smiles, and Twilight gives him a sly look, "Well… I… mean it's nice to have another guy to talk to so I won't be so bored as such a girly frilly frou-frou event, but I feel sorry for Chris he has to go to."
"Sure you are, Spike," Twilight rolls her eyes playfully knowing full well that Spike doesn't mean it and is also excited to go to the Grand Galloping Gala and both are extremely happy to hear Chris will be coming as well… if he doesn't return home beforehand. In fact if they find out a way for him to return home they could have the Grand Galloping Gala as the perfect farewell party for him.
"That's great in all, but what's a Grand Galloping Gala like I was saying?" Chris asked, still a little confused about it.
"Oh! Sorry about that," Twilight looked at Chris with an apologized expression, with a hint of half-amusement, as she clears up her throat and begins to speak, "Well, for starters, the Grand Galloping Gala is an annual royal ball attended by primarily high-class ponies, which is basically a big party with dancing, snacks, and such as well as exploring around the Canterlot Castle grounds which the gala is held once a year by Princess Celestia herself."
"I see," Chris said though he didn't seem too enthusiastic about it, "Are you sure, someone like me should attend such a fancy place? I'm not one for large crowds, especially one of the higher societies, and I don't know if it will be a lot of fun."
"Don't be silly, of course it will be fun!" Twilight reassured Chris, "And besides all of us will be there so it will be even better!"
"If you say so," Chris gives in, though still obviously wry of going to such a place.
Suddenly the ground started to shake.
"Huh?" Chris said out loud as the shaking got worse, "What is this?"
"I don't know," Twilight said as she starts vibrating because of the shaking.
"I think it's coming outside," Spike pointed out.
"Let's go check it out," Chris said as he recklessly charges out of the front door to see what the fuss is about.
"Chris, wait! That's dangerous!" Twilight yells worried as she and Spike chase after him.
In Ponyville, Rainbow Dash flies above the town to take a look what's causing the shaking throughout Ponyville as they can hear the sound of whatever it is drawing closer to Ponyville in a cloud of debris. And just then Rainbow Dash spotted what was causing the small tremor, a herd of cows!
"STAMPEDE! " Rainbow Dash shouted to alert her fellow pony neighbors from the sky.
The ponies start running away screaming to take cover from the stampeding cows as they drew closer as the ponies lock up their doors and shut their windows. Chris who wanted to know what was causing the tremors earlier stood in the field of masses as the ponies ran away in many directions, causing the boy to look around in worried wondering if he can do something to help them.
"Hey!" Pinkie Pie said as her voice was reverberating due to the tremors and standing in a pose similar to her bouncing around walking as she laughs away, "Thiiiiis maaaaakes myyyyy vooooice sooooound siiiiiiilly!"
"Pinkie, isn't it dangerous right now?" Chris pointed out as the stampede keeps on getting closer, "Though it does look like fun, but this isn't the time nor the place for that, you got to run for it!"
"That goes for you, too," Twilight as she finally catches up to Chris, with Spike on her back, as she grabs Chris arm with her hoof, "We can't stay here, we have to run!"
"But what about…?" Chris tried to ask.
"Chris! This is crazy, we need to find shelter! Don't worry everything will work out…. Hopefully," Twilight said as she pulls Chris along with her.
"Everypony calm down," the mayor of Ponyville spoke up, Mayor Mare a glasses wearing tan-ish Earth pony with a hint of light grayish amber in her coat with a slightly wavy blueish gray mane and moderate phthalo blue eyes, stands in the center of the chaos as she tries to calm the ponies down and spoke in a surprisingly calm voice, "There is no need to panic."
"But Mayor," Rarity says as she approaches Mayor Mare and gestures her hoof in a damsel in distress manner, "Whatever shall we do?"
"Look there!" Rainbow Dash calls out from the skies as everypony looks in the direction where the stampede is.
"YEEHAW!" Applejack is seen with the herd of cows as she runs along with them, as well as her pet dog Winona.
"It's Applejack!" Chris cheered happily.
The ponies in Ponyville cheer Applejack on as she and her dog try to stop the stampede.
"Move aside, Winona," Applejack commands her dog to take the cow's left flank as Applejack takes the right flank, "Put 'em up, girl!"
Winona answered back with a bark as she follows Applejack's lead. Rarity gasps in worry and Pinkie Pie takes out a bag of popcorn, eating it, and enjoying the show, "This is the best rodeo show I've seen."
"Pinkie Pie, where did you get that bag of popcorn?" Chris asked as he blinks, confused where she was hiding her bag of popcorn.
"I always carry an emergency bag of popcorn on me just for these times," Pinkie Pie answers Chris with a giggle, further confusing the boy, as she gestures the popcorn in front of Chris to share, "Why? You want some?"
"Eh…" Chris was unsure to answer as Twilight rolls her eyes.
"Come on, little doggies! Turn!" Applejack yells as she shoulder rams one of the cows to change their direction away from Ponyville, and seeing how that's not working Applejack whistles to Winona, "*whistle* Winona, put 'em up!"
Both Applejack and Winona jumped onto of the cows, "Gotcha!"
Applejack pulls out a lasso, from seemingly nowhere, as she twirls it around in the air and lassos the lead cow and pulls her in Applejack's direction as Winona barks at the cows to turn.
"Attagirl," Applejack smiles as the cow have finally changed their direction away from Ponyville and off to the side, "Yee haw!"
As Ponyville has finally been saved from a sudden cow stampede by Applejack the ponies all jumped and cheered for joy, happy to have somepony like Applejack around to save the day for them. Chris stood there among the crowd with his jaw hanging, clearly in awe from Applejack's heroics and smiled in upmost joy as his eyes glittered with admiration.
"That was totally AWESOME !" Chris cheered, "Applejack was incredible out there! I mean, like, how did she do all that? I wonder how long she's done things like that, I got to know!"
"Hey, Chris, where are you going?" Spike calls out to Chris while chasing him as nopony was paying attention to him at the moment as they were busy saying amazing things about Applejack after saving them from the stampede.
"I'm going to check up on Applejack to congratulate her and ask her how did all of that out there," Chris answers back and extends his hand out, "Come on, Spike! Let's go see Applejack together, so hop on my arm!"
Spike nodded as he climbs Chris' arm and sits himself on his shoulder, and enjoys the view from up there and now has become Spike's official new favorite place in Equestria, as the two quickly catch up with Applejack. The two manage to arrive at the spot where Applejack had stopped the herd and had started to talk with the cows to see what the problem was, so both Chris and Spike stood a little ways back to let Applejack talk to the cows.
"Hooie, now what was that all about?" Applejack asked while looking at the cows sternly demanding an explanation to their sudden action.
"Moo," the cow leader mooed at first, whose name is Daisy Jo, until she cleared her throat and started speaking properly to explain their situation, "Oh my! Begging your pardon, Applejack, but Mooriella here…," Daisy Jo pointed to the cow next to her with blonde hair, "Saw one of those nasty snakes."
All the cows got startled by the mention of the word 'snake' and looked around to see if there were any in the area.
"And it just gave us all the willies, dont'cha know?"
"Ah completely understand," Applejack smiled happy to know what happened and understands, "Just next time, try and steel clear of Ponyville."
"We certain will, Applejack," Daisy Jo smiled until all of the cows and her stepped backwards a bit getting all startled, puzzling Applejack, and looked fearful behind her, "Oh good heavens me, what in Equestria is that?"
Applejack turned around to see where Daisy Jo was pointed to find out what got them all spooked, until she saw a familiar human, and the only human, in a red jacket waving sheepishly at them with Spike now hiding behind his leg. Applejack gave the boys a sheepish smile and rolled her eyes before turning back to the cows.
"Ya mean him? Don't worry about him, he's mah good friend Chris and the only human in Equestria," Applejack explained to the cows, "He's from another world, but don't worry… he's the most gentlest and kind-hearted person y'all ever will meet. Trust me, ah wouldn't steer ya wrong."
"H-Hi there…" Chris smiles nervously at the cows as they continue to look with a cautious look until they slowly relaxed a bit.
"OK, if you say so dear, we trust you," Daisy Jo said while smiling at Chris and tells her herd it's time to go back home, "Goodbye Applejack and so long Winona!"
After the herd of cows left, Applejack turned around to face and looks at him with a half-amused half-suspicious glance, "So, mind telling me what'cha both are doing here Chris and Spike?"
"Well Chris here was the one who wanted to ask you something," Spike said while pointing his finger at Chris.
"Well… I just wanted to check up on you," Chris muttered though Applejack gave him a glance that suggested she didn't exactly believe him.
"Oh really?" Applejack said with a smug.
"Ha ha, actually," Chris closed his eyes to relax and gather his thoughts before opening his eyes in delight and expressing what he wanted to ask, "I just wanted to say, you're amazing Applejack! I mean they way you herded those cows out of the way to stop the stampede was beyond cool, especially with that lasso trick and I wanted to know how exactly you did that! Have you've done that when you were younger with the lasso and your stunts? Do you think you can teach me some of it? Um… I'm doing it again, aren't I?"
Applejack was flattered by Chris' childish admiration for her and giggled from his honest and sweet praise about her, "Aw shucks, it's nothin' special, but I'm kinda busy at home at the moment however I'll definitely show ya one of mah tricks or two, ah promise you that."
"Sweet!" Chris grinned goofily as he pumped up his arms in excitement.
"I think there's another reason why you wanted to see Applejack, Chris," Spike chuckled to himself as he whispered to himself so that neither one of them knows what he just said.
"What was that Spike?" Chris asks, catching something that Spike muttered, and looks at him suspiciously.
"Nothing."
"Anyway, let's head back to town, I want to check up on everypony," Applejack calls out to Chris and Spike to follow her.
As they approached the town, all of the ponies cheered for Applejack for saving them from the stampede, as Applejack and her pet dog Winona ran down the hill crying out in excitement with both Chris and Spike in tow though they chose to walk instead of run after Applejack.
"Yee haw!" Applejack smiled.
"Yee haw! Ride 'em cowpony!" Pinkie Pie jumped for joy mimicking her own version of Applejack's stunts in the most open space within the crowd of ponies as they all smiled and giggled at Pinkie Pie's attempted.
"Applejack was just… just …" Mayor Mare started to say, speechless after seeing the whole event, but couldn't find the right word to express her thoughts on Applejack's bravery to Twilight and Rarity.
"Appletastic !" Pinkie Pie exclaimed upside down from above Twilight, Rarity, and Mayor Mare defying the laws of physics and gravity somehow until she fell down on her back. Nopony knows how she does what she does sometimes.
"Exactly ," Mayor Mare agreed, "We must do something to thank Applejack for single-hoofedly saving the town."
Pinkie Pie's eyes lighten up knowing exactly how to showcase their appreciation for Applejack, "I know!"
"A party!" Pinkie Pie smiled at the decoration all around Town Hall, as everypony fixed up the place for a 'Thank You Applejack' appreciation party.
"We all ready?" Twilight asks Rarity as she finishes tying up a large red bow on a tree.
"Just one last thing," Rarity says as she uses her Unicorn magic to lift a large yellow banner with Applejack's cutie mark symbol on it in front of the Town Hall and attaches it above the second floor balcony, "Now we're ready."
"Is Applejack all set?" Twilight asked.
"Actually, I haven't seen her all week," Rainbow Dash answers as she flies down to greet her friends, "And speaking of haven't seen anypony, where's Chris?"
"Oh, him? I told him to read the first five volumes of Equestria's history the beginning of this week, and right now Chris and Spike are helping setting up the rest of the decorations over there," Twilight answered as she pointed her hoof in the other direction to where Chris and Spike are.
"Argh… you're making him read ?" Rainbow Dash seemed shocked by this, "At least let the guy breath a bit by going outside from time to time."
Twilight frowned a bit, "He's still new to Equestria and needs to know everything about Equestria as soon as possible, but seeing as this is a special occasion he's taking a break and again has anypony seen Applejack?"
"Not since the stampede," Pinkie Pie comes into the picture with a smile.
"But she'll be here for sure," Rainbow Dash said with confident, "Applejack is never late."
"Know what they're talking about?" Chris asked Spike as the two took a break and had cups of water to drink.
"I don't know," Spike shrugged, "Possibly when Applejack's going to show up?"
"Mmmm…"
After some time finishing up the decoration and gathering all of the ponies to the Town Hall to make an announcement for Applejack and thank her for saving Ponyville with a party, almost all of the ponies have arrived and Twilight takes her place by walking over to the announcement stand.
In the back of the crowd, Chris stands behind the ponies as Twilight starts to begin her speech along with Spike riding on his back again as the two of them oversee the event from afar.
"It's going to start soon, I can't wait!" Spike exclaimed with joy as he pumps his arm into the air.
"I know, right? But, Spike, please be careful where you dig your claws OK? I don't exactly have tough skin and I rather not have claw marks on my face or my head," Chris chuckled lightly with a hint of worry in his voice.
"Don't worry! I'll be careful!" Spike replied, getting the message, as he look onward as Twilight organizes her notes, "But can't we get in closer? We'll barely hear what Twilight has to say."
"I would… but then I'll be in front of everybo… everypony, and I rather not obscured their sight," Chris said while looking bashfully. The ponies around Chris looked at him and smiled at him for his courtesy as they looked back to the stage as Twilight begins her announcement.
"Welcome everypony!" Twilight announced in a big voice to address the audience as she shuffles her cards with her magic, "Today we are here to honor a pony we can always count on to help in matters great and small. A pony whose contributions to—"
"Did you see Applejack's slick moves out there?" Rainbow Dash suddenly butted in, shoving Twilight over without meaning too, as she makes her own announcement, "What an athletic ! This week she's gonna help me with my new flying trick, and I know it's gonna to be so awesome !"
Twilight wasn't exactly amused that she was interrupted like that as Rainbow Dash does a low squeal at her excitement of how awesome her move will be with Applejack's help, "Exactly . And…"
"And this week, I get to run Sugercube Corner for the first time," Pinkie Pie expresses her delight, much to Twilight's annoyance and her bewilderment.
In the crowd Chris giggles to himself while shaking his head as he watches as Twilight keeps on getting interrupted like that, "Poor Twilight."
"What does that have to do with Applejack?" Twilight asked, forgetting she was angry of being interrupted again.
Pinkie Pie blinked a few times at Twilight like she totally forgot why she came up here and then perks her and looks back at the audience, "Oh ! Applejack, one of the best bakers ever, is gonna help me. Applejack makes everything great, so free samples for everypony!"
All the ponies in the crowd uproared into a cheer upon hearing that as they cannot wait to get their free samples from both Pinkie Pie and Applejack as they know how delicious their food are. Chris and Spike also express their excitement with the twinkle in their eyes.
"Free samples? Sweet!" Chris exclaimed to himself in childish gesture, "I loved the food Applejack made at my welcome party before and Pinkie Pie's sweets from the store were also delicious so I'm looking forward to this!"
"Yeah, me too! We should stop by after Twilight finishes your history lessons," Spike commented with a smile.
"Oh yeah… I forgot about that," Chris said with a deadpanned look, "It couldn't have been two or three books a day could it?"
"Oh-kay, that's great," Twilight said with annoyance and she pushes Pinkie Pie away to continue her speech, "Now if I could just make a point without being inter—"
"Twilight?" Fluttershy called out to her from the side.
"—rupted" Twilight looks away in defeat.
"Twilight, I'm so sorry," Fluttershy apologized for interrupting Twilight's speech to address her own speech, "But I just wanted to mention that Applejack is also helping me this week with the official bunny census, where we count up all the new baby bunnies that were born this season. She's gonna help gather them using her wonderful herding skills."
"It's amazing that Applejack is helping so many of her friends," Chris wonders out loud with astonishment until he started to speak in a low tone, "Everyone asking for her help and it must be great to get it and being needed… it must really be nice."
"Something wrong, Chris?" Spike asked noticing his friend slight change in attitude.
"Nothing, it's just that… everyone is happy that Applejack is helping them and being need," Chris says with a tone of sadness as he looks to the ground, "Huh, I just can't help but feel a little jealous of her…"
"Chris," Spike looked sad as Chris expresses his feeling, "H-Hey! Don't worry about it! I'm sure there are things only you can do and everypony will be looking for you to help! I'm grateful you've helped me with making those waffles the other day and cleaning up the place after the party! You really are something else!"
"Spike…" Chris weakly smiled as he looked up to his friend, but was happy nonetheless.
After Fluttershy gave her piece, Twilight looks around the crowd with annoyance to see if anyone else will interrupt her.
"Anyone else? Anyone? No? " Twilight asks as she slightly glares and sees nopony else coming up she clears her throat and takes her notes again to continue, "Well then, as I was trying to say…"
Just before Twilight could continue, she spotted Mayor Mare on the side of her smiling which was quite cheesy to say the least at her, and Twilight shouts out in defeat as her cards shatter as well, "Urgh! Nevermind !"
Twilight walks through the crowd as Mayor Mare takes her place at the stand, Twilight joins up with Chris and Spike in the back.
"I can't believe this! Not once was I given a chance to tell my speech and I worked on it for hours!" Twilight complained as she positioned herself to Chris' side, "Does anypony know it's rude to interrupt somepony?"
Chris chuckled at Twilight's distraught nature as he leans closer to the ground to place his hand on her shoulder as she looks up to him, "Don't worry, Twilight, I understand the feeling."
"You do?" Twilight asked curiously.
"Yup, I remember back in elementary school some of the students would always interrupt my project speeches and it annoyed me to no end," Chris shared a bit of his past with Twilight and Spike.
"Really" Twilight smiled a bit, "It looks like your memories are coming back nicely. It doesn't seem like we need to worry about a long-lasting memory lost problem for you."
Chris smiled as Mayor Mare started her speech.
"And so, with no further ado, it is my privilege to give the prize," Mayor Mare announced as she gestured to a large golden statue to her right with a blue ribbon on it and a small pony statue on top of it, "Pony of Ponyville Award, to our beloved guest of honor, a pony of the utmost trustworthiness, reliability, and integrity. Ponyville's most capable and dependable friend: Applejack ."
The crowd goes wild and cheer for Applejack as the curtain unveil themselves to reveal… that Applejack wasn't behind it!
"Cool! Way to go Applejack," Spike cheered and didn't realize Applejack was there as everypony around looked at him, "That was awesome! I mean—heh."
"OoooK," Chris muttered while looking around, "Where's AJ?"
"Ah-ahem," Mayor Mare coughed as she wasn't sure what to do in such an awkward situation.
"Awkward ," Spike said on Chris' head as nopony had anything to say feeling the silent atmosphere even more.
"I'm here! I'm here!" a voice called out that belongs to Applejack however what followed as a yawn and a sigh as her friends looked in her direction. She has carrying two baskets filled with red and green apples strapped to her sides and had a very tired look in her eyes, walking through the crowd and dropping some apples along the way.
"Sorry I'm late—whoa—Ah was just… whoa… Did ah get your tail?" Applejack said as she made her way to the announcement stand as her friends look on with a blank look on their faces as she made it to the stage, "Miss Mayor. Thank you kindly for this here… award thingy."
Applejack took a closer look at it and yawned, clearly being out of it, "It's so bright and shiny and, heh, heh heh, ah sure do look funny heh."
Applejack zoomed her face back and forth from the trophy, going 'ooo-ooo' as she does it, with Pinkie Pie shortly joining me with the 'ooo-ooo-ing' with the trophy.
Chris stood there and raised his eyebrows on the situation, "Um… I might not know Applejack for that long as everypony else here, but isn't she acting kinda funny?"
"You're not the only one, she's not acting like herself at all," Spike agreed with a nod.
"You looks… really tired, like she was doing a bunch of chores by herself without rest or pause," Chris rubs the bottom of his chin as he tries to figure out what the problem with Applejack is.
Chris and Spike continued their discussion as Twilight went up to thank Applejack for saving them from the stampede and such and Applejack replied, while yawning and even falling asleep for a few moments, to say it was no problem and went her merry way like nothing was wrong as her friends stand there and watch as Applejack dallying walked off with her trophy.
"OK… I cannot be the only one who found that strange," Chris blurted out as Applejack disappears from sight.
Twilight nodded and expressed her own thoughts on Applejack's strange behavior, "Yeah, I mean, did Applejack seem a little—?"
"Tired?" Rainbow Dash said.
"Dizzy?" Fluttershy suggested.
"Messy?" Rarity commented as everypony and human looks at her with a questionable look, "Well, did you see her mane?"
"She seemed fine to me. Woo! Woo!" Pinkie Pie bounces into the scene as both Chris and Twilight exchanged worried looks to one another.
"I don't know… but I'm worried," Chris whispered as he looked on where Applejack was moments ago with a sad expression.
Applejack is out on Sweet Apple Acres kicking nearby trees to knock the apples off of it into baskets pulled beneath them, and it seems a good portion of the trees have been cleared out of apples on them. However Applejack grows tired with each kick as show apparent as she snoozed for a bit and then shook her head back and forth to wake up and to kick the same tree she kicked before only to miss and almost lose her balance.
Both Chris and Twilight arrived in on the scene as Applejack clears some more apples and look on with concern.
"What on earth is that pony doing ?" Twilight says out loud as she watches Applejack kick a bucket filled of apples by mistake.
"My guess… kicking the basket?" Chris half-jokingly half-guessed which resulted in Twilight giving him a slight glare as he looked away whistling.
Ignoring Chris' poor attempt at a joke, Twilight approach Applejack with Chris behind her as she called out to her, "Hey Applejack!"
However Applejack started to take a snooze then and this time Chris called out to her, "Applejack."
Applejack continued to snooze and this time both Twilight and Chris called her out together, "Applejack! APPLEJACK!"
This time Applejack finally woke up from her little 'nap' as she saw in two friends standing in front of her and smiles, with a very tired look in her eyes, to greet them, "Howdy Twilight, Howdy Chris, it's always a pleasure seein' the both of ya."
"Not to be rude of anything, can you tell us what it is you're doing?" Chris asked as he looked around to see many trees without apples in them and even more with apples still on them.
"Yeah, what is all of this anyway?" Twilight asked as well as she, too, was curious.
"It's Applebuck Season," Applejack answered as she walked away to the next tree as Twilight teleported in front of her catching her by surprise, "Whoa!"
"Apple-whazzit Season?" Twilight questioned with a peculiar expression.
"Applebuck Season…? Oh!" Chris snapped his fingers after realizing it, "I remember you mentioning about it the last time I was here… though what is it exactly?"
"It's what the Apple family calls it harvestin' time," Applejack replied tiredly as she walks to the next tree and Twilight teleports in front of her as Chris follows the girls, "We gather all the apples from the trees so we can sell 'em."
Chris and Twilight looked around to see the vast numbers of trees with a worried expression on their faces, concern for their friend seeing as it's too many for one pony to handle, as Chris spoke up, "But you're not doing this alone, right? I mean you take shifts with Big Mac ever now and again to even out the work, right?"
"Nope, I'm doin' this all on mah own," Applejack answered back.
"Wait, why? Why are you doing this alone?" Twilight asked a little bit suspicious about Applejack's behavior.
Applejack answered back without looking at both of her friends, too focused on her work at hooves, "That's 'cause Big Macintosh hurt himself."
"What about all those relatives I've met when I first came to Ponyville?" Twilight asked, "Can't they help?"
Chris raised his brow when Twilight mentioned that. It appears that Applejack's family is bigger than Big Mac, Applebloom, and Granny Smith when Chris was introduce to them and Twilight met them during a specifically holiday no doubt that he's unaware of and wishes he got the chance to meet them and wonders where are they now and why aren't they helping Applejack.
"They were just here for the Apple Family Reunion," Applejack yawned as she walked passed Twilight, "They actually live all over Equestria and are busy harvestin' their own orchards. So, uh, I'm now my own," Twilight teleports in front of Applejack again to try to appeal to her to take a break but continues speaking, "Which means , ah should really get back to work. Ahem… hint hint? Get back to work? "
Chris and Twilight exchanged glances with one another, not liking it one bit that Applejack is over working herself, but Twilight yields as she sighs and lets it go, "Fine," and steps aside.
Applejack starts to woggle in place and she looks straight, "So could the both of ya step aside, please?"
"Uh, Applejack? Neither me or Twilight is standing in front of you," Chris speaks worriedly as he watches Applejack woggle in place and looks in her eyes to see the bags under them and slowly swirling around.
"Applejack, you don't look so good," Twilight replied back.
Applejack shakes her head and starts walking again, "Eh, don't any of you six worry none, I'm just fine and dandy," and Applejack tries to kick another tree and misses, "Whoa."
"Eh… did she just say 'the six of us'?" Chris asked perplexedly.
"Alright, that's does it," Twilight said with a look in her eyes as she teleports once again and front of Applejack and looks at her, "Applejack, do you want some help from the two of us?"
"Help?" Applejack scoffed offensively at first and shakes her head, "No way, no how."
"But isn't this too much even for you?" Chris quietly said as he looks around to see the many trees around them and noticing Applejack's exhausted movements increasing makes him worried for his friend, "Wouldn't it be better and faster to have others help you Applejack?"
"Excuse me? " Applejack got right up in Chris' face, making him cowering a bit as Applejack looks directly into his eyes which double his nervousness and fear of her at this moment, as his intended effect from his argument backfired on him completely, "Is that a challenge ah dare hear from you? From the both of y'all? "
"Wh-What…? No! It's not I'm just saying…," Chris tries to explain to Applejack but her glare makes him very comfortable and afraid to continue arguing with her and gulped slowly.
"Applejack, listen to us!" Twilight demanded as she looks at Applejack sternly but to no avail as Applejack walks away, fuming a little bit as her friends in her mind are telling her that she cannot do this task all by herself.
"Well, I'm going to prove to ya, to both of y'all, that ah can do it!" Applejack shouted back as she walked away from the both of them to continue her work as both Twilight and Chris scrunch up their faces in worry, "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got apples to buck."
Both Twilight and Chris watch as Applejack left attending to her orchard all by herself as the two of the sigh in defeat and look on with a look of uncertain in their eyes as the both look at each other as Twilight was the first to speak, "I guess there's no choice but to leave Applejack alone as she clearly isn't going to listen to us right now, come on Chris."
As Twilight gestured for Chris to follow her he compiled seeing as there's no changing Applejack's mind at the moment and as Chris follows Twilight out of Sweet Apple Acres Chris looks back with a very concerned expression wandering if Applejack will be alright and if there's anything he could do to make her see that she needs her friends.
"Applejack…"
"And now turn to page 52 in your 'History of Equestria' textbook…," Twilight calls out as she tutors Chris on everything about Equestria from the different ponies that live in the world and their jobs, to the many places known throughout Equestria, and the other creatures that live in this world as well on Twilight's balcony at her home.
Though Chris has started his lessons with Twilight today he quickly grasp some of the most common of things one's to expect for those who live in Equestria and it makes it easier for him to get into as he sees it in his own mind a fantasy world and fantasy stories are among his favorite story genre and so it was easy for him to pick up though there were a few snags here and there with some trouble understanding a bit of them, but Twilight has helped him immensely fitting into this world even though they're in the first book even when Twilight is busy with her own work however there was something else on his mind distracting him from fully taking in his studies.
"Hey Twilight, is it truly alright to leave Applejack be with all the work to do?" Chris speaks his truest thoughts as even the books cannot steer him away to think of the amber orange pony working all alone in that huge orchard and is worried about her well-being.
Twilight peels away slightly from her book to look at Chris enough to show him she was concerned as well, but sighs, "We have no choice, we have to respect Applejack's decision even if we don't agree to it."
"But…"
"No buts, as much as I don't like it even we can't change that pony's mind at the moment but after all of this is over she'll be fine. It's not like she's hurting herself or causing problems for other ponies with her work," Twilight finishes saying as she after to her book but at the moment another sound echoed through the air.
A scream followed by a loud crash landing erupted right next to Twilight as both the unicorn and human looked over to their side to spot Rainbow Dash hunched over the rails with a dizzy expression as she stirs and shakes her head.
"Rainbow Dash?" Chris looked up from his book surprised, confused, and worried of the sudden entrance Rainbow Dash just did.
"Can I help you?" Twilight asked uncertainly as she watches her head recover from her 'grand entrance' to her home.
"I think somepony else needs your help," Rainbow Dash said in an exasperated tone.
"Applejack," both Twilight and Chris said in unison with a deadpan look in their eyes.
"Yep," Rainbow Dash answers back as she now spots Chris holding a book in his hand, "By the way, what are you two doing anyway?"
"Oh? This?" Twilight perked up and smiles a bit, "Like I said earlier before I helping Chris learn more about Equestria by tutoring him and then giving him a pop quiz on what he's learned so far!"
"Wait, what?" Chris blinks in surprise and stares at Twilight in disbelief, "Wait a minute you never said anything about a test!"
"Well it is a pop quiz," Twilight smiles back at Chris as Rainbow Dash snickers at his priceless facial expression when he learns about it. Chris was all for learning about another world, but a test? Chris shuddered a bit, one thing from school HE didn't like and sighs in defeat. He was not looking forward to that.
"Ha ha ha, looks like you have schoolwork to do Chris!" Rainbow Dash giggled at his misfortunate as the human boy gives her an unamused glare.
"However that will be put on hold, I need to go talk to Applejack about her responsibilities ," Twilight said as she got up.
"I'll come, too!" Chris chimed in as he got up, anything to further delay that pop quiz the better in his mind.
"No, you stay here and continue studying your history books. I'll be back," Twilight stomped her hoof down firmly to let him know she's not joking especially with that stern look in her eyes, "I'll be back soon from Sweet Apple Acres, so study!"
"Aw come on Twilight! Isn't this enough for today?" Chris tried to sway Twilight to halt their progress for now, secretly hoping she'll push her pop quiz back for a few more days until he's ready, until he remembered something as a light bulb lights up in his head, "And speaking about days, I remember I need to go see Rarity about my new clothes and to see if it's possible for her to make me a suit for that Grand Galloping Gala event that Princess Celestia invited me seeing as my normal clothes won't do for such a fancy place."
Twilight tried to find any valid point to argue to deflate Chris' attempt to get out of studying, however he was doing very well so far and does deserve a short break so she sighs in defeat to let him do what he wants but that means they'll have to double their work effort next so she lets him go on his break, "Fine."
Chris lights up with delight to hear that and can't help but smile, however Rainbow Dash couldn't help but catch that last bit about the Galloping Gala and perks up, "Wait… Chris you're going to the Grand Galloping Gala, too?"
"Yep," Chris answers back with a smile as Twilight has already left to go see Applejack, "Princess Celestia invited me the day she came to meet me, I forgot to mention that part."
"Sweet!" Rainbow Dash cheered as she leaped into the air and do a somersault as she landed in front of Chris, "It's gonna be awesome to have you come with us to the Grand Galloping Gala and you'll get to see me perform in front of the Wonderbolts and amaze the crowd as well as the Wonderbolts as they become so impressed by my ultra-awesome super cool moves they'll make me a member of the Wonderbolts!"
"Heh, I like to see that! Can't wait," Chris smiled and he hums to himself, "Hmm… I didn't know there was going to be an air show there. Looks like it's going to be better than I originally thought," Chris notices the time and gets up, but not before putting the textbook away, and gets ready to leave, "Well I better go see Rarity, take care Dash!"
"You, too!" Rainbow Dash waved goodbye as she started to leave herself as the two friends parted their ways.
"Rarity, are you there?" Chris calls out from the front door of Rarity's store, the Carousel Boutique, but only with his head sticking as he feels like he could be disturbing Rarity if he came busting through the door though his arrival is announced by the bell chiming.
"I'll be there in just a moment!" a voice called out from back as Chris entered the store, not minding that he'll have to wait a little while longer as he takes his time looking around the place and it's the same as he came here the first time. Various mannequins placed throughout the main part of the room with different clothing on them for ponies, unlike Chris, showing mostly outfits for mares but he did occasionally spotted a few for the stallions so it's nice to know that Rarity caters to both sides but it would be bad business to focus on one for a pony like her.
Though Chris stood there looking around the room, the sound of shuffling changes his focus in the direction of the back as Rarity finally emerges from the back, with her glasses on, and smiles upon seeing Chris waiting for her, with a little hello wave too, and is quite happy to see him, "Chris darling, so happy you come make! Please come in! I've just finished your outfits a little while ago, and I do say so myself that they are simply divine!"
Chris smiles as Rarity seems very proud of her accomplishments with his human clothes and decides to take a peek at his new outfits as Rarity shows him to the back where they are and Chris' eyes widen in shock and wonder as they are exactly like he drew them and he was quite happy, and Rarity noticing the delight in Chris' eyes makes her smile more dazzling as she's ecstatic that he likes them.
"You don't mind if I change in the wash room, right? I like to try this outfit on first and I could wash my old clothes in the meantime," Chris said as he grabs the green jacket and light brown shorts from the clothes hanger.
"Certainly, I would love to see you in them immediately! But allow me to wash your old clothes as you put on your new ones," Rarity offered.
Taken aback from Rarity's thoughtful offer Chris raises his hands in front of me, "You don't have to Rarity!" Chris started to protested, "I can clean my clothes, so it's alright! I've already forced you to clean them before and it seems like I'm taking advantage of you!"
"Nonsense!" Rarity stomped her hoof down to set her point across, "It is perfectly fine as I don't mind myself, so it's no problem at all, and consider it a small thank you for allowing me to make such intriguing clothing! But if you still insist, in return I want you to wear your new outfit and show it around Ponyville for me."
Chris wanted to avoid Rarity from doing more than enough for him already as he doesn't want to impose on her any further than he has to, but seeing the sincerity, but stern, look in her eyes coupled with her sweet smile makes him realize there was no way to sway the young unicorn's mind so he reluctantly gives in and nods, "Alright… you win, Rarity."
Rarity beams happily in response, glad that Chris understands, and points to the direction of the wash room which was located upstairs, "Just remember, darling, just place your old clothes outside of the room and I'll get right on it."
"Thanks," Chris bows respectively as he enters into the washroom, taking off his old clothes and in exchange with his new clothes while placing his old clothes outside quickly so he doesn't accidentally embarrass Rarity by peeking on him as well as cleaning himself a bit more.
After several minutes of putting on his outfit and examining himself in the mirror, Chris was quite surprised and happy to see that the clothes fit him perfectly and silently praises Rarity for her top-notch work on making him his custom clothing for the first time and finds the clothes looking great on him. The same black t-shirt as he originally wore, now with a second spare to use, with a dark greet short-sleeve jacket with a folded collar over his shirt, the same baggy cargo shorts now in a light brown color with a chain loop attached on the left side of it. Chris continues to wear the same family Yin & Yang necklace along with his black fingerless gloves and black basketball sneakers.
Chris steps out of the room while adjusting the collar on his jacket one more time to look around to see that Rarity has just returned with his old clothes, now finally cleaned and folded, and the white unicorn's eyes sparkle with delight to see her work looking absolutely marvelous on the human boy and beams happily when the boy smiles in delight letting her know that he is happy with his new clothes.
"Marvelous, if I do say so myself! It looks absolutely splendid on you Chris!" Rarity chirped happily while examining him, relishing her accomplishes on making his outfit as it looks quite handsome on him, circling around him to size him up though pouts a bit, "Though I do like to mention I wanted to add in my own little details to make it even more marvelous but I wanted to respect your wishes on your outfits and didn't want to upset you. However if you're willingly to allow me to…"
"That's alright! Really, it's fine, and I'll let you know if I need it," Chris quickly dismisses with his hands in front of him and his eyes closed, while sweating a bit, to show that it's not necessary but it does bring up another point he would like to discuss with Rarity, "However speaking of… I have another request I like to ask you, if you don't mind."
Rarity's eyes sparkle, excited to know what he is that he needs hoping it's another request on making human clothing as she clearly enjoys making a new type of fashion to design, "Certainly! I'll be more than happy to, so ask away… but first tell me what it is and I'll see if I can do it within the best of my abilities."
"Thank you Rarity," Chris began to smile but slowly taps his foot on the ground and scratches his face in hesitance as he feels like he's asking too much of her, "Well you see… I didn't mention this the other day… but Princess Celestia gave me a ticket to go to the Grand Galloping Gala… and…"
"The Grand Galloping Gala?!" Rarity's voice boomed so loud that Chris flinched at it and looked at the unicorn with a stunned look and as Rarity starts to get excited with sparkles in her eyes, "You've been invited to the Gala as well, and by Princess Celestia herself no less? Oh my, that is marvelous news indeed! The Gala is simple the most sophisticated and glamorous place to be! The society, the class, the culture, and glamour… it's where I truly shine! And Twilight managed to get tickets for our little small group to attend and I'm quite honored to be there with my friends, and you're attending there as well! Oh, I cannot contain my excitement… it truly will be the best night ever!"
Chris blinked, with a single sweat drop on the side of his face, as he stands there staring at Rarity unable to stop her from commentary, but it would be rude if he did so, so when Rarity managed to calm down a bit Chris manage to get to the heart of the matter, "Well… yes… I'm coming along with you girls to the Gala, however I have a slight teensy-weenie problem," Chris gestured with his fingers to show small with his index finger and thumb, "I don't have an suit for the occasion, seeing as my normal clothes won't do, and seeing as there's no humans in Equestria aside from me and no pony that knows how to make a suit for me, I was…"
"Say no more!" Rarity stopped Chris for finishing his sentence by raising her hoof up to stop him and get his attention with a look of determine painted on her face as she realizes where Chris is going with his question, "I would be honored to make you you're first personal suit for the Gala, as I've designed ensembles for the Gala every year, and I shall make yours unique… a generic black suit will simply not do for you and only the best will do instead! Something to complement your style and looks, but at the same time reflect your inner nature more profoundly."
"I really appreciate it Rarity, I'm sorry for always asking so much of you ever since I got here, I promise I'll make it up to you," Chris said politely as he looks unhappy forcing her to do another favor for him.
"Chris, don't ever think that," Rarity calls out to him with a gentle tone, "I am your friend and I'll always lend a helping hoof to my friends, and you've helped me remind me to work on the others dresses for the Gala with your request, and I'm always happy to help and I want to do this… as I find it just exquisite to make a human suit for the Gala and I shall not treat you any differently! The regular black suit was just a simple test to see what it's like, but for the Gala yours will be one tailored for you perfectly! This is a travesty that I must correct at once and I will not hear any more ands, ifs or buts about it."
"Heh… Thanks, Rarity," Chris smiled appreciating her gesture, feeling relieved and happy to finally have a friend to talk to and help each other out… something his uncle once told him about 'true friends', and then something donned on Chris as he looks up thoughtful with an idea, "Something unique for me… I wonder? Rarity can you give me a piece of paper and pencil for a moment?"
A little surprised for the simple request Rarity replied with a nod and smile and used her magic, a blue glow around her horn, as she levitated a piece of paper and pencil for Chris to use as he started drawing on it as soon as he got them. Curious about what he has drawing, Rarity takes a few steps closer to observe his progress however he finished in a matter of moments and presented the picture to Rarity which makes her eyes widen in wonder and a small smile.
"For my suit… is it OK if I had something like this on it?" Chris asked as he held the piece of paper in front of Rarity, "I kinda like to have it on the back, if you don't mind."
On the sheet was a simple drawing a large circle with one half swirling in pure white which took most of the upper part of the circle and the other half swirling from the right to left in the bottom in pure black that mimic his pendant around his neck and around that circle was little flares or waves around it that were sun ray symbols, ever much like Celestia's cutie make, however what was different was that there were only 6 of them with 3 of them being white starting from the left to right going up and the last 3 being black starting from the right to left going down. It was a unique symbol, like a cutie mark itself, and it seems to echo the effect of the sun and moon blending together like an eclipse… somehow a very fitting symbol for the Corona boy.
"Oh my, Chris, it's simple but elegant!" Rarity commented enrapturing-like as she praised his work, "It's perfect to add to your suit… though I need more thought onto the style to better work with your symbol."
"Well… I do like nighttime so maybe a nighttime theme for my suit? Kinda like my suit being the night sky with the stars on it?" Chris suggested having no clue to fashion at all, but that suggestion has sparked an interest in Rarity's mind as her smile widens.
"Ah, that's perfect! A dark gray background for your symbol on the back of the suit along with the suit's nighttime truly brings out your hair style, but something to go along with it… gold trimmings on the side? No! Silver trimming on the side work much better… and with a bow? Ah, whatever am I thinking, a tie is the only way to go! Yes, yes, everything is coming together, but what else to add?" Rarity starts to visualizes in her head as her creative juice starts flowing, "This suit will be one of my finest works yet, if I do say so myself! Chris have you considering working for me part-time? You really have quite the talent in designs!"
"Hmm… I'll think about, I really do need to find a job and repay my friends someway," Chris pondered thoughtful and smiles as Rarity gives him another look, "Don't worry, I know all of you are doing everything to help me but I want to help you in my own way as well. Anyway, I better get going… Twilight will be a little unhappy if I don't come back to finish the rest of my studies for today."
"*sigh* Very well… but if you ever need anything at all, don't hesitant to ask and no more protests from you do you hear me?" Rarity bids Chris a farewell as he leaves her shop with his new and old clothes in hand, having had his measurements already taken from before, and responding he will as he makes his way to Twilight's house but something along the way stopped him.
He heard painful moans not too far from where he is as he looks around searching for the source, however another voice calls out to him.
"Chris?" Twilight was the one to call out to him as the boy turned around to see both Twilight and Spike walking up to him from his backside, "Did you finish your business with Rarity?"
"Yeah, I did," Chris answered back and followed up with a question, "But Twilight, what's that moaning I just heard?"
"That's where I was going at the moment, it's coming from nearby at Sugarcube Corner, as I just heard that everypony is sick around there and I was going there to check up on them as Pinkie is one of the patients," Twilight said with a worried expression which in turn causes Chris to be alarmed as well.
"What? How did that happen?" Chris blurted out wondering if Pinkie was OK, as Chris considers her a very close friend after throwing him that surprise and has be very sweet to him since they first met, "Do you think I can tag along as well?"
"Of course! Just follow me," Twilight nodded as the trio headed into the direction towards Sugarcube Corner and as they got closer to that district where the store was located a small area with curtains covering a small space of the place came into view as the three of them continue to hear painful moans coming from behind them.
Upon standing in front of the curtains, on cue, they were opened up by a very familiar white pony who was the nurse taking care of her patients which Chris immediately recognized her as Nurse Redheart, the very same pony who took care of Chris when he was taken to the hospital when he first appeared in Ponyville.
"We came as soon as we heard," Twilight voiced out her concern as Nurse Redheart opened up the curtains for them.
"Oh thank you, Twilight… and Chris for coming," Nurse Redheart spoken up, and giving Chris a small nod and a slight smile to show that she's happy to see him again and healthy, as she tilts her head to the rest of the area to her patients, "We need all the help we can get."
Throughout the area many ponies were rested on the beds, and some on the floor on mats, as their face were green and moaning in pain as some threw up some buckets obviously sick from something they ate or caught. Even with a few other nurses taking care of them, checking their temperature with thermometer and some with ice bags on their head, things look very bad for them as their moaning continued.
"Oh my goodness," Chris mumbled as he saw the various ponies laying in bed sick, shocked and worried for them.
"Oh no! What happened?" Twilight also voiced her concern as she as sees the sick ponies laying in bed and feeling very ill, as Spike at this time takes notice of a muffin on the ground and picks it up sniffling it as a worm popped out from it.
"It was a mishap with some of the baked goods," Nurse Redheart explained.
"No, not baked goods , baked bads ," Pinkie Pie groaned from her bed, showing that she is one of the very sick ponies as well as she tries to held back her hurl in the end.
"Pinkie?!" Chris spoken up in shock, when he realized she had spoken and was indeed among the sick patients. Just what on earth… erm, Equestria happened to the baked goods?
"Wait… don't tell me…," Chris started to put two and two together when he realizes there's only one other pony that could've helped with the goods but probably was too exhausted to read the instructions right from her family business overworking herself.
"Applejack ," Twilight said sternly when she came to the same conclusion as well, not too happy at all.
"Want one? These are good !" Spike asked as he hands one of the muffins to Twilight as she backs away, a little taken aback by it as it was the same baked good that got everypony sick though it seems like Spike had a different digestive system to enjoy them.
"Um… no thank you," Twilight politely declined as she looks at the muffin cautiously.
"Oh well… what about you Chris?" Spike offered the muffin to his human buddy.
"Oh… no thank you, Spike, I mean it's thoughtful for you to ask but it's alright, I don't want to eat too many sweets in a single day," Chris also politely decline shaking his hands in front of him.
Spike simply shrugs his shoulders and goes about eating his muffins.
Twilight shakes her head in relief until she steels her expression as she address her next course of action in response to Applejack's overtaxing responsibilities, "*sigh* It looks like I have to go talk to Applejack again to try and make her realize she's pushing herself too hard."
As the purple unicorn was making her way to Sweet Apple Acres, Chris hesitantly looks at the ground as his eyes move back and forth unsure to voice his own suggest but musters up the courage to speak as he beckons Twilight to stop in her tracks, "Twilight, wait a minute!" and the young unicorn looks back to her human friend as he called her.
"Let me talk to Applejack, Twilight," Chris tries his best to get her to allow him to go in her stead instead and try to help Applejack himself, "Please, give me a chance to talk to her… I want to do what I can to help."
"No," Twilight shakes head, "You don't need to stress yourself over this. I'll talk to Applejack and straighten this out. You're still getting used to Ponyville and everything about this world, so focus now on your studies for the time being."
Chris sighs, but shakes his head not wanting to give up trying to help, "I know Twilight, but… I want to help Applejack as her friend, as all of you have helped me get settled into Ponyville. Plus you don't need to overstress yourself as well, so please… let me talk to her this time."
Twilight was about to protest again but as she stood there thinking about what to say next she noticed the sheer determine in his eyes and realizes he won't back down and is bend on helping Applejack out. Not really wanting to force push himself too much, she understands where he's coming from and sighs in defeat, "Sheesh you're as stubborn as Applejack but fine, I'll let you talk to her this time got it? Hopefully you can get that pony to realize she's overworking herself and it's doing more harm than good for her herself and her friends."
Chris beams in response and he nods in agreement and smiles, "Thank you Twilight! I'll do my best!"
Getting Twilight's permission Chris bolts towards Sweet Apple Acres as Twilight watches him go his merry way and can't help but smile at his enthusiasm for wanting to help out.
"He really is sweet guy," Twilight mutters to herself.
Back at Sweet Apple Acres Applejack continues to do her best of harvesting all of the apples on her farm all by herself and a good portion of the trees are empty already, however her eyes began to have dark bags under them and her usually spirited self was nowhere to be seen as she movements are slow and sloppy as she backs up a cart fill of apples to the bucket that was located in between two small little hills like a little ditch. Sadly she takes a little snooze at this point and the cart lends backwards dumping the apples everywhere, some in the bucket but mostly on the ground, along with her hat as Applejack is hanging upside down attached to the cart snoozing.
At this point in time, Chris arrives on the scene as he approaches the sleeping upside down Applejack with an astonished look plaster on his face as he brings up one of his hand near his mouth in a worried gesture wondering if it's a good idea to wake her up at this time considering she's overworking herself.
"Applejack?" Chris starts to call out, knowing why he is here and hopefully get her to take of break or ask for some help with her situation or simply get her to help her friends at another time until her family duties are done, the boy leaning in closer to Applejack as he calls her again, "Applejack, can you hear me? It's me, Chris. I wanted to discuss something with you if you would."
"Wha, huh?" Applejack shakes her head as she slowly wakes up and spots Chris, looking at her at eye level, as the cowpony girl smiles seeing her friend, "Oh, it's you Chris. It's good to see ya, though ah was expecting Twilight. Ah see yer wearing some new clothes, that's great. *yawn* Was there something ya need me for?"
"Before I tell you why I'm here," Chris started to see as his eyes darted between Applejack and her cart stuck in the ground, "Do you need help getting up right?"
"Do worry about me, I'll get off on mah own," Applejack yawned until a thought donned on her as she eyed Chris suspiciously, "Wait, don't tell me… Twilight sent ya didn't she?"
"Not exactly," Chris shrugged truthfully as he glanced away, "But I'm beginning to get worried… you're overworking yourself by cleaning these fields by yourself is causing other ponies problems because of your slack of sleep. You need to either get some sleep or get some…"
"No can do!" Applejack cut Chris off swiftly denying what he was going to say, "Ah appreciate yer concern for me, but just like with Twilight the answer is still no. Ah can handle this all on my own and ah don't need anypony's help!"
Chris bit down on his own lips as his eyes show the waver in them as he understands that Applejack will not listen to whatever he has to say and looks away shyly, but doesn't want to break down and musters up the courage to try to get through to her. He knows his socially awkward, but Applejack was among the first real friends he's made and he wants to do what he can to help them.
"Applejack, please…," Chris practically begs her as he lowers his head towards her, "Look at yourself! You need help! There's nothing wrong with getting help from others!"
"Hardy har," Applejack groans and looks away, "Look… Ah know yer a good person, but ah don't need help, so ah thank you for yer concern but ah got work to do."
"At least let me help you down," Chris tries to offer Applejack to get down.
"Help? No thanks ," Applejack scoffed as she starts to wiggle her way out of her predicament, "A little more… *groan* little… *grunt* there!" as Applejack finally gets off of her cart and moves to the next tree, "I'll prove that this apple can handle these apples."
Applejack begins kicking the tree to harvest the next bucket fill of apple, "Come on apples… *grunt* fall off !"
"Um… that's a dead tree," Chris pointed out as Applejack looks up and blushes in embarrassment.
"I knew that," Applejack replies back in a deadpanned tone as she walks away.
"Listen AJ, I'm not done yet, I also wanting to discuss what happened in Sugarcube Corner and…"
"Chris," Applejack stands around and stares back at Chris, stopping him in his tracks as she looks at him sternly, "I'm a little too busy at the moment to listen to any lectures right now, so please go home ah got work to do."
"But, just let me help for just a minute!" Chris pleaded trying to find some way to convince Applejack to let me help her even for a moment but it didn't seem like the cowgirl pony would listen.
Applejack groans as she hears the same old song again, "Ugh… no, no, NO ! How many times do ah gotta to say it? Ah don't need no help from nopony!"
With that note Applejack ends their conversation as she gallops away leaving Chris all alone and no way of catching up to her, wherever she is going, as she leaves Sweet Apple Acres possible to fulfill another promise that will end in disaster.
"She didn't listen," Chris sighs and feels ashamed at himself for his feeble attempts to persuade Applejack to let him help and curses himself to try better next time to get her to listen, "Man… I didn't think she would take it the wrong way, she's more stubborn than a mule!"
At that point, a mule neighs right now to Chris as the boy jumps a few feet away from the mule.
"Oh! Where did you come from?" Was the first thing that Chris popped into his mind and then looks away sheepishly realizing his earlier comment, "Oh… um… I didn't mean anything bad about that!"
"It's alright, none taken," the Donkey smiles which in turn lets Chris sigh in relief.
The boy looks off where Applejack ran off to and hopes she doesn't stain herself and tries to think of a way to let Twilight come back here again to try to talk some sense into her.
Chris wanders back into Ponyville after his failed attempt of persuading Applejack to get some help with her work or at least rest and now wonders how Twilight going to take it when he tells her? Chris ponders what to do next, but in the back of his head a similar event had played out in his lifetime back home if he can recalled. Yes, it's just the same with Applejack and tries hard to remember how it ends clearly sensing that it resolved itself somehow.
Lost in thought, Chris manages to look up and spots Twilight trotting by, humming happily, as she looks in his direction and smiles walking towards him. Giving a little nervous sigh he braces himself to report back to Twilight.
"Chris, there you are!" Twilight chirped happily as she stopped in front of him, "So how did things go with Applejack? Did you manage to convince her?"
Chris gives a nervous chuckle as Twilight raises her brow at that, with sinking suspicious of what happened, "Yeah, about that…," Chris drops his head in shame, "I couldn't manage to convince. She's really stubborn, but I don't want to give up either."
Twilight sighs disappointingly but smiles back at the human boy, "It's alright, Applejack is a stubborn pony but she's means no harm… even though her work is causing problems with her friends. Let's think of a way together to… *gasp*!"
Chris blinked as Twilight suddenly gasped in the end, "What's wrong?" he asked questionable as he looked in the direction she was facing and his shock and confusion etched into his face as he saw what Twilight saw.
Throughout Ponyville there were many ponies laying on the ground as though something attacked or scared to death. Was it another stampede? How many ponies were hurt? How did this something? Thoughts circle through both Twilight and Chris' heads as the approached a group of ponies on the floor, who are Rose, Lily, and Daisy.
"The horror! The horror!" the raspberry and light raspberry streak mane, pale yellowish white pony Rose bellowed.
"It was awful !" the pale amber mane, raspberry-colored pony Lily cried out.
"A disaster ! A horrible, horrible disaster!" the lime green mane, pale magenta pony Daisy cringed.
"I… don't follow," Chris spoke in a questionable tone looking around Ponyville to seeing nothing wrong with their houses.
"Yeah, I don't get it either," Twilight agreed.
"Our gardens, destroyed," Lily said as she rushed to her ruined garden fields.
"Every last flower, devoured," Rose as she looks over her eaten potted flowers ready to cry.
And Daisy being dramatic cried out, "By… by… BUNNIES !"
"Bunnies?" Chris tried his best to stifle his chuckle finding the oddity of it, "How bad could bunnies possible be?"
Twilight tapped his side with a deadpanned look and pointed off in the other direction where they see Fluttershy trying to round up the baby bunnies all around Ponyville eating everything vegetable in sight.
"Oh my," Fluttershy panicked as she tries to stop the baby bunnies from eating everything and get them back home, "Oh… please stop, little bunnies. Oh no! Please, let's go home. Oh my goodness."
"Oh," Chris spoke in a calm manner though his eyes widen in surprise, "That is bad."
"Alright," Twilight narrowed her eyes in sheer determine, "Enough is enough ! We need to get Applejack to her senses now."
"Yeah, this just like the time with… oh!" Chris suddenly realizes as a piece of his memory came back, as there WAS someone who refused to ask for helped and wanted to do things their own way, "I think I now know what to say to Applejack this time around and I have a feeling she'll listen this time."
"Are you sure?" Twilight looked up to Chris worried a bit, hoping he's not pushing myself too hard this time, "I don't want to strain yourself and you don't have to go alone, I'll come too."
Chris shakes his head, "It's alright, I know just want to say this time, but even if she asks for help I'm not sure both Applejack and myself could finish clearing up the rest of the apple trees."
Twilight nods to let Chris go again, seeing the confidence in his eyes realizing he can do this time, however the trouble leaves the apple trees and Twilight ponders a bit and then dons on an idea as her eyes light up, "I think I know what to do," Twilight looks up and smiles at Chris, "You go on ahead, I'll catch up to you later."
Chris raises a brow as Twilight gallops away with her shouting back to him, "Don't worry, everything will be all cleared when I get there."
Chris smiles as he heads back to Sweet Apple Acres once more.
"Must… *gasp* keep… *gasp* buckin'… just… *gasp* a few… *gasp* more," Applejack pants as she keeps on kicking the apple tree to knock down the apples into the baskets tied to her sides, clearly beyond exhausted as she continues kicking and her breathing becoming more hectic, "Must finish harvestin'."
Just as Applejack was busy kicking the tree, Chris approaches her from the distance as he watches her carefully. Just a few feet away from her Chris stops in his track, nervous a bit and tries his best to collect his thoughts so he can voice his reason perfectly, hopefully, so he can get through to Applejack, takes a deep breath and walks up to her.
"AJ, I need to speak to you," Chris called out to her with a strong and calm voice, "I know you don't want any help with harvesting the apple trees, but your workaholic attitude has been causing more problems than just yourself. You flung Rainbow Dash across Ponyville, practically poisoned Pinkie Pie and other ponies by mistake, and scared Fluttershy's bundle of new baby bunnies. I know what you said before, but you must know deep down this isn't right and I don't care how many times you blow me off… I'm going to help you, no matter what you say!"
Applejack kicks the apple tree one more time and the rest of the apples fall into her baskets, smiles to herself, and looks at Chris with a satisfied look in her eyes, "Ha! No, ah don't. Look, ah did it," Applejack nods her head in the direction of the fields as Chris follows her vision to see the many fields of apple trees empty of apples, "Ah harvested the entire Sweet Apple Acres without either yours or Twilight's help. How d'ya like them apples?"
At this point Big Macintosh, somehow without either Applejack or Chris noticing him approaching them, appears besides Applejack which slightly surprised the both of them and Big Mac looks in the another direction.
"Um, how do you like them apples?" Big Mac points out as both Applejack and Chris look where Big Mac wanted them to see, though his comment was more direct at Applejack, where the another half of the apple orchard was with apples still aplenty in plain sight.
The sight and knowledge that Applejack only managed to finish half of the apple trees was utterly staggering that is threaten to overwhelm her senses and look on with horror and shock that there were more to be done and mumbled to herself, "Where'd all the apples…?"
Applejack continued to mutter unintelligent gibberish under her breath as the sight was too much, coupled with the fact was she extremely tired and wore out, that she fainted and collapsed with both Chris and Big Mac looking on with worry.
Chris sighs softly as he looks at Big Mac, "Let's get a towel and a bucket of cold water."
The big red pony nods and the two of them go fetch a towel and a bucket of cold water for Applejack.
A few hours has passed since Applejack fainted and she finally begins to stir as she hears a voice calling out to her as she slowly opens her eyes to the human boy looking down on her.
"Applejack? AJ, you finally awake?" Chris asked in a worried tone as he takes off the wet towel from Applejack's head and places back into the bucket of water to sit, having feel the cold refreshing touch of the wet towel Applejack looked much better and relaxed.
"Huh? What happened?" Applejack tried to get up quickly, but Chris stopped her from raising up too fast and slowly helped her to her hooves, "Ah could've swore ah saw more apple trees left to be buckin'… oh right, there are more aren't there?"
Chris simply nods at her as he sits down next to her.
"What am ah going to do? This will definitely take a couple of extra days to finish!" Applejack laments as she hangs her head in defeat.
Chris chuckled to himself as Applejack admits defeat as the amber pony slightly glares at him, "And what is so darn funny?"
"Nothing… it's just that you remind me of someone I know," Chris reminisces a bit as he says that looking up into the sky as Applejack blinks and looks at him curiously.
"Who?" Applejack couldn't help but asked, seeing as Chris has amnesia and it seems like another piece of his memory came back to him and wants to know more about him and this person who he is referring to as he mentions he had no friends before coming to Equestria.
"Just a stubborn boy I know, he always wanted to the work himself no matter how many times his aunt or uncle wanted to help especially regarding his drawings. Also wanted to prove himself a capable young adult and tried learning and doing everything on his own, never really going anywhere with his work," Chris went on explaining to Applejack though a glimmer in his eyes suggest his was talking out of fond memories to himself.
"He did?" Applejack's eyes lit up with curiosity… was this boy?
"You see… it was nothing major, but he wanted to win an art contest and earn some money for his family, but no matter what he couldn't get his art just right no matter how many days he spent working on it and when he went to do some housework he screwed up on every task without a wink of sleep, wanting to show he could be responsible on his own, but it was a foolish and childish endeavor despite the thoughtfulness behind it," Chris smiles and chuckles to himself as he recalls with Applejack sitting and listen patiently for him to finish the story.
"And what happen next?"
"Well you see… the contest was coming ever closer to the end and his art never really improved because he wasn't really sure what to do, even questioning if he really was an artist even if he loved drawing, and the books he was reading didn't really help with his understanding of drawing complex shapes," a look of solemn etches into Chris' smile as he recalls it, "But then his aunt came next to him and asked this question to him."
Chris looks at Applejack this time as she looks back in wonder and curiosity as he tells her the question:
"Chris, why is it you don't want help? There is nothing wrong with asking for help and your uncle and I have asked you for help for such a long time. Helping out others is a wonderful thing, but having those you helped is just as wonderful, right? Since you helped me can't I help you just the same?"
Applejack blinked in surprise at the simple, but honest and direct question Chris' aunt has asked him.
"And you know what… I wasn't sure why I didn't want any help, maybe because of some foolish pride or whatnot, but she was right. They always helped me out and it felt nice to help them, but when I realize I couldn't do or finish my own project and how much problems I caused them I asked her if she could teach me her tricks… and guess what? It felt just a great as helping someone out and I was extremely happy I didn't have to do it alone," Chris smiles brightly towards Applejack as the amber pony lets what he said sink in, "So, Applejack do you understand? You helped so many ponies before when they asked for it and they didn't feel ashamed doing so, so can't your friends that you help also help you?"
Applejack's eyes dart back and forth when her head looking down to the ground and gives a big sigh, "Yer right, you win. Ah was pretty foolish to try this on mah own and ah shouldn't feel ashamed for asking mah friends for help since I've helped them plenty of times. Sorry Chris for pushing you away like that, can you forgive and can ah ask for yer help?"
"Of course!" Chris answers back warmly as he gives Applejack a hug, "You can count on me!"
"By the way… what happened with the contest?" Applejack was curious to know how that went.
"Oh that?" Chris looks up pondering a bit, "Ah… I didn't win, but third place wasn't all that bad and we did earn some prize money as well. But having my aunt help me with my artwork already makes me feel like a winner, I don't mind I didn't win one bit."
Applejack smiles at his sincerity and modest answer, slightly surprise at the young boy's maturity and yet wonders why no one liked him back home.
"That was a great story Chris," Twilight calls out from behind them as both Applejack and Chris turn around to see Twilight and the rest of their friends, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Spike.
"Yeah it really was a sweet and wonder story!" Pinkie Pie exclaims as she bounces around, "But I'm sad you didn't win, but you had fun right?"
Chris simply smiles to let her know as she smiles back.
"Oh, and everypony," Applejack looks away sheepishly as she tries to talk to her friends, "If ya don't mind, ah could really use yer help."
"We know already," Twilight smiles, "And of course we'll help."
Applejack practically jumps for joy as Twilight accepts to help her as everypony, dragon, and human being helping Applejack harvest the rest of the apples from the apple orchards as Big Mac looks on from the distance with a big smile on his face.
"Thank ya Twilight and Chris, ah knew ya two could do it."
Hours passed by like minutes as everypony, dragon, and human harvested the apple tress which sadly Chris found difficult to do as performing a roundhouse kick to the tree hurt his shin more than knocking down the apples despite his slightly enhanced strength and bellowed in pain quietly and opts to stick to sidekicks which were less painful but he was slowly than the others however Applejack was there to help him and the two grow closer together as friends as they helped each other out.
"How about y'all take a little break? Ah got some fine apple juice waitin' for ya!" Applejack calls out to her friends as she pushes a cart with drinks on them, and as everypony, dragon, and human sit around the cart and take their drinks Applejack sighs, "Girls, Chris, Spike ah can't thank ya enough for this help. I was acting a bit stubborn."
Chris coughs, "A bit?"
"Like you're one to talk," Twilight counters back at him which Chris smiles sheepishly at her and the both of them laugh a bit.
"Okay. A mite stubborn, and I'm awful sorry," Applejack bows her head apologetically, "Now ah know the town gave me the Prize Pony award, but the real award is having y'all as my friends… especially you Chris. You've been the most helpful and trusting friend ah could ask for."
"I wouldn't know about that," Chris shies away as he scratches the side of his face, "It's not like I did anything special."
"But you did," Twilight vouched for him and smiles, "You kept on trying to convince and help Applejack when she didn't want it in the first place, and what I learned from watching you two about friendship is that it's always great to have somepony, or someone in your case, to help others and that friendship is about giving to our friends as well as accepting what are friends have to offer."
"Geez, Twilight, you're making me blush," Chris looks down sheepishly, "Hmm… but didn't I hear you say that not too long ago? While you were writing a letter?"
"Yup, I have to write to Princess Celestia about the importance of friendship I've learned while in Ponyville and both you and Applejack have shown me another important lesson," Twilight answers Chris' question with a smile.
"Phew! That applebucking sure made me hungry," Rainbow Dash says after taking a sip from her apple juice.
"I'll say… sadly I have to adapt to eating just fruit and vegetables here but it ain't all bad," Chris sighs.
"What do you mean by that?" Twilight raises her brow, "Don't humans eat fruit and vegetable everyday?"
"Oh!" Chris raises in alert and stutters a bit, not sure how to explain it to them without alarming them, "Well you see… humans, well do eat fruit and vegetables back home, are actually… hmm, omnivores, so you see… we also eat… ummm…"
"Wait… humans are omnivores?!" Twilight jumped in surprised, clearly shocked by that realization.
"Oh! So Chris is an omnivore! Omnivore! Omnivore!" Pinkie Pie jumps around happily, "Um, what's an omnivore?"
"Oh… well, you see here girls," Twilight clears her throat as she glances at Chris who is looking down ashamed, "Omnivores means he eats both plants, like fruit and vegetables, and… meat, like wolves and other predators do, so…"
"Wait! Humans eat meat !?" Rainbow Dash jolts her head up in surprise as everypony looks at Chris.
"So… does that mean you eat ponies too?" Fluttershy asked nervously as she lowers herself behind the cart.
"What?! No!" Chris cried out, a little hurt that Fluttershy would react like that, "Humans don't eat ponies… sure we eat meat but no once have I heard a human eating a pony before! I promise you that! Besides there's humans who choose to be pure vegetarian so we can survive without meat… but I am going to miss the protein and the taste. It's just how we are... I'm sorry to alarm you girls, but I promise I won't eat meat as long as I'm here in Equestria."
"Alright, I believe ya," Applejack smiles, "I know I can trust ya and I know ya wouldn't do anything to harm anypony around here."
"Yeah, I mean it's a little surprising you eat meat, but what animal doesn't eat meat?" Rainbow Dash nods as she floats back down and sits next to Chris, "Besides you're one of us, it doesn't matter to us if you eat meat or not."
"You're right… sorry for doubting you Chris," Fluttershy apologizes as she moves closer to Chris, smiling at him which helped Chris sigh in relief.
"We know you wouldn't do anything to harm us, darling, but will you be alright… with your change in diet?" Rarity concernedly.
"Don't worry, I'll be alright… plus I do love my sweets!" Chris smiles which Pinkie Pie also smiles in response, "Though I can't eat too much or else I'll get fat easily."
After settling down a bit after learning about humans being omnivores as everypony chatted amongst themselves about various things, and Chris ponders to himself about getting a job and earning some income to help at Twilight's house as he doesn't want to be a burden to her or cost her a lot of living expenses.
"Applejack, can I have a word with you?" Chris calls out as Applejack as she finishes taking a sip from her drink and looks at the human boy.
"Something I can help ya with sugercube?" Applejack smiles at Chris sweetly.
"Yeah, I was wondering," Chris looks to the side bashfully, a little nervous asking her out of the blue like this, "If it's OK with you if I can work here attending the fields and such."
"Huh?" Applejack was a little surprised by the request but nodded, "Well of course ya can work here, but mite ah ask why?"
"Well you see, I'm staying at Twilight's place but I don't want to be a burden on her and add extra to her living expenses so I want to do what I can and earn some income as well to help out and pay for the food and such that I use there," Chris answers honestly, "Is that OK?"
"*Sigh* Chris… what did I tell you," Twilight overhearing his reason to work at Sweet Apple Acres, "You don't have to worry about it, but if you feel so strongly about I won't stop you. You're a stubborn person but you're also a sweet and helpful individual."
"Geez Twilight, was that complain or an insult?" Chris looked at the purple unicorn with a smug look as the unicorn also returned his sassy remark with her own smug look.
The girls giggled around them as Applejack agrees to let Chris work here with her and seems very happy and content that he'll be here to help her, now that she's alright with asking others for help. Just as everything was settling down Spike sits next to Chris and smiles at him.
"So you're going to be helping out with Applejack from now on, huh?" Spike asks Chris as he takes a sip from his apple juice, but his tone of voice hints to a subtle and hidden agenda with the smug look in his eyes as he asked this question.
"Yeah, so I hope you aren't too lonely without me helping you out at Twilight's place from time to time," Chris said worried that Spike will have difficulty with some of the chores.
"Nah, don't worry about it dude," Spike smiles as he narrows his eyes in a suspicious gesture, "So… is there any reason why you want to work at Sweet Apple Acres… especially with Applejack?"
"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Chris raises a brow at Spike's strange question, not liking where this was going.
"I'm just saying… it seems to be you want to work here not because of the job, but to be closer to Applejack," Spike said in a teasing tone.
"What does…? *Gasp*!" Chris' eyes shot wide up as it dons on him what Spike is really trying to say here and blushes madly at it, "W-W-What!? No! It's nothing like that! We're just friends and besides she's a pony and I'm a human… it wouldn't work like that since it's too strange!"
"Why? I mean don't you like or think she's pretty? What does being two different species have to do with it?" Spike asked an honest question which stops Chris in his tracks.
Why? Well it's obvious even if humans and ponies are mammals it wouldn't work and besides Applejack or any of the ponies wouldn't be interest in forming a relationship with a human and no less than himself. Though if Chris was a pony himself it might be a different story, but still his mind set is that of a human… as he looks at Applejack and blushes away thinking about what Spike just said.
"Oh! I almost forgot!" Spike calls out as he pulls something out from a bag he had as everypony around him gathered around.
"What is it Spike?" Twilight asked and Chris was thankful that the girls were earshot away from Spike's question.
"I got the perfect treat for the occasion, here you go!" Spike smiles as he pulls out the same muffins that Applejack made this afternoon and everypony backed away.
"Eeew… Spike , I threw those all away," Pinkie Pie frowns at the muffins, something Chris didn't think Pinkie Pie was capable of doing since it's… Pinkie Pie, as the pink pony raises her brow curious how Spike has them, "Where'd you get them?"
"From the trash."
Everypony around him went 'ew' as he mentioned that and can't believe Spike went into the garbage to get those… 'muffins' to munch on. Even Chris was taken aback.
"Dude! That's nasty!" Chris cringed.
"What? They're not that bad!" Spike defends the muffins he likes so much, "Just a nibble? Come on." Spike shows the muffin to everypony and person and all of them shake their heads.
Chris shakes his head in response as he looks at Applejack's direction as Spike just shrugs and eats his muffins, which further disgusted the girls, and Chris couldn't help stare at Applejack a little longer after what Spike said and suddenly realizes he's staring too much and looks away with a slight blush on his face.
Though he doesn't say it out loud there's one thing he's admits to himself even if they're two different species and that is… Applejack really is pretty, especially her freckles which make her even cuter.
EPISODE 4 END
Author's Note
Hey there again guys! Here's my first attempt on an episode-based chapter from the actual show with a few changes to include my own character and make it a little more unique and I more you guys enjoyed it regardless, though hopefully I'll improve overtime as I continue my story and I would like some constructive criticism to improve and not make it the same old thing with the episodes. However it was tricky as heck to get it right and feel like I could've done better with the dialogue.
And just to let you know I had to skip out on some scenes from the show when writing this chapter, because if I did the chapter would've been MUCH longer and seeing this is an Episode-based chapter I'm sure most if not all of you have already seen the episode and know what happens in it and didn't want the chapter to go over 20,000 words and I doubt all of you, even if you love this story, would want to read a 20,000 word chapter.
By the way I like to mention I forgot to add in the scene where Chris gets the Galloping Gala ticket from Princess Celestia last chapter as he was suppose to get but it flew over my head at the time as I was more worried about making the chapter too long, so I added the scene here where he mentions he got the ticket from her so he can go with his friends when the time comes. Hopefully I did a good job with that scene.
I like to apologize to my readers about the constant delay with this chapter as I intended to release the chapters at least once a week if I could, but unfortunately schoolwork, homework, and work has taken up a lot of my time though I've also been preoccupied by my new games such as Zone of the Enders HD Collection for the PS3 and Ragnarok Odyssey for the Vita and eventually Persona 4 Golden and other great games. Plus I went on a little trip to the Salem Witch Festival a little ways back.
Also I've been having a LOT of writer's block when it comes to writing in this chapter even though this is based on the episode of the show because I wanted to make the original scenes to incorporate my OC, Chris Corona, into the story and scenes without coming off uninspiring or taken too much of someone else' idea which is quite challenging even though I have a lot of original ideas for my story which I hope to continue with. I plan to end this story after the Season 2 Arc with an Original Arc after it as I didn't have plans to do a Season 3 Arc for this story despite the announcement of it however upon seeing the five minute preview of it ideas are brewing in my head so I plan to make a sequel story focusing on the Season 3 events… though I'm not entirely sure where to go with it until Season 3 airs is what I was originally going to have IF I had finish this chapter in time before Season 3 aired and I wanted to post my chapter on the day Season 3 aired but due to certain circumstances I couldn't make it on time but better late than never, right? However after much debating I plan to write a sequel story one day after this one is done during Season 3… but I won't tell what it's going to be!
I hope you found this chapter enjoyable and I'm going to let you know that these are the episodes I'm NOT going to cover in my story and instead by taken place with original chapters focused on my character getting to know some of the background ponies and these the chapters I'm not covering: Look Before You Sleep, Swarm of the Century, Feeling Pinkie Keen, and A Bird in the Hoof episodes. Though I've been skeptically about doing the Winter Wrap Up but when we come to it we'll come to it. However I plan on making references to those events happening. Also I apologize for making this chapter EXTREMELY long as I wanted to go into detail and such, especially the original scenes, but I went overboard and I know not a lot of people want to read a SUPER LONG chapter that's like a novel chapter length so hopefully when I write the next chapter it is shorter.
One more thing I like to mention, a few of you readers commented on my character being too one-dimension or was too trusting so I'm going to try my best to show more of my character and so faults to him. I'll focus on his intensity of focusing on one item for far too long and blocking out others around him so cannot pay attention until someone really grabs his interest and this happens a lot when he's reading or drawing, he's a worrywart so I'll focus on that bit as well in the upcoming chapters especially in Dragonshy showing his concern for his friends and bites his fingernail as a sign of weakness, and he'll come off as too trusting and too forgiving as he's now experience friendship from every being he meets in Equestria so in a sense it causes him to open up too much. Hope that's good enough for now!
Anyway take care! This is VirusChris signing off! It's coming, it's coming! The premiere of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Season 3 was awesome and I hope every brony enjoyed it as well!
