Log Three - Chapter Two

After the recent torment of relocating a dislocated shoulder, I prepared the day by changing out of my flannel pajamas and into my normal clothes, and then I gathered some stuff and put them inside Fluttershy's saddlebag which I've currently borrowed.

I took a quick inspection inside the bag to assure I hadn't forgotten what I needed to bring.

Twilight's book to return.  Check.

Spare jeans with a torn hole needing to be patched.  Check.

Map of Equestria.  Check.

Some dead twigs, flint, and a fishing spear.  Check.

I fumbled around the items thoroughly, seeing if there was anything else I didn't miss.

Special sauce...  Check.

All items accounted for, and without delay, I headed for the front door and opened it swiftly.  Taking several steps outside, the morning sun hovering above the sky was briskly yellow and incredibly hot.  Tis the season of summer, after all.  I furrowed my brows and crossed the small bridge, meanwhile following the dirt-road leading to Ponyville.

A few feet further down past the bridge, I noticed my daughter was watering her beds of lilies and daisies to my left.  She was lullabying happily, content in her blissful singing that I stopped to briefly admire her angelic tone.   Her melody was invigorating, my whole body could just melt just from her soothing voice.

"Alright, Fluttershy," I shouted to her softly, waving an arm in the air.  "I'm going over to Twilight's, then Rarity's, then the lake.  I'll probably be back..." I paused to estimate.  "Around four to five hours."

Fluttershy heard as she gently lowered her watering can with her mouth.  "Just a second." she said, trotting towards me.

Pretty much every time or every day, Fluttershy always would stop me to give me a hug and wish for my safe travels before I'd leave, and whenever I'd return home she'd also be waiting at the front door and welcome me with her ever contagious smile.  How it warmed my heart each time I'd see that smile.

Fluttershy wrapped her forehooves around my left leg, smothering it.  "Come back home safely." she cooed as she released my leg.

"I will." I said with a chuckle.

After several minutes of walking, I finally made it to Ponyville.  Ponyville was a nice and quiet town, littered with ponies and foals of various kind; pegasi, ponies who were able to fly and could alter conditions of the weather by using their wings.  Unicorns, ponies who could cast and use varying levels of magic with a spark of their horns.  And there were your average earth ponies without wings nor horns.

Some locals I passed by would gesture a welcoming wave or shoot a friendly shout if they noticed me.  Others plainly would look away or act like I was inconspicuous.  Being disregarded bothered me, but I'd shrug and just go along my business as well.

Two weeks ago, Celestia did offer to turn me into a pony so I would fit in better.  However, I had told her I'd rather die if that were to happen because being turned to a pony didn't seem pleasing.  Plus, I wouldn't get used to it.  While it seemed a bit rash that I had said that to her, she respected my decision nonetheless.  Unfortunately, whenever I had to say her name in public, I'd have to pronounce her formerly as Princess Celestia so her servants, followers, and loyal subjects wouldn't be offended.  It was annoying but there wasn't much I could do anything about it, although I will continue to call her Celestia in this diary.

Continuing on.  This village was lively, and at least a couple of ponies of Ponyville were kind enough to point me the location of Twilight's house when I asked for directions.  No thanks to those who ignored me, of course....

Twilight, and the rest of her friends, including my beloved daughter, were pretty well known throughout town from their heroic deeds.  I heard they stopped Nightmare Moon from bringing an endless night and turned Discord, a spirit of chaos and disharmony, completely to stone; preventing him from reigning over Equestria.

There was another story about Shining Armor's (Twilight's Big-Brother-Best-Friend-Forever.  Try saying that three times fast...) wedding in Canterlot.

Twilight suspected that her brother's fiance, Cadence, princess of the crystal kingdom, was acting unusually... "bitchy".  Apparently it was an imposter named Chrysalis, a changeling queen who had the real Cadence held captive and wanted to rule Equestria.  She was very close too, I'd say closer than Nightmare Moon or Discord, but Shining Armor and Cadence's love somehow triumphed and repelled Chrysalis and her invasion.

However nothing, and I mean nothing, could compare what my daughter did to save the town one time; she stood up to a full grown, fire-breathing dragon!  I heard Twilight and her friends had to get rid of the mythical creature.  Otherwise the black smoke it created would shadow Equestria for the next one-hundred years!  When Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, failed to convince the dragon to leave, it was my daughter who persuaded the lizard to leave!  Heck, she even reformed Discord when he was freed from his statue prison and Celestia herself said she was the only one capable of doing it.

Unbiological though we were, I was still extremely proud of her; proud as much as a father of his daughter could.

With the help of a few pointers, I found Twilight's humble abode that was her treehouse.  When the ponies mentioned treehouse, I took the term like it was a teeny, tiny house built on top of a tree.  I was dead wrong.  I realized that when they said treehouse, literally they meant that it was an actual tree.  A big, bulky tree refined as a livable home.  It had glass windows, a balcony, including a door with a 'welcome' mat lying out front.

I walked, stood, and wiped my black Nikes over the mat, then I loosened my shoulders to ease up a little.  Three weeks ago, the first time I visited her place, I felt pretty awkward when me and Twilight discussed why my culture needed clothes to stay warm and how it kept them from looking at our "special" areas.  What was terrifying was that Twilight seemed fascinated in our anatomy and said she'll want to perform experiments (as she called it) on me one day.

I shuddered from that unsettling memory, praying it won't happen.  Couldn't blame her, though.  She was always eager learning new things.

Shaking off the awkward memory, I knocked on the tree's wooden door and waited for a response.  From the other side I heard clopping sounds, getting closer and closer, thus the door opened and standing before me was the egghead (a word I abducted from Rainbow Dash) herself, Twilight Sparkle.

Her horn glowed an aura of lilac, vibrant like a lit candle, synced to the door's knob.  Yes, quite frankly, she had a knob on her door this time....

Twilight immediately acknowledged who I was and the corner of her lips rose to a cheeky smile.  "Oh hey there, Rick," she said in a gleeful tone.  "I take it you're here to return a certain thing you've borrowed?"

"Heh, you presume correctly," I quipped.  "So, are you going to let me in?" I asked, raising a brow.

"Of course, of course," Twilight happily obliged.  The witty unicorn trotted aside, granting me a clear entry into her lovely home.  I nodded appreciatively, and stepped inside.

"How was the story?" Twilight began, looking at me curiously.

"It was good," I replied.  "Although I'm not entirely into horror or thriller stories.  More of an action type, y'know.  A good read nevertheless."

Twilight closed the door with another spark of magic.  "I thought it was interesting.  Then again, I find all books interesting." she added.

"A lonely filly meandering around Everfree Forest, trying to find her way back home, then encounters a strange pony with a magnifying glass for a cutie mark." I quoted in a ghostly tone, wiggling my fingers while adding a bit of an 'Ooo' for more eeriness effect.

Twilight childishly giggled at my silly charade.  "I wouldn't say it like that, but it probably would've been scarier if I read it that way." She then went over to me with an innocent smile plastered on her face.  "The book, if you please?" she asked politely.

I pulled the weighted novel out of the bag and handed it to Twilight.  "Here you go."

With another glow of her horn, the aura enveloped the book as it levitated from out of my grasp and onto one of the bookshelves that were ultimately aligned with even more assorted books.

"Anyways.  Have you obtained a letter from C- I mean, have you obtained a letter from Princess Celestia about the permit?" I inquired.

"Not yet," Twilight replied discouragingly.  "But I'm sure it'll be around today!" she said cheerfully.

"I understand you're trying to cheer me up, but I'm still pretty anxious if the council doesn't approve." I said, walking back and forth with a hand planted over my mouth.

"You really shouldn't worry.  I have faith that Princess Celestia will convince them."

"But it's been two weeks now!" I exclaimed.  "And I'm not sure what to do if I don't get the permit.  I don't like living in my daughter's house as a freeloader.  It's unfair to her."

"I'm sure Fluttershy doesn't mind. Really," Twilight smiled re-assuringly.  "She is the element of kindness, after all.  More importantly, she's your daughter.  If there is any problem, she'll support you all the way because-"

"Because she loves me," I cutted Twilight off.  "With every ounce of her beating heart.  Still, I just can't bear the thought on taking up space- let alone have her wash my clothes for me."

"Hmm," Twilight hummed, staring at the floor like she was brainstorming.  "Well," she quickly rose her head back up.  "If anything happens and you don't get your permit, why not look for a job?  Applejack or Rarity will be more than happy to hire you."

It was rather ironic; Twilight and her suggestions of what jobs I could apply, reminded me of Tina back on Earth.  Tina....  I usually thought about her from time to time throughout the entire month, wondering how she was handling life that I'm no longer around.  I mean, the entire month I'd been on Equestria, it should be thirty years on Earth.  I couldn't imagine how many things changed; Tina probably should be old by then, or maybe dead.  I don't know.  But I shouldn't dwell on the past anymore.  What was done was done; water under the bridge.  On Equestria with my dear Shy, that was all I ever wanted, and I'm glad I made that decision.

"I appreciate it.  But I'm not the type of man who enjoys physical labor.  And I'm not particular to cosplaying as a barbie for a fashionista."

"I-" said Twilight before she suddenly paused, cocking a brow.  "'Barbie'?  What's that?" Twilight questioned, staring at me bemusedly yet also curiously.  And I knew the moment she had asked that question, something made me guess that I was going to stay here longer than I estimated I would....

"Ah jeez..." I muttered, face-palming.

"That's entirely what they are.  Toys.  Plain and simple."

Me and Twilight were still standing at the center of her living room, and I had finished explaining to the curious unicorn about Barbie Dolls for which she was curious.  There wasn't much to talk about, really; I only knew what they looked like and nothing else, although Twilight wanted to know more about me and my world.  She had asked question after question regarding to Earth.  What was our food like?  What different types of languages were we able to speak?  How did we evolve from the primitive era to the revolution of advanced technology?  So many things I couldn't answer quickly.  It was just like time when we first conversed.

I didn't know how long time had passed, so I lifted an index finger and put it on Twilight's lips to hush her.

"Hold on a second," I said as I looked through a window where the sun was setting nearly at mid-point in the ocean-blue sky.  "Oh great, it's a quarter over noon!" I exclaimed.  "Sorry, Twilight, but I must really be going to Rarity's while it's still bright out.  Perhaps we can continue this at ano-"

Suddenly, I was interrupted when a blur of purple and green bolted down the stairs and stopped right between me and Twilight.

"You're going over to Rarity's?!" exclaimed Spike, hopping up and down like an excited school girl.

Spike was a baby dragon and Twilight's number one assitant (so he proclaimed).  He had purple scales and green spikes with a pair of sharp, emerald eyes.  Being a baby dragon he was, he could only spew jets of tiny flames.  But he had another unique talent; he could send corresponding scrolls to Princess Celestia by using his magical flames.  He could also belch out messages from Princess Celestia.  He had been living with Twilight ever since he was born, so their bond to one another were that of a brother and sister.  They were pretty inseparable.

This was the second time I met the scaly dwarf.  The first time we didn't get to acquaint ourselves due to "things" that I dared not to speak of it again.

Spike was practically down on his knees, tugging on my blue jeans.  "Did you say you're going over to Rarity's?!  Can I come?!  Please, please, please!" he pleaded.

He was really serious about wanting to go with me.  I shrugged cluelessly while staring at Twilight who just stood there rolling her eyes.

"Well," Twilight began with a smile.  "Since there's no things needed to be done for a while, I suppose you can follow Rick to Rarity's.  That is, if he doesn't mind?"

"Long as we get there soon, I have no problem with that." I comply, nodding.

"Then what are we waiting for!?" hollored Spike while pushing me impatiently.

"Okay, okay.  Stop shoving would ya.  I guess I'll see you next time." I said, waving dismissively at Twilight.

"Alright.  I'll see you later then." Twilight replied, hollering.

Just like that, I was finally shoved outside as me and Spike marched onward to Rarity's place.