Key2DestNE: Hey everyone, Key here! Eheh… Sorry for the really late update- you know how it is with exams and everything…
DarkFoxKit: No, I wouldn't know that. *was reading a book* It's been so long since we updated, I've forgotten what we were doing.
Key2DestNE: Really? You don't remember? …Come to think of it…. *smiles sheepishly* U-uh, gimme one second. *pulls out a script, reading it over and mumbling* Okay, so… We entered Equestria… Met Lyra… Met the Mane Six… Ah, right, we-
DarkFoxKit: I was being sarcastic. How long has it been since the last update? A month? Two months? Well anyway, I'm sure SOME people aren't too happy with our interaction, perhaps because the way I treated you?
Key2DestNE: …. *blinks in surprise* Say what? I… didn't think that was the case at all! I mean, nobody's been complaining…
DarkFoxKit: *raises eyebrows* Have you seen our reviews?
Key2DestNE: Of course I have! Nobody's complained!
DarkFoxKit: You deleted it, you little smart aleck. A certain reviewer was complaining they didn't like my interaction with him, and something about rewriting the entire series without the OCs, which would be pointless.
Key2DestNE: Yeah- that's why I deleted it. Frankly, that'd literally just be a rewrite- and we're NOT going to do that, so why keep a review like that?
DarkFoxKit: I keep all my reviews, even ones I don't like. Mostly so other people could see them. :3
Key2DestNE: ...Hmph- well, I didn't. *grumbles, crossing arms* Anyways, just take a look at the chapter- Fox and I need to have a little chat…
Chapter 6: Twlight Sparkle's Coming to Town
It was the next morning, Riz was a night owl but a late sleeper. She groaned, hearing some noises in the kitchen. "Ugh… what is going on?" she grumbled, sitting up before almost losing her balance. She looked down to see purple fur. "Oh… I guess it wasn't a dream after all." She narrowed her eyes, squinting to find her glasses. How am I going to put my glasses back on without fingers?
She didn't notice, due to her impaired eyesight, both her horn and her glasses glowing blue before the red glasses started to levitate, landing right on her nose. Riz blinked, startled. "H-huh?" She looked around, confused. "...Mike? Did you put this on my nose?" But he wasn't there. "... Maybe the glasses have a mind of their own? That would be scary…" She gulped before walking to the bathroom to get cleaned up. She looked at herself in the mirror.
"Wow… this is the first time I actually see myself in the mirror as a pony. I look so much… cuter, way too cute…" Riz looked herself over, resisting the urge to squee at her own body. "I kinda like it, at least I lost a lot of weight." She smiled but then frowned at the sharp horn on her head, sticking out of her blue mane. "Ugh… that needs to go soon." She stood on her hind legs on the sink. "Uh… how to turn this on… and how to brush my teeth… I hate not having fingers!"
She grumbled, starting to look around, and once again not noticing the blue glow around her horn and the sink before it turned, letting the water flow. The unicorn blinked, glancing at the sink in confusion. "...O-okay, is this place really haunted!?" She backed away slightly, very very worried and scared, before shaking her head. Now, now, Rizzie, no need to be scared. Maybe it's just this whole pony magic world; yeah, how else are ponies supposed to brush their teeth and wash up?
The unicorn stood back up on her hind legs and looked around, confused. "... Where are the toothbrushes?" She looked everywhere for one before finally sighing. "Ugh… I guess I'll have to go without one today…." She grumbled in annoyance. Better get some at a store or something later, don't want rotting teeth in the future. She sighed, shaking her head, before just washing her face by sticking it into the running faucet water to at least freshen up, then she fiddled with the handles, trying to turn them off. She grumbled but managed to shut them off and then hopped back down off the counter, walking into the kitchen.
Riz's jaw dropped, seeing Mike cooking like a pro. He was making what seemed to be pancakes, but he was… using his wings like arms, almost. Scootaloo was also watching in awe, her eyes beginning to sparkle. Mike was humming under his breath, smiling carefreely.
Riz smelled the pancakes and almost drooled until she saw he was adding clover into the mix. CLOVER? CLOVER!? …..Surprisingly, it didn't smell too bad- if anything, it smelled delicious! But… clover? Why of all things, clover?
"Oh hey Riz, looks like you're finally awake Miss Lazy Pony." Mike chuckled, glancing back at her. "Took you long enough, it's like 10:00!"
Scoots smiled and ran over to her, bouncing up and down eagerly. "Good morning, Riz! Mike is making Clover Pancakes! They're my favorite, and they smell so good!" She drooled, grinning.
Riz looked at Mike, blinking in confusion. "...Clover Pancakes? Really? What's next? Tofu bacon?"
Mike shrugged, chuckling. "Nah, tofu's not my style Riz. Besides, I was in the mood for pancakes and found this recipe." As he spoke, he flipped the pans, allowing the cooked breakfast meal to land on two plates on the table. "Now you guys dig in, I already had a few apples from AJ!"
Riz looked at the pancake with the clovers growing out of it. "... Are you sure it's safe to eat this?" she finally asked, before noticing Scootaloo was digging in with gusto.
Mike nodded, grinning. "Of course! Go ahead, try it out! If you don't like it, lemme know. I'll get you an apple or something!" Riz hesitated, before taking a small bite. It tasted… delicious! The clover seemed to only accentuate the flavor!
"Wow… it is good." Riz said, but was inwardly worried. Great, now I'm turning into an animal! … Mentally!
After finishing the clover pancakes, Riz looked around, biting her lip. "So… what do you use for bacon and eggs instead?"
Scootaloo blinked, before shrugging. "Well, we have EGGS, that's not really an issue… but what's bacon?"
Mike smiled nervously, cutting Riz off. "N-nothing! Riz, if you're still hungry, go get an apple or two! I think the Apple family's letting people eat a little bit for free…"
"Nah, apples are more like snack food than actual breakfast." Riz said, trying to pick up her empty plate with her mouth to go wash it but dropped it. "Dang it…"
Mike sighed, shaking his head. Alright, the sooner I can get Riz to learn magic, the less expensive it'll be! "I insist, Riz. I'm not cooking anything more, Scoots has to go to school, and I'm not letting you cook as you are right now! Go get an apple or two. Plus it could be dessert!"
"I'd rather have an apple pie for dessert. But fine, I needed to apologize to Applejack with how I acted yesterday anyway." Riz groaned, walking out the door.
Scoots smiled, looking at Mike in surprise. "Wow, for a thin pony she sure eats a lot. I'm already stuffed after those two pancakes!"
Mike shrugged, chuckling. "Yeah, she has a bit of an appetite. But try not to say it around her, she's… well, nervous about that sort of thing. Now c'mon, I'll help you get to school and then practice my flying with Rainbow for a bit!"
"Lucky, I wish I could fly already so I can fly with you and Rainbow Dash!" Scoots complained, pouting childishly.
Mike grinned, shrugging. "Well, first we have to fix the malnutrition you've had, your wings are too small to give you much lift! Once you do that, we'll get to work teaching you how to fly, alright?" Scootaloo pouted, nodding reluctantly as Mike started to lead her to the schoolhouse.
Scootaloo smiled shyly, looking up at Mike. "...This is the first time I actually had someone walk me to school. Can… uh… can we do this again sometime?"
Some of the fillies that were playing around all stopped what they were doing and stared at Scootaloo walking with the new blank flank pegasus.
Mike ignored their stares, nodding with a smile as his wing ruffled her mane. "Sure thing, Scootaloo! I'll see if I can't do it every day, maybe I'll meet your friend Sweetie Belle too!"
"Great! But you might have to wait until the end of the school day to meet her, she's probably already in class. Come and pick me up around three alright?" Scootaloo said happily to the older pegasus.
He nodded, gently pushing her with his hoof. "Of course, Scoots! And if there's any trouble, let me know right away, okay? I promise, I'll be there for you if needed, and I'll try to get Riz to do the same."
"Will do!" Scootaloo said as she headed into the school, Mike smiling gently at her retreating figure before beginning to walk off. Before he could get far, though, he was stopped by five children, and he blinked in confusion.
"Uh… can I help you?" Mike asked, raising an eyebrow. "You really should get to class you know."
One of them, a white unicorn filly, walked up to him, frowning. "... You're a grown-up Pony, aren't you? Where's your cutie mark? You shouldn't have a blank flank!"
Mike blinked, startled. "Uh… pardon? I can have a blank flank, it's not that uncommon!" Then he frowned, thinking. "...Pardon me, what's your name?" he suddenly asked out of the blue.
"Diamond Tiara, and I still can't believe you're a grown-up pony yet you're a blank flank; you must be a total loser!" She laughed, sneering.
The other four began laughing with her, sneering and pointing at him, calling out. "Grown-up blank flank~ Grown-up blank flank~"
Mike frowned, feeling a little self-conscious, before he glared, rolling his eyes. "Oh really? You really think this is a smart move? Fine then… I suppose you'll see what this 'grown-up blank flank' can do, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon." He started to walk towards the schoolhouse. I need to tell Cherilee to not boast so much about having a cutie mark, and show that you can be somepony without one!
Meanwhile Riz was walking through Ponyville by herself; she looked around, still so new and fascinated by everything. This is pretty amazing, I've got to admit! She then blinked, seeing a chariot flying towards the center of town. "Huh… I wonder what that's about…" She then shrugged, beginning to walk towards Applejack's farm. "Oh well, I'm sure it's nothing too important."
The purple unicorn smelled the nice scent of apples; she's been to a few apple orchards in her human days, but this one had so many more apples than she'd ever seen! There were even a different variety of them too! She was looking at one tree that had all green apples when she heard Applejack's voice.
"Hey! Ya'll are Riz, right?" Applejack asked from behind her, curious.
Riz turned her head and nodded, sighing. "Yes, it's me, Applejack. I wanted to apologize for how I acted yesterday… I didn't mean to freak out so much like that. I'm not normally like that."
The mare shrugged, smiling. "It's fine, sugarcube! C'mon, lemme introduce you to mah part of the family, since you're living nearby an' all!"
"A-are you sure? I don't want to impose or anything." Riz said nervously, not really liking the idea of meeting more new faces.
Applejack nodded, smiling gently as she lead Riz over to the barn. "Sure, ah'm sure! You'll love Granny Smith, an' Applebloom! She's mah sister, an' the sweetest little thing in the world! And my brother is just… well he's strong and reliable. You could never ask for a better set of hooves around the farm!"
Riz just gave a nervous smile, "I-I don't know… I'm not too good with kids…"
"Oh come on now, stop bein' so modest and get in there." Applejack said while laughing as she opened the door.
Riz blinked, looking at her in surprise. "How did you open that door with only hooves?"
Applejack shrugged. "Well, our hooves are cupped in shape, so ah just use that to my advantage! Ah could show you if ya stick around a bit…"
"Sure, and please teach me how to take on and off glasses on my face!" Riz practically begged. "And I'm sure your family specializes in apples, right? I'll bet you make a mean apple pie too."
Applejack nodded, smiling. "W-well, sure we do! We're the Apple family for a reason, after all! Ah'll introduce you ta the family, then we'll get started teachin' ya!"
Before they could even do that, however, the two ponies heard someone speak behind them. "Uh, pardon me, but is there an Applejack around here? I need to speak to her about the Summer Sun Celebration catering…"
Riz blinked, surprised; she recognized the voice from somewhere… but she couldn't quite put her hoof on it. She turned around to see a lighter purple unicorn with a dark blue and pink mane and a sparkling cutie mark. She remembered about this unicorn the most from a few episodes she had seen from MLP. It was… "T-Twilight S-Sparkles?"
The mare blinked in confusion, holding a checklist with a purple and green dragon on her back. "Uh, it's Sparkle, but how did you know about me? I've never seen you before, have I?"
Riz gulped, she knew she had to make up an excuse and quick. "Uh… well… it's just I…" Then she remembered that Mike told her that Twilight was the princess's favorite student and that gave her an idea. "I've heard about you being uh… Princess Celestia's favorite student from… uh… where did you say you were from?" She felt embarrassed at not remembering the name of that place.
Twilight raised an eyebrow, surprised. "You mean Canterlot? I never said… but I suppose everyone knows about the Princess." She shrugged, before looking back at the clipboard. "Now, are you Applejack?"
"No, ma'am, that'd be me!" Applejack stepped forward, shaking Twilight's hoof energetically. "Name's Applejack, ah run Sweet Apple Acres! So you're the one in charge, huh?"
Twilight was literally bouncing from her rough shakes. "I-i-it's n-n-nice t-t-t-to m-m-m-meet y-y-y-you!"
Riz was snickering from the shaking speech. "Uh, Applejack, you might want to take it easy. You're making Twilight bounce like a rubber ball!"
Applejack blushed in embarrassment, quickly letting go. "O-oh, ah… Sorry, Miss Twilight. C'mon, lemme introduce you both to mah family before we get to tha food!"
Riz gave a nervous smile, nodding to her. "Hi Twilight, my name's-"
Twilight walked off with Applejack, muttering, "Let's just make this quick."
Riz blinked and huffed, annoyed. "WELL, just ignore me then." she grumbled, walking away, deciding to go somewhere else for the time being. I knew I wasn't an important part of this… show story, but she didn't have to just blow me off like that!
Meanwhile, Mike was talking to a pink earth pony. "I apologize, Cherilee, but if your students feel bold enough to tease an adult about not having a cutie mark, you may need to reconsider some of your teaching methods regarding that. I had five of your students start sneering at me, trying to antagonize me- not only that, but they've done it to a filly who's currently my roommate and also a so-called blank flank."
Cherilee sighed, "I apologize for this, really I do, I try to teach them right but it's not my fault if they do that out of class. I can't be with them 24/7 you know… If anything, you should be complaining to their parents about this. I've tried my best, honestly I do… but they still tease to any pony they could find that doesn't have a cutie mark."
Mike nodded in understanding. "I understand that… and I'm going to speak to their parents as soon as possible- but right now, I'm simply asking you to possibly speak about how cutie marks don't make a pony. I'm not defined by, say, having a hammer cutie mark- perhaps I enjoy cooking as well, and you can try to explain that you can enjoy things even without having a talent in it. Hopefully that would make their attitudes weaken."
"Yes, I completely agree with you, in fact we were supposed to have a class about cutie marks next week. I suppose I could try telling them, but you know how kids are… they hear what they want to hear and then just tune everything else out." Cherilee sighed, shrugging helplessly.
Mike nodded in understanding. "Thank you, Cherilee. Hopefully this class can also help the victims understand that being a blank flank isn't something to be ashamed of… I apologize for coming in so angrily." He smiled gratefully, nodding to her as he turned to the door, opening it.
"I really appreciate your understanding. I'll try my best to let them know that being blank flank doesn't mean you're worse than everyone else. But like I said; no guarantees." Cherilee said as Mike just nodded before walking outside, seeing Rainbow Dash.
"Hey, there you are, I've been looking all over for you! Come on, do you want the best lessons of flying fast or not?" Rainbow Dash said impatiently.
Mike smiled, nodding in understanding. "Right, I got it Rainbow! Sorry 'bout that, had to help your #1 fan with some issues at school! Let's get started!" He spread his wings, Rainbow doing the same, before they both took off in a clap of sound.
Key2DestNE: *shrugs* You weren't listening. Duh. Now look- we're NOT rewriting the entire story! We've got like 30 chapters made already, we can't just go through all of them and change it!
DarkFoxKit: I didn't say we're rewriting it! Just reboot it… you know… start from scratch.
Key2DestNE: …. *twitch, twitch* Yeaaaaaah, that's even worse. NOT. HAPPENING. ...O-oh, hey guys- sorry, didn't realize the chapter was done by now!
DarkFoxKit: Hey everyone! You see now? HE'S the big dominating one here, not me! I'm just a little fox who's naughty and rebellious sometimes!
Key2DestNE: … *facepalm* Oy vey- you totally did this on purpose, didn't you? *grumbles* Look, we'll discuss this later too- right now, the reviewers need to understand that we're NOT rebooting!
DarkFoxKit: Are you kidding me!? I'm a TOTAL MARY SUE! I HATE FEELING LIKE A MARY SUE!
Key2DestNE: But we can tone it down! ...Look, how about this: we let the REVIEWERS decide. I'll set up a poll on my author page, and they can decide whether we do a simple rewrite, a complete reboot, or whether we keep it as is. Okay? Does that seem like a good enough compromise?
DarkFoxKit: Fine. *pouts* At least then we'll know for sure if the reviewers are happy with the giant mess we created!
Key2DestNE: IT'S NOT A- ugh, whatever. So you heard us, reviewers! I'll be setting up a poll, and you can decide whether we change it or not- hint, CHOOSE NOT- and if you do want to change it, then you can choose whether to rewrite it or to reboot it.
DarkFoxKit: I'd also like to know if they see me as a Mary Sue later on in the story. If so, I'm so gonna reboot it.
Key2DestNE: NO! BAD fox! *spritzes her with water* We're NOT rebooting it if they don't want it to be rebooted!
DarkFoxKit: …
Key2DestNE: …Uh… w-what's wrong? *suddenly begins to feel nervous*
DarkFoxKit: *smiles widely* Noooooooothing~ I'm just waiting for the camera to shut off~
Key2DestNE: … *gulps* R-riiiiight…. Wha!? Wait, Mew, don't turn the camera off- no, wait, DON'T YOU DA- *click*