Courage is Magic

Chapter 14

I continued through the quiet town, making a note to try to let Pinkie know of what happened before she got too worried about where I went. As I continued to walk, I saw a pony carrying something that I thought was interesting. I didn't get a good look at him before he disappeared though, so I wasn't sure who he was. I shook my head in disappointment and attempted to go onwards. I didn't even get two steps forward before I was facing face to face with Pinkie Pie and her blue eyes. I decided that now was better than never, and I opened my mouth before being interrupted by Pinkie.

"I am so sorry about what I did!" She said apologetically to me. I saw her mane droop a little bit. Because of this I knew that she was indeed sorry. I nodded my head to accept her apology, and she jumped up and down quickly in excitement as her mane resumed its consistency of being very fluffy as before.

"Now, about those cupcakes...” said in order to keep her on track and stop her excited jumping. She started to say something, but I couldn't hear it because I got tackled once again by what looked to be a cyan blur. What is with this world and the ponies tackling me?! I thought as I was pinned down to the floor. I turned my head to face the attacker, and saw a cyan pony with magenta eyes and a rainbow mane looking very pissed off at me.

"What the hay did you do that for?!" Rainbow Dash asks me in fury. I was worried about her deciding to hurt me, so I asked the only thing that went through my head at the moment.

"What do you mean?" I asked innocently.

"You know what I mean!" She growls back.

"I really don't unless you are more specific about it," I told her.

"Your stunt on the field in front of the Wonderbolts!" She nearly shouts at me, but keeps a very angry glare upon me.

"Oh, that..." I said. I knew exactly what she was talking about. "How did you find out about it?" I asked her.

"I was watching them practice while I was doing my own practice nearby!" She said to me. Yeah right, you were just focused on watching them. I thought to myself as I use my wings to push her away and get up.

"Well, to explain why I did that, I don't entirely like those who just do half-baked tricks and expect someone to not notice it," I explained. It didn't help to calm down Rainbow Dash to my dismay however.

"Now what makes you such an expert in things like that?" She asks me with suspicion. I gave her an angry glare that matched hers, as I knew that she thinks that I am not actually me, despite all of the proof she saw recently.

"I've taught myself for years to catch small details, so if you think that I can't be able to do a few aerial acrobatics, then you haven't lived my life!" I said to her with restrained anger in my voice.

"You past was a being a trick flier? I seriously doubt that," She said with confidence. I heard something in my mind snap and I got straight in her face.

"I don't give a damn about what you think about me at the moment, but I have lived a life in the past that has only ended up in disappointments, failures, and all of the crap I went through! If you think that I've had an easy life, then stop thinking that way! I've had a life where I’ve dealt with death, destruction, chaos, and even felt the pain of it all! If you think that I managed to somehow live a life of freedom and peace, then you are dead wrong!" I snapped angrily at her. She tried to say something but I didn't even let her try to start. "Furthermore, I know that you've lived a normal life for a Pegasus, I am never going to be anything like what you are, and I never will be!" I continued in anger.

"Now hold on there! You're not the only one with the problems in your past!" She shouted in her defense.

"Really? Then what do you have that was horrible?" I challenged.

"I had lost my parents when I was a filly, I never was able to grow up with parents unlike you," She said in response. I was just about to shout something back in response when an old memory that I have long since wanted to forget surfaced suddenly. My anger from earlier faded away quickly as I remembered a fragment of my past.

"You're... not the only one who doesn't know their parents..." I said with a saddened tone. She widened her eyes in surprise at why I have suddenly become sad when I was clearly angry at first. "I... never met my parents as both of them have died by unexplained causes when I was very young," I told her. I wasn't about to explain to them that I actually knew exactly how they died. Tears started to form in my eyes, but I blinked them away quickly before Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash could notice it. I did notice that Rainbow Dash looked less angry at me, but she still had some anger left in her. I tried to make myself as angry as possible, but that was impossible for me to do so because of what I have just revealed for them to know. I turned my head away instead, to try to hide my eyes from their gazes.

"I... Don't really like talking about my past, it's as bad as the story I told you years ago Pinkie..." I said calmly and started to walk away.

"Wait," I heard someone say from behind me. I turned around and saw that Rainbow Dash had walked up to me when I wasn't looking. "I thought you were trying to make yourself look cool in front of them, and I was a bit jealous that you were able to do so," She explained. I turned towards her and sat down on the dirt.

"I think we can still be friends, even though I know for a fact that we may not be able to understand each other fully..." I said as calmly as I could possibly say.

"I think that would be great," She said, holding out a hoof. I smiled and gave her a hoof bump in friendship. I then noticed a barrel moved in an odd way nearby out of the corner of my eye.

"Pinkie, as much fun as it is to hide in barrels, you shouldn't do that," I said towards the barrel. The barrel suddenly stopped moving as it knows that I've spotted her.

"But I'm right over here?" Pinkie says. I turned to see that she wasn’t in the barrel this time.

"Then who-?" I started to ask, but I recognized the blue mane that was sticking out of the top of the barrel, "Midnight..." I softly said with mild annoyance.

"I'm sorry, Vinyl also wanted me to take a break because I wasn't feeling so good today," She admitted while climbing out of the barrel with some difficulty.

"Will you be okay?" I asked her with some concern. I was pretty sure that she came up with that excuse in order to be with me, but I don't like the fact that she is skipping out on work.

"I think I will be okay, but I never knew that you have lost your parents at such a young age," She said with light tears in her eyes. I sighed at the fact that she knows that as well.

"How much of it did you hear?" I asked her.

"Most of it, just not your earlier conversation," She said while blinking away the light tears. I chuckled as I knew that I wasn't the only one who had a habit of sometimes listening into conversations that I shouldn't hear, and that was too often for me to count.

"I suppose I have a bit of an explanation to give you when the day ends," I said with a small smile. Midnight returned the smile as well, but I still wasn't falling for her excuse about feeling not so good.

"I guess you do, but don't you have something else to do?" She reminds me. I looked confused for a moment before realizing what she is talking about.

"Oh yeah, do you want to help us as well since you have nothing else to do?" I offered to her.

"I'm supposed to be sick," She told me simply.

"You will be after you try so many cupcakes," I said with a mischievous smile. She looked at me in confusion before realizing what my plan was. However, it was far too late for her to back out when I picked her up and started dragging her towards Sugar Cube Corner. I also had Pinkie help me as well, but that's only because she wanted someone to help out as well.

After managing to drag Midnight into the bakery, I've convinced her to help us with taste testing the cupcakes that were made. She was worried about being forced to try every single one of them, but I decided to join her in taste testing them. Pinkie was happy about the fact that I volunteered as well, because she cooked a bunch of cupcakes with Orange already. I sighed and decided to do the job that I unwittingly took along with my lovely soon-to-be wife. The only worry I had was of all of the cupcakes that I've seen come out of the kitchen.

"How many did you bake?" I asked with worry.

"Around a hundred sixteen give or take a few," Orange says with enthusiasm. I could feel the sweat drops forming on my forehead. I turned to notice that Midnight was also worried as well.

"On a scale of one through ten, ten being that we will really regret this, how much do you think we might regret this?" I asked her quietly.

"I think this takes a solid eight," She quietly responds.

"Good enough for me, let’s get to work," I said and picked up one of the cupcakes. I calmly took a bite out of it, and just as quickly spat it out. "Dear lord! That cupcake is way too sweet to be a normal cupcake!" I shouted in disgust as I tried to use my hoof to wipe the taste off of my tongue.

"Oh yeah, that was the test cupcake," Orange said, taking it off of my hooves. I glared at him for leaving the “test” cupcake on the tray.

"Don't ever leave tests just lying around like that," I told Orange sternly. It was wasted upon him, as he happily bounced into the kitchen to get the real one. I sighed and picked up the next cupcake to try. I gave it to Midnight and she took a bite out of it.

"I think that this cupcake has too much of an orange taste in it," She says simply after finishing the cupcake. She nods to me and I picked up the next cupcake. I opened my mouth hesitantly, worrying that it might be another testing cupcake. But when I took a bite, it tasted like a party in my mouth. Only instead of fireworks, it was exploding with a delicious flavor.

"That is one awesome cupcake!" I complemented, and Midnight glared at me for being lucky. I smiled and decided to turn this into a bit of a private game between us both. "Whoever gets the most good cupcakes before we finish all of them, or we both end up on the floor, wins," I whispered to her with a bit of confidence.

"You're on," She replied, and we started eagerly digging into the cupcakes one by one.

We were down to the last two cupcakes, and I was looking very ill from eating so many cupcakes. Midnight also looked as ill as I did, and I decided to make one last attempt to beat her. I wasn't sure who was winning though, because the only thoughts on my mind were to end this suffering as soon as possible. I looked at Midnight, and she had the same look on her face.

"Come on, there are only two cupcakes left!" Pinkie exclaimed eagerly, not really noticing our faces. I looked at them, and picked both of them up.

"Yes, so let's make this count..." I said with a tiny groan. I put one down in front of Midnight, who picked it up and looked at me. I decided that we should finish this self induced torture together, and I nodded. I tapped on the table once; we both picked up our cupcakes. I tapped the table again, and we opened our mouths. I tapped the table for the third time and we both shoved the cupcake into our mouths. The result was the taste having us both turn green in the face.

"Uh, you don't look too good now..." Orange says. I would have given him a sarcastic response if I wasn't trying to keep myself from puking.

"Bathrooms are down the hall over there," Pinkie says quickly, noticing our very green faces. I nodded at her in thanks, and ran with Midnight down to the bathrooms. She ran into one of the bathrooms, I ran into the other. I managed to get to the bucket in there and puked my guts out into it. One can only handle so many cupcakes before his stomach has to empty itself out. I vowed to never intentionally volunteer myself or my wife in anything like this ever again.

As soon as I stopped puking into the bucket, I took the bucket and replaced it with an empty one. I pushed my way out of the stall and found that Midnight was passed out in front of me. I could see traces of vomit on the side of her mouth as well, but I knew that I was the only one stubborn enough to be conscious, but I was slowly starting to have my brain swim. I set the bucket down and gently carried her to the main room.

"Orange... Please make sure that we get home," I said before closing my eyes and hitting the floor with a thud. I heard worried voices for a short time, but they faded away  quickly before I could even make out who they are and what they were saying.

When I opened my eyes again, I noticed that I was back home in my bed. I looked around and noticed that Midnight was also next to me. I could tell that she was still passed out, so I went and got us both a cup of water to drink. As soon as I got to the sink, I noticed a strange brown pony in the living room. I was confused on who he was and how he got into my house.

"Excuse me, but who are you, and why are you in my house?" I asked him. He turned his head to me in surprise, and I backed up in surprise as well. I saw that his eyes were actually glowing a blue color, but I couldn't figure out what color they  actually were.

"Oh I'm sorry, is this your house?" He asks me in what sounded like surprise. I knew that he was faking his surprise

"Yes it is... now why the hell are you here?" I asked him once again, not buying his fake surprise.

"Oh, I thought I could meet someone who just recently came back," He tells me. I was going to say something to him, when a device started beeping in his pouch. "Oh would you look at that, its working!" He says in an excited tone.

"What's working?" I asked in confusion.

"Oh, it's the device that should track him down and allow-" The pony started to say, but he noticed my glare. "does your name happen John by any chance?" He asked me.

"Yes..." I said with slowly growing suspicion.

"Oh, never mind then..." He said, turning off the device and putting it away in his bag.

"Now why the hell are you in my house looking for me?" I asked him again with a bit more force.

"I simply came to introduce myself, and welcome you back to the neighborhood," He said with an interesting smile. I wasn't really amused at his smile, but I wasn't going to draw a knife on him yet.

"Very well, you know that I am John, now who are you?" I asked him.

"I am Tech Hooves, the pony of technology," He said with a slight bow. My anger vanished and gave way to being impressed.

"So you make technology or something?" I asked him.

"I actually do, most ponies don't really appreciate my efforts however..." He said, saying the last part through clenched teeth. I could understand why he would feel that way however, “Most of them don’t even take me seriously.”

"I see... now that we met, can you please get out of my house?" I asked him in a more polite way.

"Of course, but before I go, I have a feeling that you could use this," He said and gives me a strange looking knife. I took it in my hooves and looked over it carefully.

"Okay, anything else?" I asked him as I put the knife down upon the table.

"Nope, I hope to see you later!" He said, and would walk out the door. He is an odd Stallion, but I think I'll possibly be seeing him more later on... I thought as I finally managed to get time to walk into the kitchen. I took out two glasses of water and filled them both up to contain as much as it could hold. I put them carefully on my wings and balanced the glasses of water upon them as I walked up the stairs. It was slow going and very hard to do so, but I managed to get up all of the steps without spilling a single drop of water. I didn't get too far from the stairs when I saw Midnight exit the room that we were in.

"Oh hello, I got us some water since I was up," I told her. She said nothing as she took the glass from one of my wings and drank nearly the whole thing quickly. I decided to pick up the other cup of water and drink the water as well.

We both finished the water in the cups quickly and I took them back downstairs to put into the sink. As soon as I got back up, I noticed Midnight walk back into the room. I also entered into the room to join her as well.

"So what now?" I asked her as soon as I walked into the room and closed the door.

"I think it would be best if we sleep for now..." She replied in a tired voice. I nodded in agreement and helped her back into the bed. I smiled as she moved into a comfortable position on the bed. I decided that I would join her for once, and got into the bed myself. Before I closed my eyes however, I felt someone put a hoof on me. I smiled as I could tell that the leg belonged to Midnight, and smiled as I closed my eyes and started my slow decent into the unconsciousness of sleeping. Most of my dreams were filled with imaginations of the future I will have with my wife and my two children as well if I had them. They were very pleasant dreams, and I'm very certain that anyone who dreams of having a family would understand the reason of why I have those kind of dreams.