Chapter 1: The Announcement
The Announcement
The cobblestone streets glowed brightly as Celestia's bright sun shone upon them. Ponyville's town square was a hustle and bustle of different ponies shopping and enjoying the wonderful day. However, there was one pony not caught up in the chaos that was the farmer's market. He was too busy with his thoughts.
Stormy was walking through town square. He was enjoying the beauty of the town and thinking about how lucky he was. It had been two months since he had moved in with Twilight, and it was the happiest two months he had ever experienced. He was surprised how much she had changed since he had left. The adventures she had been on, the places she had been, but most of all, the friends that she had made, did something to his marefriend that Stormy didn't think was possible. Those experiences made her even better than she once was. Stormy shook his head and brought himself back to reality, he had a job to do that not even thoughts of Twilight could derail him from.
Karat was the owner of Ponyville's most successful jewelry store, and he loved every minute of it. His favorite part wasn't the jewelry, but the money he made from it. He loved to hustle and overprice his goods, just because he knew that he could. Needless to say, when Stormy walked through his doors, Karat's eyes lit up with excitement. "Hello sir," he said in his politest voice,"Welcome to Karat's Jewels and Accessories, where you can find the best gifts money can buy. Now what can I find for you today?"
Stormy looked around at the impressive jewelry and other trinkets, but he was here for one reason and one reason only."I was here earlier this week," Stormy replied,"I'm here to pick up the order I placed with you. It should be under last name, Weathers".
"Ah, Weathers, I have your order ready in the back." As Karat looked through his store room, Stormy smiled at the thought of how his marefriend would react when he showed her this gift. He knew, or at least he hoped, that Twilight would love it. When Karat came out, however, any doubt in Stormy's mind was dashed. Stormy marveled at the jeweler's work, it was a golden necklace on which hung a cut of pure amethyst in the shape of Twilight's cutie mark. Stormy snapped back to reality, however, when Karat announced the price. "That will be 375 bits my friend."
"What?!" Stormy said with some surprise,"You said it would only cost 300 bits when I came in earlier."
"Well, that was then, and this is now. Now, it costs 375." Karat smirked as he said this. He knew that this unicorn would have no choice but to pay. Karat never lost a negotiation when it came to price.
Just then, out of nowhere, a pink burst of energy came smashing through the door. When Stormy looked beside him, he saw that a certain hyper, pink earth pony had appeared.
"Hi, Stormy!" Pinkie Pie said in her usual upbeat tone,"My pinkie sense told me that this guy was trying to hustle you, and I'm here to help!" Pinkie then set her sights on Karat. "Now, I think that the agreed price was 300 bits, am I correct?"
"Actually, the price has risen to 375 bits." Karat announced with a hint of confusion in his voice.
"Well we will only pay 300" Pinkie retorted back.
"The price is 375." Karat was starting to get annoyed now. Nopony had ever tried to haggle with him. and he wasn't going to let this pink mare get the best of him.
"300!"
"375!"
"300!"
"375!"
Then Pinkie said something that neither Stormy nor Karat expected. "375!"
Stormy was very confused at this, but he remembered what Twilight had told him about Pinkie. Twi always said not to question her methods when it came to most things. So, Stormy just sat back and let the party pony do what she was doing.
"300!" Karat answered back. However, before he realized what he had done, Pinkie had ended the argument, taken the necklace from his hand, and gave him the 300 bits.
What just happened? the jewelry pony thought to himself.
Then, as if she was reading his mind, Pinkie answered,"That's an easy question, you just got Pinkie Pie'd!"
Pinkie Pie then handed over the piece of jewelry to Stormy, and when they were outside of the store, Stormy said, "I don't know how you did it Pinkie, but thank you."
"Your welcome!" Pinkie replied. "Just one question. What's the necklace for?"
Stormy was shocked at this question. He hadn't planned on telling anypony about the necklace, much less what he planned to do with it. After thinking about it, though, he decided that he could trust Pinkie.
"Alright Pinkie, I'll tell you," Stormy answered,"but but we need to go somewhere a little more private."
"OK," Pinkie replied,"We can go to Sugar Cube Corner! The Cakes took the twins to go visit family, so there isn't anypony there right now."
When they got to the bakery, Stormy said, "Pinkie, what I'm about to tell you is a big secret, you have to promise you won't tell anypony unless I say it's alright."
Pinkie answered,"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye, I Pinkie Pie Promise."
Stormy then breathed in a heavy sigh. "I got the necklace because, I'm going to propose to Twilight."
Pinkie Pie gasped. She smiled and let out a longer torrent of words that Stormy had ever heard said in one breath,
"OhmygoshyourgoingtoaskTwilghttomarryyouthat'ssoexcitingIhavesomuchtodoandsomanypartiestoplanIhadbettergostartrightnow!"
Stormy stopped his over excited friend. "Don't start planning yet Pinkie," He said to her,"I don't even know if Twilight will even say yes."
Upon hearing that, Pinkie's toothy grin turned into a small, almost reassuring smile. "What do you mean, if she'll say yes?" Pinkie said to Stormy in an uncharacteristically calm voice. "Of course Twilight will say yes. Stormy, she loves you more than anything. When Twilight and I and the rest of our friends get together, you're almost all she talks about. So, you have nothing to be nervous about."
"Thanks Pinkie," Stormy responded,"that makes me feel tons better."
Pinkie's smile grew even wider,"No problem, now we had better get started. Like I said earlier, we have a lot to do if you are going to propose!"
Chapter 2: The Confrontation
The Confrontation
"So Pinkie, what do you suggest we do first?" Stormy asked his party throwing friend.
"Well," Pinkie replied as she sat on her haunches and put on her best thinking face,"in my opinion, the first thing we should do is check the weather to see when you can actually take Twilight out on a date, and there's only one pony I know that can tell us anything we need about the weather."
"No, not her, anypony but her." Stormy thought.
"Rainbow Dash!" PInkie exclaimed, finishing her own idea.
"Crap." That was all Stormy could think. It wasn't that he didn't like Rainbow, it was that she didn't seem to like him. Ever since he came to Ponyville, Rainbow Dash kind of tended to avoid Stormy. It was almost as if she didn't trust him. However, Pinkie was right, it would be good to know the weather patterns so that he could pick a good night to propose. "Well, if we are going to find Rainbow Dash," Stormy repiled,"we had better start looking."
"We don't have to look, silly!" Pinkie exclaimed as she bounced her way out of the back door, "Rainbow is where she always is, in the clouds!"
"Pinkie, neither of us can get to the clouds, we don't have wings." Stormy said to Pinkie, trying in anyway to put off the awkward encounter that would result if he went and talked to Rainbow Dash. Pinkie didn't respond. All she did was lead Stormy to a large pink shed that seemed out of place behind the bakery.
"Why need wings when you have this!" Pinkie shoved open the doors of the shed to reveal a large hot air balloon surrounded by other flying contraptions and barrels, some empty, of fuel. "We can use this to get anywhere we want, so finding Dashie will be a piece of cake!" Pinkie chuckled to herself at the mention of cake, and began to prepare the balloon for departure.
Stormy and Pinkie stepped out of the hot air balloon in front of what could only be described as a small castle in the sky.
"This is Rainbow Dash's house?!" Stormy said, taken aback by the sheer size of the building
"It sure is!" Pinkie answered back as she cautiously placed a hoof on the clouds to test Stormy's cloud walking spell, "The good thing about cloud houses is that they don't cost a thing to build," Pinkie continued," so they can be as big as they want."
Pinkie, sure that the clouds were safe, proceeded to trot over to Rainbow's door. Stormy followed, still apprehensive about this eventual meeting, and watched the pink earth pony as she knocked on the door. After a few minutes, the door began to slowly open. Stormy expected to see Rainbow Dash on the other side, but he was surprised to see that a small orange filly with a purple mane had opened the door.
"Hi Pinkie," the pegasus stated upon seeing the party pony, "what are you doing up in the clouds?"
"Stormy and I were looking for Rainbow Dash, is she here?" Pinkie asked.
"Yeah, she's here. Let me go get her." the filly answered back.
As the the orange filly walked away, Stormy looked at Pinkie with clear confusion on his face. Pinkie immediately picked up on his expression and explained, "That was Rainbow's daughter, Scootaloo. Rainbow Dash adopted her about 6 months ago when she found out that Scoots was an orphan."
Right as Pinkie finished her sentence, Rainbow Dash showed up at the entryway. Right as she saw Stormy, however, she pulled Pinkie inside and slammed the door. After about 2 minutes of what Stormy assumed to be conversation, Rainbow poked her head out of the door. "Get in." she commanded.
When he walked in, Stormy noticed a particular lack of the pony he had come here with. "Where's Pinkie?" he asked
"I sent her to go get the weather reports. Now what is this I here about you proposing to Twilight?"
"That's why I'm here, so that I can get the weather charts and figure out the perfect time to ask Twi to marry me."
Rainbow sighed, "That's what I was afraid of. Stormy do you have any idea why I've been avoiding you?" Stormy shook his head. "It's because I don't trust you. No matter what you say or how you justify it, the fact still stands, you left Twilight all those years ago, and I don't think that you deserve her. However, for her sake, I left your relationship alone, but now that you want to take it this far, I have to share my opinion with you."
Stormy looked at Rainbow with hurt in his eyes. "Rainbow," he answered, "I know I screwed up. I know that what I did hurt the mare that I love, and for that I will be forever sorry, but I have a chance to make things right. I want to let her know I'll be there for her forever, and that she'll never have to worry about being alone again. So please, if not for me, then for Twilight, will you help me?"
Rainbow Dash looked at the emotion in Stormy's eyes. Maybe I was wrong, she thought,Maybe he really does love her. "Alright Stormy, I'll help," Rainbow told him,"but I want you to know something."
"What?" Stormy asked.
"If you ever hurt Twilight again, you'll have to answer to me." Rainbow declared.
Stormy smiled and said, "Rainbow, if I have anything to say about it, the only thing Twilight will be from now on, is happy."