Life and Times of Silver Script

My stomach gives another soft moan as I canter from the schoolhouse. Cheerilee and the three fillies, the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’ as they call themselves, pointed out several other of their young friends. “Dinky Do, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, bah!” I shake my head, “I just need some breakfast, hopefully Dash has coffee.

“Silver Script!” I stop in my trot, then turned to the voice. Flitter waved as she comes closer, “What happened? Cloud came home with a smirk, didn’t tell me a thing!”

I just smile, “Let’s just say Dash came home and... we went to bed....” Flitter giggles, a pale redness on her muzzle. I feel my ears drop, “Er... not that.” Before I can get a chance to explain, my stomach roars at me, making Flitter giggle again.

“Hungry?” I blush softly at her small smirk, “Come on, I know a place with the best food in Ponyville!”

“Well, it’s hard to pass up the best.” I smile, following her outside Ponyville proper.

It was nearly a 15 minute walk, the sound of the occasional thud makes my ears twitch softly. Soon, the gates of a large farm acre comes into view, almost entirely covered in apple trees. Another thud makes my head twist toward the sound. Two ponies kick above the base of the trees, making the apples at the top fall into the buckets below. The orange one looks over to us- or rather, me, as I look to my side, and Flitter seems to have flown off. “Not cool.” I murmur.

“Well howdy!” the farm pony trots over, tipping her hat, “Name’s Applejack, welcome to Sweet Apple Acres! What can I do ya for?”

“Uhm, hi,” I shake my head, the lack of food seems to make me drowsy. “I’m Silver Script, I’m new to Ponyville, and I-”

“Oh well welcome to th’ neighborhood partner! Ain’t gonna find no place nicer then this lil town.” she smiles wide.

“Heh, thanks. Like I was saying, I woke up this morning, and before I could get a bit to eat, some errands came up, and so-”

“Say no further!” Applejack comes around, putting her hoof around my neck, “We Apples have the best darn treats this side o’ Canterlot. Whaddya hankerin’? Apple Pie? Apple Fritter? Baked Apple Surprise?”

“Woah, woah, easy miss, Applejack, is it?” She nods, and I continue, “Right now, I’ll take near anything.” We share a chuckle.

The farm mare takes me up to the red home, across from the barn. She moves me to the table, “Take a seat, I’ll get ya a fresh pie.” I nod, sitting near the side.

“Nice place you have here, Applejack. It’s very rustic.” I smile, looking around, "In a good way, I mean."

“Well thank ya Silver.” she opens the oven door grabbing a pie tin with her mitted hoof. “With the four of us here, we like to keep a tight ship.” She places the hot pie on the table, taking a pie knife and cutting it into slices, “So where ya from?”

“Manehattan,” I answer without hesitation, the scent of the fresh apple pie dancing in my nostrils, “Well, actually, I was raised in Cloudsdale, but after school I tried to get some of my writings published in the Big Apple. No pun intended.”

“Manehattan? You know a couple of ponies, the Oranges? Got a filly named Babs?” the mare smiles to me, putting a rather large pie slice on a plate.

“Yeah, I think I knew a Babs Seed. I tried to keep a couple bullies from pushing her around, but I heard it start up soon after I left.” I frown at the floor, forgetting my hunger until the large slice of pie was pushed in front of me.

“Aw well bless ya. She visited us a while ago, ah told her parents about her troubles and, from her letters, she seems ta be doing a lot better!” Applejack smiled, “Enjoy, partner!” she said, sliding me a fork.

As I was about to pick up the fork, the front door almost slams open, an all too familiar yellow pegasus entering. “Applejack! I need your help at my cottage!” I turn back to see Fluttershy.

“Oh my, I’mma commin Fluttershy!” Applejack grabs me by the skin of my neck, dragging me along. I groan, watching the pie shrink away. I flip from Applejack’s grip, look back at the pie, then go to follow the two mares.

Applejack is the first on the scene, followed by Fluttershy, then myself a moment later. Fluttershy looks back at me, “Oh, hi Silver. When did you get here?” I don’t answer right away, my lungs rapidly filling and emptying.

“Last... night....!” I continue panting, then stare breathlessly at the sight of herds of critters swirling around each other in maddening circles. “What in the name of Luna!?”

Fluttershy cringes, looking at the scene, “I don’t know what’s wrong, they’re just all so scared, so angry!” A small white rabbit looks at me, and with great effort, throws a carrot at my face. In a moment of confusion, the carrot hits me directly in the eye.

“AH! Son of a-” I glare at the rabbit, watching it scamper away with the other animals.

“Angel! That’s no way to treat guests!” she looks back at me as I rub my eye, “Are you okay Silver?”

“Yeah, I’m fine...” I shake my head, “It’s just... pain.” I watch as Applejack walks up to the herds of critters, then stomps her hoof in the dirt. They all stop and look at the orange farm pony.

Applejack nods, then turns to Fluttershy, “Now that I got ‘em calmed, go ahead and work yer magic, Fluttershy.” The pegasus mare nods, then walks to the closest rabbit, the one, I noticed, that chucked the carrot at me.

“Now then, what’s going on that’s got you all is such a frenzy?” Fluttershy asks. The rabbit, Angel, started chattering, “Uh-huh, oh my! That’s not good at all!” Applejack and I trot over.

“What’s goin’ on Fluttershy?” the cow pony looked from Angel to the pegasus. I stood quiet, trying to keep my stomach from howling at me.

“There’s a wild raccoon from the Everfree Forest that comes and steals the critters’ food, ruins their nests, and-” she stops as I just pass her, walking toward the wood. “Silver?”

“Is that the culprit?” I point my hoof at a small critter, its black mask over its white face, and red coat. Angel zooms past me, starting to chase at the raccoon in circles. “Hey!” I call, stomping a hoof in front of the rabbit, stopping them both in their tracks. Fluttershy came up close, her mane covering her face, ‘She still does that huh?’ I think to myself.

“Aww the poor little guy. You can stay, I’ll have enough food for all of the animals, including you.” she smiles sweetly at the raccoon. It chippers, hugs her leg, and scampers to the other animals. I look over the jubilated critters, as well as a very annoyed white rabbit thumping his back legs on my front hoof.

“If you weren't Fluttershy’s pet...” I stare down crookedly at the rabbit, making him look up to me, trembling. I watch with a smirk as he hops off into the small humble cottage, “That’s what I thought, tough guy.”