Sweetie Belle was excited today, for she had heard an interesting rumor on the way into school, and it wasn’t hard to confirm that the rumor had merit. There was an extra seat in the schoolroom today, right next to Sweetie Belle’s no less, so white unicorn filly with the pink and purple mane wondered who the new student would be.

“Good morning class!” Cheerilee greeted everyone as she entered the classroom. “As many of you have guessed we have a newcomer today. Come in and introduce yourself.”

The unicorn colt that entered had an orange coat and a bright green mane.

“How cool would it be to have that cutie mark.” The whispered comment from her pegasus friend drew Sweetie Belle’s eyes to the colt’s flank. The mark in question was two fireballs, one white, one black, orbiting around a green lightning bolt.

“Yeah but it looks too magicy. Ah bet it’s someth’n only a unicorn can get.” The yellow earth pony next to the orange pegasus whispered back. Both of her friends looked to Sweetie Belle for her input on the matter and she nodded in agreement. It did look like a magic focused cutie mark.

The three fillies snapped back to attention when their teacher cleared her throat. With a nod from Cheerilee the unicorn colt standing in front of the class spoke. “Hello, I’m Konton. Don’t mind me, I tend to move every few months, so I’ll be out of your way soon enough.” The colt gave the oddly cold introduction with a rehearsed ease that proved that he had given this introduction many times before.

“That’s um, great. Even if you’re only going to be with us a little while I hope you feel welcome here in Ponyville. Konton, why don’t you share something interesting about yourself?” Cheerilee asked, trying to get something a bit more friendly out of the colt.

“I Already mentioned everything that matters.”

“Well how about you’re cutie mark, I’ve never seen one like that before, what dose it mean?”

“I Don’t know.” The colt answered flatly. Unnoticed by the teacher or colt, three fillies immediately began paying attention to the conversation.

“Come now you can’t get a cutie mark if you don’t know what it represents.” Cheerilee tried one more time to coax something out of the colt with her cheerful tone.

“I. Don’t. Know.” he repeated, although he spoke with the same flat tone of voice, this time he looked right at the teacher with a look in his eyes that warned she was treading sacred ground.

“Well that is interesting, I guess. A pony that earned a mystery cutie mark is certainly a new one on me. Go ahead and take a seat. ” Cheerilee conceded.

Unseen by the rest of the class the colt mouthed the words ‘thank you’ to his new teacher before turning and making his way to the only open seat in the room.

* * * * * * *

Two class topics later Konton was feeling okay about his arrival in Ponyville. It hadn’t been the smoothest introduction he’d had but at least his new teacher had stopped pressing him before he had to totally ostracize himself with his life story. Mysterious secret keeper was a role that sometimes played out well in some of his past schools. But so far, the truth had always been an uncontrolled disaster.

The clock announced the end of another hour and Miss Cheerilee took note. “Okay class you all know what tuesday means.”

“Extra long recess day.” Konton heard the pegasus filly with the same color orange coat as him say. Considering himself lucky for his first day here to be an easy one he got up and started to follow the other fillies and colts out.

“And just where are you off to?” Cheerilee’s voice drew Konton’s attention to the teacher of his new school to see that the question was in fact aimed at him.

“I heard somepony say it was recess… so I was just following the others.” He answered timidly but honestly, wondering what he had done wrong, as some of the ponies remaining in the room giggled at him.

“That’s what it means to them. I know you’re new here so I don’t expect you to know what today means, but perhaps you can tell me what makes all the students that stayed seated the same?” Cheerilee asked.

It took Konton several passes of looking the room over before he noticed the common thread between all the remaining fillies and colts. “They’re all unicorns,” He stated the observation.

“That’s right. Today in magic kindergarten and there’s no point in trying to teach unicorn magic to earth ponies and pegasi so they just get an extended recess instead.” she explained.

“I don’t do magic.” Konton stated flatly and took another step toward the door.

“Of course you don’t, at your age you should be just starting to learn about magic.”

“I don’t do magic,” Konton repeated, boldly glaring into his teacher’s eyes.

Cheerilee was beginning to wonder if this new student wasn’t just testing her to see how far he could push her before finding the line. And she wasn’t in the mood to have a problem student who thought he could getaway with anything just because he was going to go away in a few months. “I don’t care. Sit your flank down with the rest of the class.” She snarled back in a hostile manner that drew gasps of surprise from her normal students.

Cheerilee wondered how much of her time this colt was going to waste before giving in as the two engaged in a staring contest, glaring at each other. Fortunately he sighed and returned to his seat after only twenty seconds or so. “Okay class, I’m sorry to say but I couldn’t get anypony to demonstrate and share their take on magic today, so we’ll be learning out of the book today.”

A shiver ran down Konton’s spine at how instantly his teacher’s cheerful tone of voice had returned. The other students in the room gave a moan of disappointment but jumped up and began moving the front row of seats back, making more room in front of the teacher’s desk. Soon the other students had thrown a black sheet over a tripod, making a makeshift tent. The white filly that had been sitting next to him had brought out a small ball. It wasn’t until Cheerilee brought out three copies of the same book that Konton figured out what was going on.

With the three books lined up on the floor, one in front of the ball, one by opening in the makeshift tent, and the other in the middle, all three books had more then enough room for everypony to gather around. Konton was the only pony still in his seat. He didn’t need to look at the books to guess that the middle one was open to the basic notes on finding and tapping the magic from the core of a unicorn’s being. The one by the ball was no doubt opened to the diagram of the energy patterns of the levitation spell. And the one by the tent was obviously open to the illumination spell page.

“Come, join everypony Konton.” Cheerilee suggested.

Konton knew he wasn’t going to even try to participate in the lesson. But has he took note that the teacher was an earth pony he knew that without magic Cheerilee wouldn’t know that he wasn’t even trying, so there would be no harm in putting on an act to humor his new teacher. He got up and joined the others by the middle book. Though he opted to stare through the book into space rather then read basic magic theory.

“Good, since we don’t have anypony… more qualified, Snails, would you please demonstrate what you can?” Cheerilee asked.

“Sure thing.” The oldest unicorn colt in the room said. Konton couldn’t help but think to himself that the colt’s accent sounded like he hailed from the general area of Vanhoover. A smile formed on Konton’s face as he thought I really am a wondering traveler, it never would’ve crossed my mind to guess the origin of an accent before I started moving around so much.

Konton watched and wondered how he hadn’t noticed the unicorn with almost the same color scheme as himself before now. Although the green of Snails’ mane was a more faded, more natural shade of green then the bright neon green of Konton’s mane. Another moment of observation and he noticed that Snails’ cutie mark matched his name.

Snails sat in the small tent that had been set up and with a few grunts and a bit of trying managed to illuminate his horn bright enough to be noticed in the shade of the darkened tent. “Tu da!” Snails happily announced once he had the spell up and running.

“Well done Snails. As always since we don’t have a guest it would be wonderful if you could try to answer the others questions as best you can.” Cheerilee’s praise and request made the colt blush as he agreed and made his way over to the book open to the illumination spell. Where he sat next to a short unicorn who had a mostly gray coat with maybe a tint of green to it, an orange mane and scissors for a cutie mark.

The rest of magic kindergarten went okay by Konton’s standards. Most of the fillies and colts only managed to get a few colored sparks of light from their horns. In the thirty minutes that the session lasted, the teacher had only forced him to pretend to try to cast something three times. The rest of the time he spent staring through the floor where one of the books sat.

* * * * * * *

It turned out that unicorns didn’t get recess on magic kindergarten days. But with only one more class it was lunch break so it wasn’t too bad in Konton’s mind. He found a nice lonely spot under the shade of a tree to sit down and get his lunch out.

There wasn’t much mystery to the lunches his uncle prepared for him, but a new town usually meant something changed. If for no other reason that different ingredients were cheaper here then the last town they were in. Konton checked off the usual suspects in his mind as he spread his lunch out on a paper towel. Sandwich, check. Fruit, check. Apples seemed to be the local flavor. And juice, check. Apple juice, no less. His eyes fell on the apple orchard visible form the schoolyard. I’m going to be sick of apples by the time I get out of this town, aren’t I?

His thoughts were interrupted by an orange pegasus filly sitting down beside him. “Hey.” Was all she said at first as she opened her own lunch bag and started taking out her lunch. All the while staring straight ahead, never looking at him.

“Um… hey.” Konton managed to say before turning his attention back to his meal.

“Look. I didn’t plan on saying ‘hi’ to you, so I’ll just be honest. I’m not really interested in making friends with some pony who’s just going to leave me and I’ll never see again, but Sweetie Belle thought you looked lonely over here and needed somepony to keep you company. And you know what? She’ right. Just because you’re only passing through town doesn’t mean you deserve to be all alone, so while I can’t promise I’ll be your friend, I’m willing to treat you like one anyway.”

By now two more fillies had sit down beside him, a yellow earth pony and the while unicorn he was sure sat next to him in class. Konton noted their presence but couldn’t take his eyes off the pegasus that has spoken to him. “Um… thanks? I think.” He said, still trying to make sense of the strangest greeting he had ever been given.

“First thing you should know: see those two jerks over there with cutie marks that match their names, those are Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon…” Knoton took a moment to find the fillies in question, and once he has spotted them, the pegasus continued. “…They’re the local bullies, but if you ignore them and don’t let them know they’re bugging you, they’ll keep the teasing to tolerable levels. And if that doesn’t work slug em.”

“Hey!” The two other fillies objected together.

“It kept them off our back just fine until you started telling me to stand down all the time.” The pegasus lamented, glaring right at the earth pony.

“But Applejack says that ‘bullies that only use words ain’t worth get’n trouble over’.” The earth pony responded with a noticeable country accent.

“Come on girls let’s not fight over this…” the unicorn said softly, instantly defusing the building tension between the other two fillies.

The pegasus sighed and continued. “I know. I know. I promised not to get in fights so easy, but standing up for yourself should have a place somewhere… Anyway, see those two colts with the cameras? Try not to do anything dumb in front of them, they’re with the school paper. But if they do take an embarrassing picture of you talk to Featherweight, he’s the tan pegasus, he’s also the editor. He’s usually good about not running embarrassing stories. Worst case, he’s desperate for a story and will run the picture anyway but he’ll make sure your side of the story runs with it.”

Konton spotted the tan pegasus and a blue earth pony sporting cameras on the far side of the schoolyard poking about, snapping the occasional picture of other students or passing animals. Once he had seen them the pegasus filly continued. “And you really shouldn’t give Miss Cheerilee such a hard time, she really is a good teacher and she really cares about all her students… guess that’s all I can think of. Oh, right! I’m Scootaloo.” She finally introduced herself.

“Ah’m Apple Bloom.” The earth pony on the other side of Konton added in.

“Sweetie Belle!” The unicorn chimed in.

“Konton if you missed it earlier.”

The four were almost done with their lunches when Sweetie Belle decided it was time to strike up a conversation. “So… why do you move so often?”

“My uncle’s job. He upgrades the electrical systems of small towns. Does one, then it’s off to the next town to do the same.”

“What about your parents?” Sweetie Belle’s question was innocent enough but the immediate reaction of Scootaloo and Apple Bloom (who cringed the instant Sweetie’s words hit their ears) made Sweetie’s tone change immediately to apology “I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to…”

Konton’s laughter interrupted Sweetie Belle’s apology. The looks he got from the others prompted him to share his funny thought “Sorry, am I really that easy to read?”

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo traded looks before the pegasus answered. “Apple Bloom and I kinda have personal experience with parents that are never there for you.”

“Oh? How so?” Konton’s wondered if these fillies might truly have a chance of understanding him.

“Mah parents died when ah was just a foal.” Apple Bloom answered, fighting back a single tear in her eye.

“I haven’t seen my mom in years, and dad’s too busy making sure we have a roof over our heads and food on the table to actually be there for me.” Scootaloo said, her gaze shifting inward hiding her feelings better then Apple Bloom, but clearly still hiding them.

“Well I guess my story starts like Apple Bloom’s. My parents are dead, only it wasn’t that long ago. After that my story becomes that of Scootaloo’s, my uncle adopted me, he makes sure I have food and shelter, nothing more.” Konton added his story to the mix, genuinely happy that he had found anypony who could come close to understanding him.

“You’re new in town right? So how about after school we give you a tour?” Scootaloo asked, clearly wanting to change the topic before something actually made her shed a tear in public.

“But weren’t we go’n crusad’in after school?” Apple Bloom protested.

“Don’t see why we can’t do both. We haven’t tried cutie mark crusader tour guides have we?”

Konton felt like he had missed something important when the three fillies traded a look in their eyes. He knew he was missing something when the three chimed out in unison “Cutie mark crusader tour guides!”

“I’m sorry. I know what a tour guide is but what’s a cutie mark crusader?” He had to ask.

“It’s ah club dedicated to help’n ponies get their cutie marks!” Apple Bloom announced.

With a raised eyebrow, Konton examined the flanks of the three fillies and sure enough their flanks lacked the mark of a pony’s special talent. Curiosity satisfied Konton was done with the topic, but a new arrival to the conversation was just getting started.

“Speaking of cutie marks, you have a really cool one. So how would you like to come hang out with the cool ponies instead of these blank-flanked-babies?” The pink filly that had been identified as Diamond Tiara said, half taunting the crusaders, half tempting the colt with them.

Konton took a moment to consider what to say in response, Scootaloo seemed to be shooting him a look to remember her warning. Ultimately he chose words similar to ones he had once heard from his dad and adapted them to this situation. “The first words out of your mouth, and you use them to insult other ponies, have you no shame? I’d rather be a blank flank then have the mark of a worthless talent like yours.”

“Hey! You can’t say that to me! Besides you don’t even know what my talent is!” Diamond Tiara shot back.

“I don’t have to. I can tell that the talent that earned that mark is as useless as mine.”

Diamond Tiara was visibly shocked into silence, something about the absolute confidence in Konton’s voice and eyes struck her to the heart. Her mind was racing, she was use to going into a conversation with a clever plan and enough witty retorts at the edge of her mind to respond to anything that could be said back to her. But she had never had a pony insult them self to insult her before.

“You’re wrong about Diamond Tiara, but I bet nopony knows you better then you. So if you think you’re worthless then who are we to argue?” Silver Spoon said, bailing out her friend.

“Yeah who’d want to hang out with a self proclaimed loser like you anyway,” the pink filly said, breathing a sigh of relief at being able to salvage the bad situation, even if only lamely

With that Diamond Tiara and her friend stomped off back to the rest of the schoolyard. Scootaloo was smiling for the first time that Konton had seen. “You were right Sweetie Belle, he is a nice pony. We just met and he’s already standing up for us. That makes him a good pony in my book.”

* * * * * * *

When School was over Konton Found himself riding in a red wagon with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom as Scootaloo pulled the wagon form her scooter. They rode through the streets of ponyville at a rapid pace, the rush of the wind coming off Scootaloo’s wings making it feel like they were going even faster then they actually were. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were doing their best to point out lesser points of interest as they raced by.

“And our first stop is sugar cube corner!” Scootaloo announced as she slowed the group to a stop.

On the outside the building looked like a life sized gingerbread house. On the inside Konton found a more normal looking bakery, filled with all kinds of pastries, and the sweet smell of sugar and dough filled the air.

“Hello Mrs. Cake, is Pinkie Pie around?” Sweetie Belle asked the light blue earth pony mare with the two toned pink mane behind the counter.

“Oh, hello Sweetie. I think so, why… oh you’re a new face.” Mrs. Cake said, adding the last part on seeing Konton. She smiled at him, then turned and yelled through the door to the kitchen “Pinkie Pie! There’s somepony new here to see you!”

“Did you say somepony new?!”

The sudden voice from behind made Konton jump in surprise, his eyes darting back and forth from the pink earth pony to the room around him. He was certain that nopony had been behind him when they entered the bakery and the only thing behind him to hide behind was the front door. But even that was open so wide it was against the wall, so there wasn’t enough room for a full grown pony like the pink mare now bouncing her way over to him, to hide behind it.

“Oh you are new! I’m Pinkie Pie, who are you?”

“Um, Konton.” He managed to say, still trying to figure out where she had come from.

“Well ‘Um Konton’, I’m a little busy right now, but I’ll see you this evening with a proper welcome. Oh I know!” The pink mare called as she darted out of the room and into the kitchen.

“Is she always that hyper?” Konton asked the crusaders in a low voice.

“Not always but I try to be.” Pinkie answered as she bounced back into view with a plate of chocolate chip cookies balanced on her back.

Konton’s eyes wide in confusion, he looked to the crusaders. The look in their eyes and the round of shrugs in response seemed to hint that he had missed some inside joke on the matter. Scootaloo leaned in close and whispered into his ear. “Don’t bother, I gave up trying to figure her out ages ago, trying just gave me headaches.”

“Yeah, she’s just being Pinkie Pie.” Sweetie Belle said as if there was nothing unusual going on.

Pinkie Pie bounced the plate of cookies so it landed on a nearby table. “Here you go, on me, or the table really. Or it was on me now it’s on the table? Oh whatever, dig in! Blow on them though they are that fresh out of the oven.”

The young ponies gathered around and found the plate had four cookies on it, one for each of them. The chocolate chips still being molten proving Pinkie pie’s warning was a good one. As they sat waiting for the cookies to cool, Konton’s eye fell on Sweetie Belle. Wow, she’s cute. He thought, the though immediately prompting him to close his eyes and mentally slap himself across the side of his head. You idiot. You know you can’t think like that. I don’t get to have real friends or I’ll just rip my own heart out again when I have to move. He mentally rebuked himself.

“Um… are you okay? You’re blushing.” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Huh? Oh, yeah it’s nothing I just realized I did something silly.”

“But you didn’t do anything.”

“Just forget it.” Konton said, with a tone that made it clear he wanted to drop the subject.

* * * * * * *

The tour of town ended at sweet apple acres or more precisely the crusader’s clubhouse at sweet apple acres. Upon arrival at the clubhouse the three fillies immediately checked their flanks and sighed at the lack of any cutie marks. Apple Bloom looked to the sun and frowned.

“Well, there’s plenty of time before dinner, but not enough to do what Ah wanted.”

“We could always try zip-lining again.” Scootaloo suggested.

“What’s with ya and zip-line’n? Don’t ya remember what happened the first time!” Apple Bloom said.

“Besides didn’t we say we’d keep Konton company today? That kind of prevents us from crusades that need special equipment.” Sweetie Belle added.

“Ya we don’t have enough harnesses for him to come too. Not that your first ones worked.”

“Oh come on, I found a picture of a real zip-line harness so I know what went wrong last time. And I have a spare mountain climbing harness, it won’t take long to rig that one up too.” Scootaloo defended her idea.

“Fine IF Konton want’s to try zip-line’n we’ll give it another try.” Apple Bloom said, as all eyes fell on the colt in question.

Had he been older Konton might have wondered why a pegasus owned one mountain climbing harness let alone two, but as it was, his mind was captured by curiosity. He had never heard the term ‘zip-line’ before and despite the looks of warning coming from Apple Bloom he wanted to know what it was, so he agreed to give it a try.

* * * * * * *

It turned out that ‘zip-lining’ had something to do with suspending yourself from a rope with harnesses attached to pulleys. Konton was busy helping Scootaloo tie the end of the rope to the tree they were standing in. Disturbingly enough Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were busy tying pillows around themselves.

“Are ya sure these pulleys will hold us? They look kind of cheap.” Apple Bloom voiced her concerns.

“Yes.” And a glare from Scootaloo was the reply she got. The young pegasus was obviously annoyed by her friends clear lack of faith in her plan. She hopped down from Konton’s back and with his help pulled the last knot as tight as they could. “There, every thing’s ready.”

A quick check that nopony’s lines were tangled was all the time Scootaloo gave before jumping off the starting platform. The harness line then yanked Apple Bloom off next, Sweetie Belle soon followed. The time it took for those two to get pulled off the platform was just enough to allow Konton to jump off on purpose as the pegasus had.

The pulleys rolled freely on the suspension line. The wind rushed around them and a round of cheers called out as the four young ponies zipped down the line. With the wind in his mane and the trees zipping by it seemed natural to Konton to mimic the pose of the pegasus at the front of the pack, at least as much as he could without wings. He wondered if this was what it felt like to fly, and realized this was probably as close as he could come without taking up hang gliding.

“Um… Scootaloo? How do we stop?” Apple Bloom asked, with a touch of fear in her voice, as all eyes were locked onto the tree that the other end of the zip line was tied to.

“I don’t know… The picture didn’t show anything about needing brakes… Oh forget it! I got this!” Scootaloo said, seeing her mistake and flapping her wings to air brake just as she would for her scooter.

To her credit Scootaloo stopped almost instantly. Then Apple Bloom slammed into her, she almost had the two of them stopped by the time Sweetie Belle was added to the zip line pile up. When Konton’s momentum was added to the pile up there just wasn’t enough room left between the ponies and the end of the zip line for her to work with.

The impact wasn’t that bad to Konton. Which wasn’t all that surprising considering the pegasus and two pillow padded ponies between him and the tree. But he couldn’t help but feel bad for Scootaloo taking the brunt of the blow like that.

“Is everypony okay?” Sweetie Belle moaned. A round of moans came in reply from all but one, “Scootaloo?” She asked, sounding worried.

“I’ll live” The pegasus moaned weakly, hanging like a rag-doll in her harness. “No cutie marks I’m guessing.” She added with a weak laugh.

“Do y’all hear something?” Apple Bloom asked, alerting everypony to a sound that seemed like twisting or bending wood.

Everypony started looking for the source of the sound. Konton searched the tree to see if the sudden shifting of weight was getting to it. Scootaloo was the first to find the truth of the matter. “You know… I just remembered something. When I bought the rope. I only made sure it was strong enough to hold the three of us.”

Four sets of eyes looked up, and the mystery of the strange sound was solved. With the four pulleys all gathered in the same place the rope was fraying under the weight. As if on queue the rope snapped and the four ponies fell, tumbling through the branches of the tree on the way down.

Konton hit the ground first. Fortunately having just bounced off a branch only a few feet up the impact with the ground wasn’t too bad, even if it was more pain then Konton usually put himself through on any given day. Unfortunately, his mountain climbing harness tether guided Sweetie Belle right down onto his back, knocking the wind from his lungs.

Gasping for air Konton dared a glance skyward. Seeing that Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had fallen on opposite sides of the last branch, and were both suspended overhead by their tethers, he decided not to see if the branch would continue to hold them until he had caught his breath. After he had crawled the few feet needed to get out from underneath the two suspended fillies, Sweetie Belle seemed to realize just what she was sitting on. Hopping off him she apologized and helped him to his hooves. “I’m so sorry, are you alright?”

“I shall never forgive gravity for dragging you onto my spine, but with you I have no qualm.” Konton groaned in response.

“And they call me a dictionary.” Sweetie Belle chuckled in response.

Konton raised an eyebrow to Sweetie response, wondering what unknown reference he was missing. Though speaking on a completely different topic, two voices overhead seemed to likely to be the ‘they’ in question.

“Well would ya look at that, tree sap and pine needles.”

“I know.”

“Ya know ah blame you for this, right?”

“I know.”

“Then what are ya wait’n for? Get us down already!”

Scootaloo hung her head in defeat for a moment, then used her wings to counter most of her weight and climbed up the tether line. As she ascended Apple Bloom was lowed until she was just above the ground when the pegasus reached the branch suspending them. Without friction to aid her the earth pony’s weight was too much and Scootaloo was flung over the top of the branch and yanked unceremoniously to the ground, barely missing her earth pony friend thanks to her wings altering the path of her fall.

* * * * * * *

The sun was getting low on the horizon and once more the young ponies were gathered into the red wagon being pulled by Scootaloo through the streets of ponyville. They were near the northeast edge of town heading to the house Konton had pointed out as the one his uncle was renting.

“Thanks for the ride home.” Konton said.

“Heh, It’s the least we owe you after dropping you out of a tree.” Scootaloo said sheepishly.

“It’s okay. Today was the most fun I’ve had in years, so it was worth it.” By now Konton noticed that the three fillies were walking at his side up to the house, so he added “Umm dropping me out of a tree didn’t hurt that bad, I think I can make it to the door on my own.”

“And miss the party? No way, no how.” Apple Bloom smiled.

“Party? My uncle would never… throw… a party?” Konton’s voice trailed off as he noticed the sound of music and talking coming from the house.

Scootaloo boldly pushed the front door open and stood aside, allowing Konton to look in. There was dance music playing, party balloons and streamers decorating the interior and confetti littering the floor. There was no denying that there was a party going on, though for the life of him he hadn’t a clue how or why. With the three crusaders standing beside the door holding a pose as if to usher him in Konton entered.

“There’s the colt of the hour! Now we can really get this party started!” A beaming pink face greeted him seemingly from nowhere. Before he knew what happened a pink blur had left him spinning in the middle of the makeshift dance floor. “Everypony this is Konton! One of the two new ponies in town!” Said the pink mare that the colt was only now remembering as the one from the bakery.

“When Pinkie Pie says she’s gonna throw ah party she means it.” Apple Bloom whispered, pausing for a moment before trotting her way to the snack table.

“Oh wow! Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo exclaimed and darted into the crowd of party guests, coming to a stop beside a sky blue pegasus mare with a prismatic mane.

Sweetie Belle smiled sweetly, giving Konton a nod and then also joined the party.

As the evening went on Konton noticed Apple Bloom was the first of his acquaintances to leave, practically dragged from the party by an older mare with a strong family resemblance. Konton didn’t know the name of the pony with the cowpony hat but he did remember that Apple Bloom had called the older pony ‘sis’ while protesting having to leave, only to be reminded that tomorrow was a school day.

Scootaloo was currently sitting by the snack table, munching some random treat, but Konton had noticed that she seemed genuinely disinterested in the party after Rainbow Dash had left. Fearing that she would soon leave too, he made his way over to her to thank her for making it such a good day. Scootaloo’s response was polite enough, though it also convinced him that the only reason she hadn’t gone home yet was that she was trying to prove she could stay up just as late as Sweetie Belle could.

Sweetie Belle however, wasn’t trying to hide how tired she was. During the party she had introduced Konton to her older sister, and now it was clear that she was waiting for her older sister to finish so they could leave the party together. From the look of it that might not be for awhile, as Rarity seemed thoroughly entertained by the conversation she was having with another party guest, so he decided now was as good a time as any to pass his thanks along to Sweetie Belle.

“Um, Sweetie Belle, I just wanted to thank you for making today so much fun for me.”

“Oh, no problem. I’m glad you had fun.” The smile that came with Sweetie’s response seemed divine, even if it was accompanied by a yawn. “Oh. Since you’re here, could I ask you a question?”

“Ask all you want. No promises I have an answer though.” Konton replied, with another line borrowed from his dad.

“Hehe, okay, That’s your uncle over there right?” Sweetie asked, pointing to a yellow stallion with a gray mane. Konton nodded a yes and Sweetie continued. “He seems to be smiling a lot.”

“Yeah, I haven’t seem him this happy in years.”

“That’s just what I wanted to ask about, I’ve noticed that he’s been smiling all party. Except when he looks at you, then he always sighs and frowns for awhile. Why it that?”

Konton needed a moment to decide if he was even going to answer that question. When he finally did he settled for a very simplified version of the truth. “That’s because he hates me.”

“No he doesn’t. He adopted you, I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t do that if he didn’t like you.”

“It’s okay, you don’t need to make excuses for me. And he doesn’t exactly hide the fact that the only reason he adopted me is because he made a promise to his sister, my mom.”

“Even so, I don’t think he would have made a promise like that if he didn’t like you a little too.”

“Back then I bet he did, but accident or not, after what I did to him I deserve his hatred.”

“Oh come on. I mess things up and make Rarity mad at me all the time but she still loves me. I know because she keeps putting up with me. What could you have done that’s so wrong that he’d stay mad at you?”

“Sorry Sweetie Belle. As much as I like you that’s one question I won’t answer.” Konton said hanging his head in defeat and fearing that he had already said too much.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” Sweetie’s apology was without question sincere.

“I know.” Konton said, as he walked away. He suddenly didn’t feel like staying at the party himself, so he left for his bedroom and the escape of sleep.

Author's Note

Okay here it is practice story number 2. Personally I don't think its as good as When Wings are Earned but that's probably because the idea here was to write for character types I'm not completely comfortable writing for. characters like Dash and Scoots, sure. Twilight and Sweetie Belle, okay... let's see what happens.