Bronies, Unite!

I keep galloping away from the never-fatiguing Pinkie Pie as she merrily bounces towards me, not a blink of exhaustion. I turn my head away and slam into a tree. ‘I really should watch where I am going…’ After I slam into it, I rub my forehead; immediately when I open my eyes, Pinkie Pie is towering over me with a huge grin.

“Hello, Speedster!”

I lay down, silently, pretending to ignore her words. It’s not like she’s… ‘Going to carry me…’

I hesitate and, without thinking, open my big yap; “Put me down you pink blob!”

She stops trotting, her grin slurring into a frown, but then suddenly back to a huge grin as she carries on trotting away with me on her back. I don’t even try to react; I have been galloping for what seems hours now, fighting would be useless. I just rest when she continues to bounce away, almost dropping me. I swear she is trying to drop me on purpose.

*****

After what seems like only a couple minutes of bouncing, we arrive at some giant tree thing. Pinkie Pie trots in instead of bouncing for once and drops me on the floor, causing me to land on my face. When I look up, I quickly wince from the pain, rubbing my snout. The same purple mare that was using her magic on me approaches with a warm smile, which I start to back away from instantly.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Speedster!”

“I don’t care!”

“Why don’t you want to take a few damn tests?!” Her face is now scrunching up in annoyance.

“Because I said so!” I scowl at her. Sticking with my decision, I stay where I am. But as soon as I do, her face droops to one of sadness.

“But why, all I want to do is learn…” She turns her head, now facing towards the rest of what I think are her friends, even the marshmallow is looking away from me, joining the rest in the ‘Humph!’

“Ugh… the reason I don’t want you to test me is because… I want to annoy you?”

She snaps her head towards me instantly, her scowl wiped across her face, “Just so you can ANNOY me?!” It appears like she is breathing fire at this point because of her rage. “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW STUPID THAT SOUNDS?!”

I back away from her, covering my face with my hooves; “Because I hate tests!”

Her rage seems to flush away as I take a peek at her. Her friends even give me a reassuring smile. “Why do you hate tests, Speedster?” She extends a hoof towards me, which I don’t take straight away. But after a while of leaving her hanging, I take her up on it, standing up on my hooves once again.

The orange mare trots up beside me, putting a hoof around me. I back away instantly; “You tripped me up!”

She looks confused for a second, and then puts on a light smile, “Ah din’t I swear! I was trying to help y’all up when you went on galloping aught ah Fluttershy’s place.”

“Oh… Sorry…”

“Might fine Speedster, tha’ names Applejack, pleased to meet ya!” She extends her hoof towards mine. I happily accept the offer. “Ova’ there be Rarity with tha’ purple mane and white coat-“

I immediately start laughing, she gives me another confused look; I think I’m about to fall over from laughing so much. I point my hoof at her and smile from the laughter, “I thought she looked like a marshmallow!” I can’t even contain my laughter as I fall on the floor again, rolling around in laughter.

They all give me the same look of confusion. I push myself back up to my hooves and suddenly lose my laugh, realizing what I just said.

Applejack is the first to talk, “What uh, what’s a ‘marshmallow’, Speedster?”

“It’s a… Uhm… Wait, I think I just forgot what it was…”

They give me a blank stare, and an uneasy laugh. Thankfully though, Applejack speaks up yet again, “So uh, as ah was saying, that there is Rarity, this one who was uh, ‘scanning’ you is Twilight. Over there is Fluttershy, and as you can guess she is very shy, so be careful with her. Over here we have Pinkie Pie who ah is well assured you’re acquainted with. Lastly, we have Rainbow Dash, ‘the fastest flier in all of Equestria.’-” She’s cut short by Rainbow Dash flying towards me.

“Damn straight I’m the fastest!”

I let out a sigh and a ‘Humph’ as she starts to go on about how fast she is. She hesitantly notices that I’m not paying any attention to what she’s saying, just letting it pass through me.

“Are you even listening to me?!”

“To put it frankly, no. No I’m not.” She beams me a look of hate, yet I continue. “You’re gloating about how fast you are, and how you can pull off an amazing stunt like the ‘Sonic Rainboom’, yet all I can hear is “blah, blah, blah, I’m awesome, blah, blah, blah. And by the looks on your friends’ faces, they’re fed up with it too, they just tolerate you.” I end taking in a deep breath as they all stare at me with blank faces; all except for Rainbow Dash that is. She’s sending signals my way that I really don’t feel comfortable with. Her eyes are filled with hate and sadness at the same time.

“I... Wha-” She flies out of the room crying; her face in her hooves while she flaps off into the distance. All of the other ponies give me the same look she did.

Pinkie Pie trots forward, her hair flattened and only a little poof in it; “You… You just stood up to Rainbow Dash, you uhm… Meanie!” She bellows in a slightly confused tone.

“Well, I hate gloaters. Just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean you should rant on and on about it, does it?”

Twilight trots towards me, “Well, no but-”

I cut her off, “But nothing, it’s not fair to everypony else, is it?”

“Again no but…-”

“No buts, it’s really not fair. Now, what were these tests about? I want to get them over and done with, if you may.”

Everypony else except Twilight huffs and leaves the tree, their head held high, as if trying to say ‘We’re too good for you, huh?’

“Yeah, sure… Just go upstairs and lay on the bed, please.”

I hear the door slam and tap on Twilight shoulder as she turns away, “Twilight, I didn’t mean to offend anypony, I don’t know what came over me…”

“Well uh- I might have something to do with that…” She bows her head and starts to paw at the floor hesitantly, “I think my magic may have had a slight confidence boost on you for a while- sorry.” She stops pawing at the floor and gives a small, yet weak smile.

I stay there for a while, stricken by why I even said those things, those horrible things… “It’s… it’s fine.”

“Wait, really?”

“You have no idea how hard it is for me to speak to mares, and being able to felt really good, even if I was being meant on accident… Oh Celestia, you don’t even understand how hard it is to talk to you right now.” I give a sheepish grin, trying to look for something to distract me, but all I can seem to stare at is her warm smile.

“Wow, I didn’t think you would actually forgive me. Heh.”

“Well, can you do me one favour?”

“That depends, I don’t even know you, really.”

“Well, you know that you can cast magic and stuff?”

“Duh. But yes, go on?”

“Uhm… Can you somehow put it into a like, a potion or something?”

“Why would you want that?”

“Well, I find it extremely difficult to talk to other ponies. Stallions I am okay with, but it’s just mares…”

“Well, I guess I can try, but they won’t be for free you know.”

“Yeah, right. How much will they be?”

“That all depends on how long it would take. I might ask Zecora to help me; I think she can do it somehow.” She pauses, rubbing her chin with her hoof, “I’d say about 10 bits for maybe 6 or something, and does that sound okay to you?”

“I guess so, how does someone earn bits around here, anyway?”

“Oh that’s right, you’re new, aren’t you…”

“Yeah…”

“Well, I guess I could pay you if you help me around the Library?”

“Where’s the Library?”

“You’re standing in it silly!” She waves a hoof around the place, which I carefully follow.

“Oh… What would I have to do?”

“Well, what my assistant Spike usually does, but he’s on a holiday for now.”

“And uh, what does that entail?”

“Well, he only does a few things: Cleaning, dusting, cooking, book re-shelving, carrying things, more cleaning, writes my messages to Princess Celestia and then sends them. He does that each day. It’s not too much, is it?”

“I uh…” I gulp hard, almost hard enough for it to echo, “I think I might get a different job, sorry…”

“Well, alright then. But if you ever need something to do, I can happily give you some chores- I mean uhm, working situations for you to handle!” She beams a scary smile at me, almost touching my face with it.

“I uh- Sure…”

*****

‘Ugh, these Cakes don’t seem to want to quiet down, I’ve been stood here for about an hour! All I want to do it buy a damn cake!’

“Hey uh, I want a cake?”

Mr. Cake pops his head towards Dark Woods, a giant grin forming on his face.

“A carrot cake?!”

Dark Woods quickly put a hoof on Mr. Cake’s mouth before he starts yet another rant. “How about you put the cupcake ON the cake, sound good?” Mrs. Cake and Mr. Cake stare at each other in disbelief and then back to Dark Woods. “What, you never thought of that before?”

Mrs. Cake starts to talk first; “N-No, actually we haven’t… But that might be amazing! Come on, we have to make this cake!” She grabs Mr. Cake and gallops into the kitchen. Moments later, they both emerge with a cake, covered in white icing and a cherry on top of it. “Quickly taste it!”

Dark Woods picks up the cake in his right hoof, bringing it his mouth as both the Cakes watch him with anticipation. He takes a big bite out of it, cherry and all. He chews slowly, then picks up the pace, moving it around his mouth slowly, trying to get every single bit of flavour out. The carrot cake and the icing seem to be fighting inside; battling about which flavour is better, bursting with energy.

He finally finishes it, swallowing it all, and then throwing the next half in his eagerly waiting mouth. He snaps his eyes to Mr. Cake without thinking and tries to talk, carrot and icing spluttering everywhere. “Mmfm- This is really- mmhf- really good!” He swallows hard, rubbing his stomach afterwards.

“I’ll take 6 more!”

Both the Cakes’ faces lighten up with anticipation, bursting in and out of the kitchen one after another; each holding a small slice of cake in a hoof. Mrs. Cake looks curiously at Dark Woods for a second, before taking a deep breath in; “How much would you pay for these?”

“Well uh, since I came up with them, I think I should get them half price, so I’d say 3 bits each?”

“Well, since you did make them, deal. That will be 18 bits total; you can have the first one free.”

“AL-RIGHTY THEN! He grabs a small pouch of bits from his saddle bag, almost knocking an apple out in the process. He places the bits on the table, and then places the newly found cakes into his bag, closing it afterwards. “Thanks, maybe I’ll come along again sometime, these are awesome!”

“Be sure to! Tell your friends!” Mrs. Cake quickly yells before the door closes.

‘Hmm, maybe I should go find Speedster, I think he ran towards Sweet Apple Acres… Nah, I’ll go to the Everfree forest and meet up with my friends. I think Pom-Pom will especially like these.’