It was a bright and sunny day. It was a typical day, much like many others in the small town of Ponyville. Meet Noctis. He was an alicorn pony, but he was humble. He was no prince, he was not royalty at all. An accident in an experiment with his long time friend, Syntax Error had turned him from a mere unicorn into an alicorn, a fact that was hidden to the world by his parents for years to come. It was an average day for him, as he was just taking a nice stroll around Ponyville, enjoying the sunlight and the wonderful spring air. Syntax Error, Noctis' best friend, was a very curious mare. Ever since she was little, the magic of science had interested her, since it was the only magic one could preform without being a unicorn. The possibilities of the magic of science were endless. However, she was always a bit of a clutz. She made some silly mistakes, and sometimes, her logic would be irrational, but regardless, she was a happy mare with a passion for what she did. Normally, she would accompany Noctis on his walks around the humble town of Ponyville, but today was different. Noctis and herself stayed in a home in Ponyville together, and were essentially "flat mates".
Today, Syntax Error decided she wanted to try something new. She had a new experiment in her head, and begged Noctis to let her stay. "Please Nocty! Just let me stay here, I think I might be onto something really fun and cool!" The brown maned mare pleaded.
"Syn, you know what happened the last time I let you stay by yourself, conducting some kind of experiment. You nearly burnt our house down!" The stallion exclaimed.
"I at least tried to put out the fire! You were just looking for help!"
"You were using rocks to extinguish a fire! It doesn't quite work like that!"
"I had a solid hypothesis that, with enough force, even rocks can put out a fire! I decided to test it... it didn't work out so well, true, but it was in the name of science!" The mare protested
"You could have found a different way to test out that "hypothesis" of yours, you know. As in, a time when our home isn't burning down."
"Aww, stop being such a stick in the mud, Nocty. Where's your sense of fun?"
"I kinda value my home and life more than fun, Syn."
"Doesn't change the fact that you're being a stick in the mud. This time it's going to be totally different! I'm not even working with fire anymore! Trust me, it'll be really fun once you see it! And don't even try asking what it is, because it's a surprise!" The light brown coated mare proceeded to make a puppy dog face at her friend, using her cuteness to her advantage.
Eventually, Noctis gives in to his friend, and lets her conduct her experiment. "Oh, I can't deny you pal. I won't be long. The walk's gonna be quicker since I won't have anyone to talk to. Have fun Syn, I'll see you soon." With those words said, the stallion trotted right out the door and began his walk around Ponyville. As he left, Syntax Error quickly darted back to her room, to conduct her experiment. Her goal is to make the largest water balloon possible, and proceed to get her best friend wet with it.
However, things didn't go as planned. Syntax kept using the sink to fill up the water balloons to their limit, but they would always burst. The bursted remains of the balloons eventually clogged up the sink, thus making the water refuse to go down the drain. "Oh no, this isn't going to be good. Nocty's gonna kill me if he finds out I clogged the sink. Wait! I know just what to do! I'll let the water run for a long time, and then, I'll get a big balloon, and I'll just scoop up all the water! It has to work! Instead of directly getting the water from the sink, I can just use a balloon like a sponge!" And so, the curious mare let the water run, not only making the water bill charge extremely expensive, but also turning the home into a personal water park.
As she waited for the water to rise high enough, Syntax splashed around, and slid around the home, navigating the interior of the dwelling in a new, and fun way. However, as time passed, the light-hearted and fun loving mare got distracted by the water, and forgot she had a sink to unclog. She let the water rise high, and she started to swim all around the water filled interior of the building, completely forgetting about her original goal.
Meanwhile, Noctis was just still walking, and this time, he felt like being nice. "You know what, Syn was right, I was being a stick in the mud. I'll take it easier on this walk, and really take in the nice, fresh, spring air. It could do me some good. Besides, knowing Syn, she'll probably go over board with her experiment, so there'll be lots of things to do when I get back." The lightly colored stallion spoke to himself as he trotted along his usual path.
As he finally made his approach back to his home, Noctis became alarmed when he saw a big water puddle forming right outside his door. Noctis took a moment to think about what the reason behind the puddle was. Not long after, he came to the most logical conclusion, "This time it wasn't fire alright... it was the exact opposite. Well played, Syn." He commented as he realized what his mare friend and house-mate had done.
He quickly ran to the home, and he could hear Syn screaming inside. Noctis became extremely worried and hastily opened the door with his magic. As he opened the door however, all the water came bursting out of the completely soaked dwelling. The pressure from the water sent him flying back as he hit the wall of a neighboring home. His coat, mane, and tail were all drenched with the water that had only a few moments ago, filled his entire home. As the water came out, he saw Syn slowly ride out of the home on top of the water, as if she was using her body to surf. Noctis soon deduced that the screaming he heard earlier was not screams of fear or terror, no, they were screams of joy as his best friend turned their home into a private water park.
Noctis had an angry expression on his face. It was obvious that he was not happy with Syntax's actions. He wanted to make it apparent that he was mad at her.
"Aww, what's wrong Nocty Wocty? Don't like getting a little wet? When did you become such a... cool cat?" The mare playfully remarked and proceeded to giggle. Noctis cringed at the lame joke his friend stated, and his level of irritation only went higher on up. He was ready to snap as all of his belongings were now soaked, and he knew he would have to spend the remainder of his day cleaning up the mess that Syntax Error made.
"Just...Just be quiet, Syntax. Go find some place else to stay or go find something to do, because I'm gonna spend the rest of my day cleaning your mess. Now go, before you make things worse." Noctis said with irritation, but also hesitation. Syntax Error got hit a bit hard by his words, but she quickly regained her composure and protested.
"Nocty! Please! Just let me help clean up! I'm sorry I caused this mess, but it was just too much fun! I bet that if you were there with me, you would have had fun to. Come on Nocty, cheer up! I'll do anything just to see that smile of yours!" Syntax attempted to cheer up her frustrated friend. She bounces around, makes all kinds of jokes of varying humor, and even gives him an apology gift.
Eventually, Noctis succumbs to the creative tactics used by the happy and persistent mare. "Oh... alright. I'm sorry I snapped at you, its just that there's so much we need to clean up, and you know, I'm worried about you. You could have easily drowned inside the home, and what if I was too late to open the door? What if you did drown? I would feel horrible."
"Aww Nocty, come on, don't think like that! I'm happy that you care about me, but come on! Cheer up! Now let's go get some towels and soak up all the water! It'll only take us til sundown, tops! If we work hard enough, I bet we'll be done before the sun even sets!" The brown mare reassured her friend.
Noctis nods, and smiles. They proceed to make a quick trip to the Ponyville general store with the intention to purchase all the towels they can to clean up the watery mess that is their home. As they walked in, they are greeted by the store clerk. "Well look who it is, Noctis and Syntax Error, my two most common customers. Syn, tell me, how did those balloons work out for ya? Did you manage to make the perfect water balloon?" The clerk inquired, remembering her most recent purchase.
Syntax awkwardly chuckled and smiled and said "Oh, right... the balloons... yeah... that didn't work out so well, which is kinda why we're here, General Joe."
"Oh, what happened? Hope the balloons didn't hurt anyone."
"Well, Syn was doing whatever she wanted to do with those balloons, only to have them burst and clog the sink drain. She then kinda flooded the whole house because swimming is apparently fun. Note how my mane is still a bit wet from her shenanigans. So, that's why we're here, Joe. We kinda need to buy all your towels."
General Joe was shocked and jumped back in utter disbelief. "All my towels?! Do you have any idea how many bits that would be? Come on, surely you don't need all my towels, just a few super soaker towels should do the trick, even if your entire home was flooded. And I'll be willing to cut you a good deal, since it was my balloons that clogged your sink drain."
"Aww! Thanks Joe! We'll take them!" Syn had become excited as she began to prance around in joy, giving both Noctis and the store clerk a big hug. She handed over the bits to the clerk, and he proceeded to go get the towels from the back of his shop.
"Just one moment you two, the towels are deep within the storage, so I might be a while looking for them. Make yourselves at home, just try not to break anything." Noctis and Syn sat around for a moment, but Syn grew impatient.
"Ugh, when is he gonna be back?" Syn asked as only two minutes had passed.
"I guess in "one moment", Syn. If you can't wait that long, just find something to do, alright? I'm just gonna rest my eyes a bit." The alicorn stated.
"Oh, you're such a party pooper, resting when we could do something fun." The brown mare states. She wanders around all the small aisles of the store, and notices that the shelves are unorganized. "How is anypony supposed to find something around here if everything isn't in its right place? I need to fix this now. These shelves need some fixing up." Syn proceeds to quickly take everything off the shelves, and cleans up all the items. She's extremely fast to an almost unfathomable extent. It seems, as though, in an instant, the dusty, messy, old, unorganized shelves turned into sparkling clean, like-new, organized shelves.
General Joe finally finds the towels and comes back to the cashier counter only to find a sleeping Noctis. He steps out to wake him up when he notices his shelves are completely redone and look brand new. His jaw drops in awe as this was the first time in a year that said shelves looked like that. "Syntax Error? Did you... did you do this?" The clerk asked in utter disbelief.
"Of course I did! I had nothing better to do while you were away, so I just fixed your shelves for ya." The mare said with a smile on her face. Noctis then wakes up after the clerk pony makes a huge deal over the cleaning of the shelves.
"What's going- Holy crap, Syn! Did you do this? I haven't seen this place look this clean since it first opened!" The lightly colored pony said in surprise.
"She did this alright, and I have to say, that's a really fine job she did there. You know what, these towels are on the house now, keep your bits pals. You just cleaned up my shop, I owe ya." The silver maned pony stated.
"Aww, really?! Thanks so much General Joe! I really appreciate this!" Syn happily exclaimed.
"Don't ya worry about it, now take these towels, and take your bits back, you've got a mess to go clean up." Syn nods and walks out the door with Noctis.
"What would I do without ya Syn? You may cause a lot of trouble from time to time, but there's no one I'd rather have around than you. Come on, let's clean up, and we can go get some kind of treat afterwards."
"Aww, thanks Nocty. You're the best!" She exclaimed with joy.
The two friends finally got back home and started using the special towels they bought at the store to clean up the watery mess. Of course, Syn decides to have a little fun, and once they're all done, she starts slapping Noctis with her wet towel. "Syn! What are you doing?! You're gonna make a mess!" Noctis yelled.
"You're being one again! Lighten up Nocty! It's not like we can't clean it up again!" Syn said playfully as she continued to slap him around with the moist towel, expelling the absorbed water onto the stallion's mane and coat.
"Two can play at that game, Syn!" Noctis lightened up and began hitting his friend with his towel, making his mare friend as wet as he was. The two enjoy themselves as they splash around, acting with the innocence of children. Time passes by rather quickly as they indulged in their playful towel fight.
Soon, they realize that they needed to get back to work, as the sun is setting, and the two friends quickly call a truce and end their war of water to clean up the mess that still remained. They had to soak up all the water from not only inside the house, but outside to. Upon entering the soaked home, they discovered that the sink was indeed still clogged, but thankfully, nothing irreplaceable was damaged.
In a matter of an hour, thanks to the handy towels that the store clerk had given them, the water was all dealt with, and not a single droplet remained inside or outside the home. "Oh Noctyyyyy! Looks like we're done here! You know what that means, don't you? Don't tell me you already forgot your little promise!" The excited mare said, as she awaited her reward for cleaning up the mess.
"Uh... hehehe.... I guess I kinda... did... forget..." The nervous Noctis said. "Can you... uh... remind me?"
"How could you forget!!! Nocty!!! You said we could go get a treat after we're done cleaning up the mess the water made! You don't just make a mare a promise and forget about it an hour later!"
"But Syn! It's getting late and I'm soooo tired. Ugh... can't we go first thing tomorrow? Please?" The alicorn begged as the tired expression on his face grew darker as more dark circles appeared around his eyes.
"Oh come on Nocty! For someone whose name literally means night, you're not being too much of a night person right now, now are you? Friends gotta keep promises! I keep all the promises I make to you! So come on, let's go! I know you won't regret it!" The mare said, desperately trying to convince her best friend to go out for that treat she ever so strongly desired.
Noctis let out a sigh, and gave in to the energetic mare's demands. "What am I going to do with you, Syn?"
"How about loving me forever? We're best friends forever, remember? Our friendship and love will last forever Nocty! Now stop questioning everything! You're being a bit of a drag. Let's go get something sweet at Sugar Cube Corner!" The cheerful mare replied, as she became satiated due to the fact that she had gotten rid of her friend's reluctance as if it were a stone wall, and she a wrecking ball. "You know, you can be really easy to break sometimes, Nocty. That just shows me that a part of you really does want to go! You need to learn to stop being so indecisive!"
The light-colored stallion let out a chuckle as he realized how foolish he was being. He gave into not only the demands of his friend, but the demand of his own heart. "Heh, you got a good point Syn."
"Of course I have a good point! Just because I can be a bit hair-brained sometimes doesn't mean I'm an idiot, you know." The mare rebutted.
"Heh, true. Listen, Syn. You want to get that treat, and I want to get a treat for myself to, so how about we stop wasting time just standing here, having a conversation between each other, out in the open, and head towards Sugar Cube Corner already?" Noctis said with a smile.
"Oh Nocty, always the one to keep us on task. Lead the way, best friend!" Syntax Error became excited and grew more so every single step they trotted towards the local desert joint, Sugar Cube Corner. Every fiber of her being was filled with anticipation as she and her friend grew closer to the bakery.
As they opened the door and entered the humble family-run bakery, a bell above their heads rang out, alerting the workers to their presence. The two were given the usual warm welcome they were always given, as they were one of the bakery's most frequent customers. They owners of the bakery loved seeing the two friends as much as Pinkie Pie loved making sweets.
"What can I get for ya?" Mrs. Cake asked in a friendly manner. Though she already knew the answer to that question, she simply asked out of common courtesy. Things like that always made Syntax Error smile a bit. Syn viewed it as redundant, but in a nice way.
"Oh, you know, the usual milk shakes please, Mrs. Cake. We've had a long and exhausting day... or at least... one of us did. Either way, we could really use those shakes." Noctis said.
"Right away! Go ahead, take a seat, I'll be right out with the shakes!" Mrs. Cake stated as she went into the back to make the milkshakes the ponies desired.
Noctis and Syntax Error trotted along to the eating area, and proceeded to sit at their usual spot. It was a window seat, giving a perfect view of the peaceful serenity of Ponyville at dusk. It was perfectly spaced out from the other tables in the area, and allowed for much more breathing room. On the table, was a copy of Syntax's and Noctis' favorite newspaper. Syn usually looked through the newspaper, skimming to see events that could lead her to inspiration to make a new experiment and by extension, a new discovery.
"Baby Alligator tied to balloons soars through the skies of the Pegasi", huh, that's really cool, don't you think, Nocty?" Syntax asked as she read the headline of an article aloud.
"If I see twenty baby alligators suspended in mid air when I wake up tomorrow, I'm not gonna help you get them down. Don't even think about it, Syn. We've filled our crazy experiment quota for the week, at least save it til Monday."
"You know me too well, Nocty. Looks like that experiment will have to wait. Oh! Here comes Mrs. Cake with our milkshakes! Finally!" Syn's eyes brightened up with pure joy as the milkshake she had so greatly appreciated had come into her possession. Without hesitation, she began to slurp away at her favorite desert.
