The Completely Ordinary Life of Fractal Greyscale

Chapter 3: Tuesdays suck too. And so do Wednesdays.

Previously on Avatar The Completely Ordinary life of Fractal Greyscale:

"Oh, that's right! This year Ponyville's hosting the Summer Sun Celebration, and somepony from Canterlot is coming to help oversee the preparations tomorrow!"

"Hi! My name is Twilight Sparkle, personal student to Princess Celestia, and I'm here to oversee Ponyville's preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration"

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNCOOOOOOOMMMMMIIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGG!"

*DONG*

"...ow"

As I stared at the cyan, rainbow-maned mare currently splattered on my standard hexagonal shield, I noticed Miss Twilight coming out of her curled position on the ground. After a few moments of observation, I finally made my move.

"Good afternoon to you, too, Miss Rainbow."

"Fractal, how many times do I gotta tell you, call me Rainbow."

"..."

"Riiiiiggghhhht. So, who's this?"

"Well, before you nearly tackled and quite possibly injured this mare, she was just about to explain to me that you were supposed to clear out the sky for the Celebration later on. So. In that light, why is the sky still partly overcast?"

"Oh, heh-heh, yeah, right... I'll just do it now..."

And then Twilight just had to speak up, "You're supposed to clear the sky? what were you even doing beforehand, anyways, napping?"

Oh. OH. Oh dear. If there's one thing I knew about Rainbow Dash, it's that you never imply in any manner whatsoever that she's incapable of doing her job better and faster than anyone else.

"Hey! For your information, I was practicing a highly complicated maneuver that I was going to use to impress the Wonderbolts!"

"Hpmh, the Wonderbolts would never take anyone who plays around while they're supposed to be doing their job. Besides, what was that end part, you nearly crashed into us!"

"Don't insult me! I just need to work out the kinks is all... And I could clear these clouds in TEN. SECONDS. FLAT."

Dammit all, not this again. Hopefully Twilight doesn't try to do so – "Prove it"...Shit

"You're on!"

And with that, Rainbow managed an impressive feat of aerial acrobatics, clearing the sky in, according to my watch, nine and a half seconds, counting take off and landing speeds.

"Nine and a half seconds, I'm impressed"

"Hah! Sure showed you didn't I? Bye Fractal, I'm going to keep practicing"

"See you later, Miss Rainbow"

"Just call me Rainbow!"

And again we left to oversee the preparations once more.

At this point you may well be wondering just why I'm still wandering around town with this mare, I have a job, right?

Well, today was one of my rare off days, when I didn't have any appointments actually scheduled. Also, to be honest, I felt sort of a kindred spirit in Twilight, even though, based on her cutie mark at least, she apparently focused on magic, while I was a scientist. Call me insane, but something about his mare made me want to...I guess be friends, really. I don't know, the only other pony that I'd call my friend is Pinkie, and I got a similar sensation around her... and a bit near Fluttershy too.

So, yeah, maybe I'm not as antisocial as I thought.

"-ctal, Fractal!"

Oh, it appears I've missed something.

"...Yes? I apologize, I was merely lost in thought."

"Well, as I was saying, where is this Rarity pony, anyways, she's supposed to decorate Town Hall"

"... Follow me, if you please. Be warned, Miss Rarity is... quite exuberant about her chosen field, and may be somewhat off-putting if you don't know how to handle her."

"Well, what does she do?"

"She makes dresses, suits, and various other garments for a living. She's Ponyville's only seamstress, so she has a broad range of articles to chose from."

"So, what is she like?"

"If you're wearing something she doesn't think looks fashionable, she will attempt to change it, although she sometimes doesn't understand why ponies wear what they do"

"Has she ever done that to you?"

"Once. And afterwards she never tried again"

Don't look at me like that, I didn't do anything mean, I just asked her to consider the fact that my vest is basically a spare parts bin, what with its pockets of holding and all. If I changed it, I wouldn't be able to do my job.

So, we rounded another bend in the road, which brought us to the most frilly and gaudily themed boutique I had ever had the misfortune of seeing: The Carousel Boutique.

I've deliberately wiped that segment from view. Rarity is just... not my favorite pony to be around.

All that matters is that we confirmed that the decorations for Town Hall would be ready and on the building before nightfall.

Twilight's last stop for the day was music direction, not surprising, but the name listed was.

"Fluttershy is music director? Hm. Interesting."

"Do you know this "Fluttershy" pony?"

"She's honestly one of the only ponies I can claim any familiarity with in this town, barring Pinkie Pie and some of the other scientists in the town. I did not know she was music director though."

"Well then Fractal, I think we should get there quick, I need to cover my housing issue before seven."

"As you wish; Fluttershy's house is down this way, it's a bit of a walk though."

"Anything I should know about her?"

"Shyest pony you'll ever meet, loyal and supportive. Has a pet bunny that acts like a creature from the deepest pits of Tartarus, basically runs the town veterinary clinic, though it's more unofficial than anything. But people still pay her, and I'm going off on a tangent again."

"Right..."

Nothing of note happened at Fluttershy's cottage, mostly just stuttering, whispering, and Miss Twilight's confusion.

Well, we also got confirmation on the music.

Birds. Fluttershy was using birds as an orchestra. It just had to be birds. I hate birds, but that's not important.

Time: Six Forty Three.

Confirmation of Twilight's housing: Complete.

Residence: The flat just above Golden Oaks Library's ground floor.

Wait a minute... Pinkie Pie is throwing a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party for Twilight at the Library, when she normally throws them at the recipients' houses.

Either that mare just chose a random location, or there's another, weirder explanation for this. That mare scares me.

Given that Town Hall is about an hour's trot from the library, we headed straight over, since Twilight apparently wanted to catch some sleep before the Celebration at six tomorrow.

I probably should have mentioned the party, but Pinkie'd never forgive me if I ruined a surprise party, so I held my tongue.

We arrived at the library just before eight, and I was about to give a word of caution to Twilight when the younger unicorn just waltzed in the door.

"Oh dear... this won't go too well"

Deciding to actually have some social interaction for once, I walked through the door, closed it behind me, and calmly grabbed a cup of punch from the table to my left. As I began to mingle -just barely, mind you- I spotted Pinkie giving her normal introduction to new residents of Ponyville, and Twilight trying to mix herself some sort of non-alcoholic cocktail.

"-d if you're new, then it meant you haven't met anyone yet, and if you haven't met anyone yet, you must not have any friends, and if you don't have any friends then you must be lonely, and that made me so sad, and I had an idea, and that's why I went [gasp], "I'll just throw a great big ginormous super-duper spectacular welcome party and invite everyone in Ponyville." See? And now you have lots and lots of friends!"*

Geez, that mare can run her mouth. Oh dear.

Twilight doesn't even notice the hotsauce. Oh jeez, at least notice the smell.

You know what, she's still pouring, time for an intervention.

"You know, Miss Twilight, there are more palatable substances at this table than that hotsauce you were mixing into that lovely looking cocktail of yours. Perhaps, if you need it, you should get some sleep. Pinkie, try to lower the volume some so Miss Twilight can sleep."

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, I'll just... go to bed. Goodnight."

"Right then. Pinkie?"

"Huh?"

"Volume."

"Okie doki lokie!"

Well, that's basically it for me. At the very least, I managed to make a new friend today, and I guess social interaction isn't bad after all.

I quietly slipped out and began the trek home, which, regrettably, was an hour away from the library at my current pace.

Is it just me or does the mare in the moon look much more ominous tonight than last night?

This does not bode well. Not at all.

End Chapter 3

*Ripped straight from Pinkie's lines in Friendship is Magic: Part 1