Wonders

I woke up grumpy; the remainder of the previous day had been spent arranging my accommodations. I was staying in a cottage outside of Ponyville, with the shy yellow Pegasus. Apparently she had some experience sharing her home with odd guests, including discord, who had not been happy about the arrangements.

I hadn’t slept very well, there were no snowbanks around, so I had to sleep in a bed, which was uncomfortably warm.

And the rude orange pony had just woken me up by shouting from outside the cottage.

“Hurry up Fluttershy! The others are waiting!”

The shy pony came into my room.

“Um excuse me Mr. Windigo Sir” she said extremely quietly “we should probably begin the tour of Ponyville soon, if you’re ready.”

“Yes quiet one, I am ready” I grumbled as I got out of bed. We left the cottage and traveled into Ponyville. We crossed a bridge and began walking down the main street of Ponyville, ponies waved to the yellow Pegasus as we passed. She waved back at them and told me their names, as if I cared. As we neared the center of town I could see the other four ponies and the princess from yesterday loitering on the steps of a large building, smiling insincerely.

The ponies did not seem to understand the reason for the tour, though we had gone over it extensively the previous day.

“And over there is sugar cube corner, that’s where I live!” yelled the pink one.

“I hate to interrupt” I said impatiently “but this is supposed to be a tour of harmony, I don’t need to see all of the sweet shops in town.”

“But you are seeing harmony” said the princess “You have seen how the three types of ponies live together happily, have you seen any disharmony in Ponyville at all?”

“There were still small towns in the north until a few weeks ago; you ponies always pretend to like each other, until disaster strikes. Crises show your true colours.”

“Ponyville is like, the crisis capital of Equestria!” said the annoying blue Pegasus “we have a disaster every week!”

“Is that so” I said skeptically “What happened last week?”

“Some guy named Tirek came and tried to take over the kingdom!”

I was not expecting that. First I find out that Alicorns still exist, now Tirek is back from the dead, what next?

I try not to show my surprise. “And I suppose your town fell into anarchy when that happened.”

“On the contrary” said the purple princess “We find that by working together, and staying calm, we can overcome anything.”

If the ponies in the north had done that we wouldn’t have been able to bury them in ice. If these ponies really did stay harmonic in a disaster then maybe they would pass the inspection.

I must have looked impressed, because the ponies shared looks of surprise, and glee.

I scowled “let us continue the tour.”

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, we visited most of the town as well as the apple farm outside of it. Then we went back to the large building in the center of town that the ponies explained was the town hall. As we neared the building I saw the princess whispering to the yellow Pegasus.

“Ok” she said, then to me: “are you ready to go home?”

I was, and we began to walk down the road towards the cottage, when I looked back I could see the ponies huddled up, talking to each other excitedly.

They were planning something.