Grey Sky Goes to Ponyville

BZZT! BZZT! BZZT! Upon hearing this, Grey sky slowly opened his eyes as consciousness returned to him. He took the time to observe his surroundings. He was in Ponyville. It may not seem like something important, but it was very important to him. The reality that his life was starting again with a fresh slate was now sinking in. This realization made him slightly brighter, but he still had his doubts.

“This is it. This is my new life! No longer am I a citizen of the stuffy and vain Canterlot!”

He quickly got himself out of bed and prepared himself to start his day. He was getting ready for breakfast when something horrible came to his attention. He didn’t have a job! Upon looking in the empty cabinets and refrigerator, his stomach began to growl. He had spent all of his money on the house…

“Hmm, this might be a problem. I need to find a job and fast. It’s bad enough that I can’t eat, but if I don’t have a job how am I supposed to pay for this house?? I barely had enough money to make the down payment on this house… Maybe I should have thought this through a bit more.”

As he was contemplating his fiscal situation, he noticed the clock. It seems that the time was at 9:50. He couldn’t help but feel like he was forgetting something… Something important…

“Pinkie Pie! I was supposed to meet her!”

As he realized this, he quickly dashed for the door. He had to ten minutes to get the town square or he would break his promise to Pinkie Pie. She was nice enough to offer to show him around and he would not break a promise on his first day in Ponyville. Not if it killed him. He quickly left his house and rushed to the town square. As he was making his way to the town center he wondered how he had woken up with such little time to spare.

“How did it get this late?? I distinctly remember setting my alarm to 8:00 last night and I am certain it didn’t take me two hours to get ready…”

As he tried to remember exactly what happened, his memory of earlier that morning returned. He remembered hearing his alarm clock multiple times… then it hit him.

Snooze.

The most evil button to be installed on a clock, he thought of how many times he must have hit that button while being semi-conscious. He must have hit that thing at least 10 times…

As all of this was being processed in his head while running full speed to the town square, he came to a dead stop. Not by choice mind you. His face had decided without the brain’s consent to make a new friend. This friend was solid concrete that belonged to a building that rudely appeared out of nowhere. After he managed to locate his head and put it squarely back on his body he noticed a pink pony staring at him quizzically.

“Hey, are you alright?? You should really watch where you are going unless you are a bat. They don’t need to watch where they are going because they can hear where they are going. Isn’t that weird? Twilight told me about that, I couldn’t imagine being able to use your ears to see! Oh it’s you! You’re the one that moved in yesterday! I never did get your name. So what is it? Abraham? Alfonso? Anakin? Bobby? Bruce? Benjamin? Carl? Charles? Carver? Devon? David? Daniel?” said Pinkie all in the course of five seconds.

“It’s Grey. Grey Sky.” Said the slightly disoriented pony.

“Grey Sky? That’s a pretty cool name! So Grey, what were you doing running like that? Were you trying to check the hardness of this wall? If so then that’s kind of weird. Ooh ooh! I know! You wanted to see if there’s a train station on the other side right?”  Pinkie said.

“What?” asked Grey, completely dumbfounded at this pony and her randomness.

“Well I guess it’s time for me to show you around. Let’s get a move on!” Pinkie said with enthusiasm.

“I forgot that she was nuts. Oh well, It’s not like she is crazy in a ‘belongs in a mental asylum’ way. She’s just…strange. Yeah, that’s the word… I think.”

As the two walked through the town, Pinkie Pie took the time to explain everything about the town. Who everypony was, where everything was, and how the town got started. The way she spoke about the town made it clear she truly loved this town with all of her heart. It was a bit endearing. He certainly couldn’t say the same for where he was from. They continued their tour until Pinkie Pie heard the growl of Grey’s stomach.

“Oh are you hungry?” Said the pink pony with a sly smile.

“Oh not at all, my stomach is alive you see? It doesn’t like its surroundings at the moment so it’s growling at me to move somewhere else.” Grey Sky said laced with sarcasm.

“Wow! Really!? That is so cool! I want a stomach that’s alive! Do you have talks with it or do you communicate telepathically?” Said Pinkie Pie, with all of that sarcasm soaring miles above her head.

“Sigh. No, not really. I was just kidding. I am hungry.” Grey Sky said disappointingly.

“Ohhhhh…” Pinkie Pie said as if she had been enlightened to the secrets of the universe. She paused for a second, processing the joke. You would almost think there was a progress bar above her head when she was thinking about the joke. After a moment, she burst out laughing at the joke.

“BAHAHAHAHA!! That’s hilarious! A living stomach! Heeheehahaha!” said Pinkie, furious with laughter.

Grey Sky just stared at her. He could not understand her at all. She was by far the strangest and most random pony he had ever met. Yet, she was also one of the most cheerful and energetic ponies he had met. Grey, who hardly ever smiled, started to feel something well up in him that he hadn’t felt in a long time. He wanted to laugh. Her laughing almost seemed contagious as he felt himself crack a small smile. Faced with such absurdity, he finally and let out a chortle. They both ended up laughing for at least five minutes straight. The joke was funny, but it wasn’t THAT funny…

Another growl of the stomach managed to break the laughing spree they had started, reminding them both that they need to find some food to settle their angry stomachs. As they looked for places to eat, Grey had noticed something very significant. The rain had stopped. The endless rain that never wets anypony that has plagued him since his birth had stopped. He was completely awestruck at this occurrence. So much so that he had stopped walking. As Pinkie started walking away from him she noticed that she had started talking to herself. She looked back to see Grey just standing there looking at the sky. She herself took the time to look at the sky, noticing its beautiful, clear blue color.

As he stood there, just staring at the sky. It was still grey, but there was no rain at all. His staring was quickly interrupted by a pink face that obscured all of his vision.

“The sky is pretty isn’t it?” Pinkie asked, who seemed to be magically standing on thin air right over Grey.

“WHOA!” Exclaimed Grey as he fell back, not expecting to see a giant pink face out of nowhere.

“Sometimes I like to stare at the sky because it’s just so pretty. That’s what you were doing right?” Pinkie asked, whose feet were back on the ground as she leaned in to help Grey up.

“Something like that…” Grey replied trying to recover from the arrhythmia that his heart had contracted from being startled like that.

“Well now, let’s go get something to eat! I’m starved!” Pinkie said, the hunger in her voice was evident.

“Right, let’s.” Grey replied, also very hungry considering he didn’t eat breakfast. “But where are we going to eat?”

“Right here! Said Pinkie as she pointed to the café they were standing in front of.

“Well that’s convenient.” Spoke Grey rather plainly. “I’d love to eat here but unfortunately I don’t have any bits to spare. In fact, I don’t even have a job to get bits.”

“You don’t have a job?” Asked Pinkie Pie quizzically. “Well if you are any good at cooking I can talk to the Cakes and see if they can get you a job at Sugar Cube Corner! Also, don’t worry about today. It’s on me!”

“Really? You would do that for me?” Asked Grey, gratitude filling his voice.

“Of course! You’re a good pony. I can definitely see that. Also, don’t worry about it!” Said Pinkie Pie with a wink. “Now let’s go in and eat! I don’t think I can wait any longer!”

Grey Sky was once again confounded by this pink pony. She didn’t see him for his material worth or his looks. She saw him for him, a pony with a good heart. He started feeling strange, like there was a fluttering or a tickle in his chest. He couldn’t really explain it. He soon started to become more aware of the pink mare, noticing her beauty, her colorful mane, her velvet-like coat, and her absolutely beautiful blue eyes. A shade of red started to creep its way over his face. He started to think about all this time he had spent with her.

“We’ve been walking around the town and talking, and now we’re getting lunch together. Just the two of us. Isn’t this kind of like a d-date?"

Upon this realization he turned an even deeper shade of red. He couldn’t stop thinking. He was almost in a trance-like state until Pinkie broke it by calling to him.

“Hey Grey! Are you coming? I don’t want to eat all by myself!”

Grey responded to this in an instant bursting through the door and proceeded to make a complete idiot of himself and plant his face directly into the floor, still flustered by this sudden realization.

“Do you have an inner-ear problem or are you just super clumsy?” asked Pinkie. “I’m kind of clumsy myself but not as bad as you, but I’m not saying that’s bad or anything. I’m not trying to be mean or anything, I was just curious that’s all.”

“No, I don’t and I’m not really that clumsy either. I just seem to be extra clumsy today for some strange reason.” Lied Grey, knowing exactly the reason for his balance problems. But he couldn’t tell her that she was the reason for his balance problems. Not in a thousand years.

Grey was so caught up in trying to stand himself up, he didn’t notice the slight tinge of red on the mare’s face. Granted, it’s pretty hard to find a shade of red on a pink pony. He managed to regain his composure as they sat themselves down at a table to eat at.

They were so caught up in talking to one another they didn’t even notice the waitress had appeared to take their order.

“Ahem, I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” Said the waitress with a smile.

Both of them were startled as they were yanked from their little pocket universe.

“Oops, Sorry! Heheheh.”  Apologized Pinkie with a blush.

“So what can I get for you two?” asked the waitress.

“I’ll take a dozen of your cupcakes! Half strawberry and half apple!” Said Pinkie enthusiastically. “You like apple right?”

“Yeah, I love apple… how did you know?” asked Grey.

“You just seem like a pony who loves apples!” replied Pinkie.

“So a dozen cupcakes, half strawberry and half apple right?” Asked the waitress.

“Yup!” Replied Pinkie with a smile.

“Alrighty then.” Said the waitress.

The two continued to talk throughout their lunch, discussing all kinds of things. Ponyville, Canterlot, their friends, their life in general. It was the happiest Grey had felt in his entire life. They finished their lunch and returned to the town square where they would go their separate ways.

“Ahhh this was so much fun!” Exclaimed Pinkie. “I had a great time with you today, even though I actually didn’t show you all of Ponyville.”

“It’s fine. I had fun today as well. I’ve had more fun today than I’ve had since I was a filly.” Said Grey with gratitude. “I have to ask though, Why did you go to all this trouble for just me?

“Well, um, I don’t really know…” Replied than Pinkie rather sheepishly. “Anyways I have to get going. I’ll see you tomorrow!”

And just like that, Pinkie zoomed off, a deep shade of red veiled over her visage. Grey was left there, standing by himself in the town square.

“Right… See you tomorrow…” Grey Sky said to himself.

Left alone with his thoughts, his pessimism and worries  had surfaced.

“Did I ask the wrong thing? Does she not like me? No, she had to have liked me if she spent all day with me. Why do I feel so uneasy? Wait a minute…tomorrow? She will see me tomorrow? She said that. So that means she has to like me if she is going to see me tomorrow right?”

With all of these thoughts racing in his head he returned to his home. As he was walking back to his house, he noticed something. Something he did not like. It had started drizzling…