-Set 3 years before Nightmare Moon's return-
Cloudsdale seems like a nice place to visit next. Maybe I'll even find out what I'm looking for. Just have to learn the cloud-walking spell to let me stay up there, and I'll be set. Cosmic Mind thought to himself after reading a pamphlet about the cloud-city. It should take about a day for the stallion to find the spell in the local library, learn it, and understand it deeply enough to be confident in using it.
* * * * *
-The next day-
As the balloon landed on Cloudsdale, Cosmic Mind payed the pilot, fastened on his saddlebags and put on his dark-grey cloak. He opened the door of the basket, and carefully reached down with his front left leg to make sure the spell worked. He felt the cloud beneath his hoof flatten out slightly, like a pillow. The spell worked. "Now to search the town, but first something to eat." Cosmic said to himself as his stomach growled. "I wonder what pegasi eat all the way up here?" He shrugged his shoulders, "I'm sure I'll learn soon enough." And began to wander around the floating city.
About 2 minutes into the search, a bright blue blur crashes into him. "Whoops, sorry.-chuckle- Practicing a trick before meeting a friend for lunch." said the blue blur, which turned out to be a cyan pegasus mare with a rainbow-colored mane.
"No problem. What's your name? And do you know a good place to eat?" Cosmic asked.
The mare suddenly stuck a pose of pride. "The one and only Rainbow Dash is my name. For lunch, I would recommend the Hay and Horseshoes just around that corner." the mare said, pointing at the end of a row of buildings. "It's where I'm meeting my friend."
"Cosmic Mind. Thanks."
"Later" she said, before taking off, leaving behind a rainbow blur.
* * * * *
Cosmic Mind ordered his lunch, a hay and daisy sandwich, at a\the restaurant the local recommended, and awaited at his table alone with his thoughts for his food to come. When he was in the middle of deciding how to proceed in Cloudsdale, a cream-coated pegasus mare with a long-pink mane that almost reached the floor walked in.
"Hey look, it's Cluttershy." a voice at a nearby table said. Looking around, Cosmic Mind saw that it came from a dark-brown pegasus stallion with a white mane and a dumb-bell cutiemark. At this, the mare hid behind her mane with embarassment in her eyes.
"Yeah Cluttershy. Have you figured out to fly yet?" teased a slightly bigger stallion with a light-brown coat and brown mane and three basketballs for a cutiemark. The mare, whose name Cosmic Mind highly doubted was "Cluttershy", was beginning to tear up.
At the second insult, several customers of the restaurant began laughing nervously, and the mare is now on the verge of bursting into tears.
Seeing this, an idea comes to Cosmic's mind. He waits one or two seconds, then bursts out laughing louder than anypony else, but for a completely different reason. He laid his head down on his table and began hammering the table with his front hoof. He keeps this up for a few seconds until silence consumes the establishment, and getting a weird look from the duo that started it.
"I know it was funny, but it wasn't that funny." the dark brown one said.
Cosmic Mind slowly stopped laughing and got his breath back. He looked at the location of the mare, and was surprised to see that she hadn't run out the instant the laughing started, but she had still started crying. "No, no it's not that." the unicorn stallion said, before letting out a last chuckle.
"Then what is so funny?" the lighter of the pair asked.
Cosmic turned back the duo. "It's that you two find it so funny to make fun of somepony, and that the rest of this place seems to agree, that it is fun to hurt others like that." he shouted the last statement, making sure the other customers heard him. Those that had laughed slouched in their seats. "Quite a first impression that I get of the locals of this town. Near all of you take joy in hurting another's feelings...Now, how about you two go apologize to her?" Cosmic Mind asked the bully pair while gesturing to the mare
After a moment, the look of shock left the faces of the pair, but continued on everypony else, they mumbled"we're sorry, fluttershy".
Now Cosmic was mad at them, and his patience has worn out. 'They won't even apologize correctly. And after I asked them to so nicely. Oh well, they probably deserve The Stare.' Cosmic thought to himself. He turned back to the dark-brown and light-brown stallions, and opened his eyes with a painful gaze, locking his eyes with their eyes. After a second of their eyes being locked with his, they started shivering slightly, yet they couldn't look away. A smirk appeared on the night-blue stallion's lips. "Let's try that again. Apologize to her." Cosmic Mind told them again, emphasizing 'Apologize'.
"WE'RE SORRY, FLUTTERSHY." the duo shouted together, before running out of the restaurant.
A couple of seconds pass. The mare, whose name seemed to be 'Fluttershy', was standing with a look of confusion, surprise, and wonder on her face, watching the mysterious unicorn stallion, along with the rest of the customers.
"Here you go. A hay and daisy sandwich and a water. Anything else?" the waitress said while bringing over the unicorn's meal.
"No, I'm good. Thank you." Cosmic said with a smile on his lips. He was about to dive into his food, when a timid and quiet voice interrupted him.
"Um, thank you for taking of those two for me." It was Fluttershy.
"No problem. I never did like bullies." Cosmic said, with pride in his voice.
"Oh, um, ma-may I join you?" she asked, clearly nervous and stammering
"I don't see why not." Cosmic said and the timid mare sat in the seat opposite of him. "Want half of my sandwich?"He asked. Fluttershy nodded, and he split the sandwich in two with his magic and floated half of the sandwich to her.
"oh, um, thank you." Fluttershy said, taking the sandwich in her hoof, with a slight blush. "So, um, what exactly did you do to those two? I didn't see your horn glow with a spell."
"Just something that I do on occasion. Showed them what they were doing was wrong, using my eyes, so I call it The Stare. It works by forcing empathy into them. I have other spells to do a similar job, but sometimes I need a strong use, like just now, to make sure the point gets across." Cosmic explained.
"Wow, that's amazing." Fluttershy said, sounding excited yet still quiet.
""I can also perform telepathic communication and read minds, of course I keep away from the personal things." Cosmic further explained his abilities. "By the way, what's your name?" Cosmic Mind asked her, both to make sure 'Fluttershy' wasn't an insult, and to not be rude by not asking.
"Fl-fluttershy." she said in a quiet and timid voice.
"Cosmic Mind."
They finished their respective halves of a sandwich, and talked for half an hour. Cosmic Mind learned how much bullying Fluttershy would get, and of her love of animals. Cosmic Mind talked about his travels. During this time, Cosmic Mind was secretly casting a spell to look around her mind, seeking for any signs that this mare isn't who she seems and to make sure she spoke no lies. It may have been an invasion of privacy, but it was a necessary precaution for what he's looking for. He avoided the clearly more private stuff, such as secrets meant to be kept as secrets, out of courtesy. He found almost no signs of resentment or hatred, but there was some natural anger and pain from the two bullies from earlier. Cosmic searched under friends, and all he found was the blue pegasus from before. He of course was still listening to what Fluttershy was saying through all the searching.
"I'm thinking of moving out of Cloudsdale and moving to the ground, to be closer with the animals. I do love animals."
"I think I know a town that may just be right for you, Fluttershy." said Cosmic.
"Really? Where?" said Fluttershy, .
"A small quiet town called Ponyville. Everypony there is nice. But if you go there, beware of pink earth pony with a bouncy mane and even bouncier personality. She will throw you a party on sight, and I assume you don't like being the center of attention." Cosmic warned her. "But she is a good friend to have."
"Sounds...nice." Fluttershy said.
"Did I mention that it's in need of a new animal care-taker?"
"Sounds great."
"Since it seems that I took care of your bully problem, and that you seem a trustworthy enough pony, I have a favor to ask of you." said Cosmic, hoping that she'll say yes. He believes that she is worthy of what he has to offer, and will not misuse.
"Wh-what is it?" Fluttershy asked nervously.
"I want to give you the power of The Stare. It is a fairly simple transfer spell, but one that requires concentration. Do you want it?" Cosmic asked.
Fluttershy seemed to calm down, but still slightly tense. "Th-The Stare? I'm not sure I want that kind of power, like the kind that you did on Dumb-bell and Hoops. And, how would I control it?"
"Don't worry. It's not dangerous. It's mostly activated by instinct. Trust me, it's a life-saver. I once fought off a cockatrice with it." Cosmic explained. "It just shows the recipient that what they're doing is wrong. A bit like forced-empathy."
"O-okay, sure."
"Great! Let's go into the alley so I can perform the spell."
The two new friends walked out the restaurant into the side alley. Cosmic Mind prepared himself and told Fluttershy what to do during the spell. "Remember, you just have to keep your eyes locked on mine."
"Got it." said the pegasus.
"Okay, here I go." Cosmic's horn began to glow a deep blue as his magic charged. A few seconds of focus and quiet later, bright white lights shined from the unicorn's eyes. The white lights then grew into little buds, which grew in size, then once they reached full size, the buds broke off, being floating orbs of light. Fluttershy was finding it painful to keep her eyes, but kept them locked on Cosmic's. The two floating orbs began to float towards Fluttershy, along the way changing to match the shape of the target's eyes. The orbs entered Fluttershy's eyes, who somehow managed to keep her eyes open during this, but just barely. Both unicorn and pegasus eyes shined with bright light for a full second. The pair's eye-lights faded, reverting the eyes back to normal. Fluttershy seemed slightly worn, but Cosmic Mind was clearly exhausted, yet he managed to remain standing.
"Feel any different?" the spell-caster asked the spell-castee.
"I-I don't think so." said the slightly worried pegasus.
Cosmic released a sigh of relief. "Good. You shouldn't." He thought for a few seconds, before asking Fluttershy another question. "So, are you going to move to Ponyville, or at least check it out? I can tell you would fit in just fine."
"I'm, I'm not sure. But I will consider it."
"It's okay. You don't have to decide right now. I should get going now. Just remember," Cosmic said while casting another spell "you can always rely on a friend when you need help. If you ever have problems with anypony messing with you, just give me a call, and I'll come."
"Wh-what was that spell you just cast?" a worried Fluttershy asked.
"A telepathy-connection spell that calls me when you really need me. But you shouldn't when you have a power like The Stare and a good friend like Rainbow Dash to help you."
"H-how did you know about Rainbow Dash?"
"She bumped into me soon after I arrived here. And I took a quick peek while in your mind, wondering what somepony like you was doing going into a crowded place like Hay and Horseshoes. And also to make sure if you should be trusted with The Stare." explained Cosmic Mind.
"Well, I should be going. See you later, Fluttershy." Cosmic waved goodbye as his horn glowed, charging for the teleportation spell.
"B-Bye." Fluttershy waved timidly, seeing that her new friend is about to leave.
:"You should go back in, before Rainbow Dash begins to worry." and with that, he disappeared in a bright flash, reappearing in an equally bright flash on solid ground.
The unicorn looked around to see his surroundings. He was on a piece of flat land, with an occasional tree. "Seems as good a place as any other to make camp." The lone stallion said to himself, before taking off his saddlebags, and taking out the necessary equipment, and casting a spell that summoned a roll of parchment, a quill, and a bottle of ink. It also seemed a good time to write a letter. It was dusk, and it won't be long until night comes, perhaps an hour.
Once the night-blue stallion set up camp, had a small fire going, before he began to write his letter.:
"Dear Princess Celestia, Today in Cloudsdale, I found a candidate to be one of the Elements of Harmony, most likely of kindness. Her name is Fluttershy, she has a cream-colored coat and a long pink mane, with three pink butterflies for a cutie mark. I have already directed her towards the town Ponyville. Hopefully she will meet and become friends with the three other candidates that live that I have located. I hope that your personal student is who you say she is, the elusive Element that is needed to complete and reactivate the Elements and return your sister, Princess Luna, from the form of Nightmare Moon. Signed, Your agent and seeker, Cosmic Mind." Cosmic reread this letter, deemed it ready, rolled it up and cast the spell to send it to the high-ranking alicorn. Once he saw the moon begin to rise, he performed a quick prayer for Luna's safe return, as is his ritual.
Cosmic was about to go back to his shelter and sleep, when suddenly he heard a sound to his right and slightly up. He looked to the source, and saw a gray blur hurtling at him. 'Twice in one day? Fine, I can handle it.Bring it on!' the stallion thought, bracing for the impact of another crash-landing. He cast a cushioning spell on himself, after all, why force the pegasus to have to crash into the ground?
The crash came, and when his senses came back, he saw a gray mare with a blonde mane on him. "Huh, this didn't hurt nearly as much as it normally does. Good thing this ground is so soft." the mare said, patting Cosmic's back
"Hey, who you calling soft? I exercise regularly." the stallion said under the mare.
"Oops, sorry." the mare said with a flushed face, getting off him.
The crash came, and when his senses came back, Cosmic saw a gray mare with a blonde mane on him. "Huh, that didn't hurt nearly as much as it normally does. I guess this ground is really soft." the mare said, patting the Cosmic's back
"Hey, who you calling soft? I exercise regularly." the stallion said under the mare.
"Oops, sorry." the mare said with a blushed face, getting off him.
"It's okay. I cast a cushioning spell on myself, to help soften your landing for both of us. I couldn't just let someone crash hard." Cosmic explained.
"Wow! that's really nice for a stranger. I don't know of anypony else who would do that for a stranger." the mare said with a grin.
"By the way, my name is Cosmic Mind. What's yours? And what are you doing out here so late? And are you sure you're okay?" the stallion asked.
"My name is Ditzy Do. I'm finishing up my mail deliveries. Yes, I'm fine." Ditzy said. "Wait, did you say your name is Cosmic Mind?"
"Yes. Why did something? Did you get a concussion? Can you remember where you live?" Cosmic asked out of worry.
"Wh-what? I said I'm fine. I have a delivery for you. You're my last one." She took a package out of her bag and held it out.
Cosmic took the package in his magic. He was surprised and baffled that the delivery mare had found him all the way out here. "How, how did you find me all the way out here?"
"Ditzyy Delivery Services always delivers on time." Ditzy stood in a prideful stance. "One time, this stallion with a blue box seemed even more surprised than you when I brought him his mail. He said it should've been impossible. But I did it." She wore a proud smile.
"I think I know that stallion. He's an old friend of mine, yet I couldn't find him when I wanted to, only when I needed to. You seem to take pride in your work."
"Yup. You're the nicest pony I've met in a while."
Cosmic blushed slightly at this. "Surely that isn't true."
"It is true. And don't call me Shirley. Though it really isn't that hard when so many others are so mean because of my eyes." Ditzy grew noticably sad at this statement.
"Why? What's wrong with your eyes?" Cosmic asked, curious and worried about what it could be about somepony's eyes that would cause others to bring such pain to her. He looked at them, they were a little wall-eyed, but that couldn't be it, could it? Then looked into them, and saw that Derpy was a kind mare, always wanting and meaning well and to help others, but sometimes her clumsiness got in the way.
"Have you looked at my eyes?" Derpy said harshly.
"Yes I am, but I don't see anything wrong with them."
"They're off. Some of them call me Wall-Eyed Derpy Ditzy for it." she said, a tear coming to her eye.
"Then they're jerks, not bothering to get to know the real Ditzy Do. Where do you live?" Cosmic asked, wondering where such a large number mean ponies could be.
"It's not just where I live, it's all over. But it's mostly happens in my hometown Ponyville, where it hurts the most."
"Ponyville? Well now I know where I'm going tomorrow. Would you like me to help you there? Are you sure you're okay? Don't want a snack for the trip back?" Cosmic asked again, making sure that she was okay.
She seemed to perk up at the offering of help and sniffed. "Yeah, I'd like some help back at Ponyville. I'm fine. Though for a snack, I don't suppose you have a muffin, do you?"
"What kind would you like?" Cosmic asked with a smile, floating his saddlebag that contained his food over to himself. He liked to have his food and supplies in one bag, and permanent equipment in the other; organization was key for a traveler.
"Blueberry?" Ditzy sniffed again, her eyes only slightly misty now from the tears.
Cosmic began searching in his saddlebag. This may sound like an easy task, but his saddlebags are special, they are enchanted to have near infinite space, yet weigh as light as a feather, a gift from a friend in a blue box. "Ah, the humble blueberry muffin. My personal favorite. Always gotta have one along. Here it is." Cosmic summoned it with his magic, and a blueberry muffin shot out of the saddlebag and levitated above it. "One blueberry muffin for one Ditzy Do." He said, as if addressing a customer at a restaurant. He levitated it over to 'the customer', who then took it in her hoof, and then ate it all in one bite. Cosmic Mind was baffled, but soon recovered himself again. "I take it you really like muffins." he said with a chuckle.
"Mmhmm." Ditzy said with a wide smile while keeping her mouth closed, chewed and swallowed, then patted her stomach. "'Yup. So, why did it seem like you really had to search to find that muffin in your small bag?"
"My bag is enchanted so that it's bigger on the inside, so it holds more food than it looks. It was a gift from the stallion we talked about earlier, the one with a blue box who said you shouldn't have been able to find him." Cosmic said smiling, thinking about the kind of friends he makes on his travels.
"Woooow." she said in amazement. " -gasp- What time is it? I gotta get home. See you tomorrow." Ditzy waved goodbye before beginning her flight back home.
"See you tomorrow." Cosmic waved, then he realized something. "Oh and Ditzy..."
"What?"
"Ponyville's that way." Cosmic pointed in the direction opposite the way Ditzy was going.
"I knew that. Thanks. Bye." She corrected herself so she was flying in the correct direction.
"Bye." Once Ditzy became but a dot in the distance, Cosmic turned to his delivery. "Okay, let's see who sent me a package and what it is." He tore open the package and found it to be a book on advance mind-reading and understanding. The note from the sender read "Hope this helps in your travels and friend making because making friends is super-duper important. :) From Pinkie Pie"
The gift and note brought a smile to Cosmic's face. She knew how much he loved figuring different ponies out, and why they do what they do. Now he can understand in more detail what he sees in his mind-seeing spell. He'd have to thank Pinkie tomorrow, and tell her to be careful around Fluttershy.
He looked back up to the full moon and saw the image of the mare trapped there and felt the energy coming from it, of pain, anger, hatred and jealousy. Cosmic went through the checklist of the elements he has found. He has already found the possible embodiment of Laughter, Generosity, and Honesty, and now Kindness, and sent them to Ponyville, or made sure they stayed there. Celestia claims that her current student is the embodiment of Magic. So that just leaves Loyalty as the last Element to be found.
Cosmic took one last look at the moon, the state of the silhouette, and the alignment of the stars. If his calculations were right, it should be only a year and a couple months until the princess of the night is saved from her corrupted form.
Cosmic went to sleep after having a small dinner and casting a protection spell around his campsite. It wasn't strong, but it would work. "Oh, almost forgot," Cosmic exclaimed, before smothering the bonfire with his magic.
* * * * *
-The next day-
Cosmic Mind was awoken by the rays of the sun streaking his eyes. He put his campsite and shelter away into his saddlebag, and began his way to Ponyville, starting off with teleporting most of the way. He walked the rest of the way while reading the book he got the night before, which made for a good read. Cosmic bet he could now understand the bad in ponies, not just the good, and maybe in other creatures, and even stronger manipulation of thier minds. To help others, of course.
When the stallion passed Sweet Apple Acres, he picked a couple of the trees of their sweet fruit and placed them into some of the buckets, and levitated the full buckets over to the barn, then taking a single apple from one of the trees and putting it in his saddlebag. Simply something that he does when passing the farm, helping hard-working friends for a very small fee of an apple.
Cosmic soon found Pinkie Pie, well more like she found him, and she gave him a bone-crunching hug after tackling him. "Hi Cosmic. How are you doing? -gasp- Did you get the book I sent you? Did you come to thank me?" the pink mare asked in quick succession with a big smile on her face.
After Pinkie let go and Cosmic recovered from the hug and processed what she said, he replied. "Hi Pinkie. I'm doing fine, though a little sore from your greeting. I did receive the book, thank you. Hopefully it'll help me help others. How have things been?"
"Glad to hear it. Always happy to help a friend. Everything is going great in Ponyville." Pinkie said.
"Good to hear. Oh, and before I forget, there is something that I need to tell you, but first you must calm down." Cosmic said, hoping she won't explode, both literally and figuratively, from what he was about to tell her. Once the mare stopped bouncing, the stallion continued, "A mare may come to Ponyville soon, and may decide to move here, if it's quiet enough for her." Cosmic put a hoof up to Pinkie's mouth to keep her from exploding when he saw her eyes shine at the idea of a warning of somepony coming to Ponyville. "Her name is Fluttershy. She is a pegasus who has a cream-colored coat and a long pink mane and tail. She is a very shy one, prefers the quiet and doesn't like being the center of attention, actually terrified of it. Can you Pinkie Promise me that you won't make a show and bring everypony's attention to her when she shows up, that you won't invite the whole town to her party, if you must throw one for her? Can you Pinkie Promise that?" Cosmic asked again.
"Yes." Pinkie said, muffled by the hoof still present. She then pulled her head back so she could perform her signature promise. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
Cosmic sighed in relief. Once she Pinkie Promises something, she makes sure it happens. "Good. Now I have to get going, I'm helping a friend with a problem. Bye Pinkie." He waved goodbye while walking away.
"Bye Cosmic." Pinkie waved goodbye wearing a large smile, before rushing off to do something.
Cosmic walked for a bit until he reached the shopping part of town. He purchased a bushel of apples from Applejack and a couple apple fritters, two bouquets of flowers and one bouquet of roses from Roseluck, who got a sly smile when he made his purchase (he wasn't sure why he got them, he simply had a feeling that they would be needed). "So, finally gonna ask a mare out?" Roseluck said with a wink. Cosmic grew flustered at this question and red in the face, "Wh-What?! That's ridiculous! Can a stallion not buy some flowers just because he wants to?" growing defensive about himself and his actions for reasons he wasn't entirely sure of himself.
After casting a preservation spell on his purchases and placing them in his bag, Cosmic went over to Sugarcube Corner where he bought some baked goods and a milkshake. He sat down at a table and began sipping his drink. Yet, something seemed off between the married couple there, like Cup Cake was mad at Carrot Cake, and Carrot didn't know.
Cosmic, being the meddler he sometimes is but calls it "helping a friend out", read Mrs. Cake's mind, to see why she was so angry. It turned out that Carrot forgot their anniversary. Cosmic did a quick scan of Carrot's mind, and found no sign of him remembering, yet he knew he was in trouble if he didn't figure it out soon. The meddling stallion did another scan on Cup Cake, and found out that she simply wanted her husband to remember and to show he still loved her, perhaps with a bouquet or two of flowers. Cosmic sent a telepathic message to Mr. Cake, keeping the source anonymous, but promising to explain later. After the initial shock of having somepony else giving him thoughts, he recovered, and Cosmic told him what was wrong, but that he could fix it, if he just opened the drawer, and to remain calm.
Fortunately, after the initial shock of realizing that he'd forgotten their anniversary, he recovered quickly and put his hoof out, and opened the drawer in front of him. Cosmic teleported the bouquet of roses that he bought earlier to the opening drawer and into the hoof of the startled, yet strangely compliant, stallion. Cosmic finished his milkshake, put on his saddlebags and began walking out of Sugarcube Corner, knowing what was going to happen next. Cosmic made sure that teleportation flash was just bright enough to get Cup Cake's attention from the corner of her eye, but not enough to raise suspicion. As the door was closing shut, he heard inside a gasp, then Mrs. Cake's voice say with much happiness "Oh, honey, you did remember our anniversary.", followed by several "awwww's" from the customers and the clicking of the door shut behind him.
Cosmic began to walk away, smiling to himself, happy to have helped that couple and saved Carrot Cake from a fate that no guy deserved, an angry wife, and glad that no one saw him; he wondered if Cadence felt a similar way when she cast her love magic...that is, until he heard a certain delivery mare's voice behind him. "Wow. I don't know of anypony else who would do that, and keep it secret."Ditzy said behind him.
It wouldn't be exaggerating to say that Cosmic Mind's mane and tail were standing on end and his eyes shrank to pinpricks when he heard the voice and the sound of a wooden door close behind him again.
He turned around to face her. "Oh, uh, hey Ditzy. Wh-what are you doing here? And what are you talking about?" Cosmic said quite nervously, hoping Derpy hadn't seen what happened, and if she did that she wouldn't tell others.
"Well, I was in Sugarcube Corner, waiting in line to get my breakfast muffin, when I saw a faint blue-colored mist reach Mr. Cake and wrap around his head, who suddenly seemed surprised by something, a voice in his head perhaps." said Ditzy, with a smirk appearing on her face. "So I looked back at the source, and found a certain blue unicorn stallion, sipping on a milkshake with his horn glowing faintly. I then turned back to Mr. Cake, who looked like he was listening to somepony who wasn't there. Then, in a flash of light, he was holding a bouquet of flowers that weren't there before, and when Mrs. Cake turned around and saw the flowers, I saw the blue unicorn leaving, right when most other ponies would stay no matter what." As she finished describing what she saw, Cosmic stood dumbfounded, his mouth agape and his face burning. "I may be wall-eyed, but I'm not blind. In fact, it lets me see magic better than most." said the mare.
His face now flushed, he said quietly, as if in shame "Please don't tell anypony, especially the Cakes."
"Why not?" asked Ditzy, confused why this stallion wouldn't want to tell anypony of such an act, and possibly eat from Sugarcube Corner for free for life as a reward
"I think you know why, that it would make the whole situation worse than if I hadn't shown up. Plus, I don't really like the attention." Cosmic explained. After a moment of silence between the two, Cosmic in shame, Derpy realizing how kind-hearted the stallion in front was, what a good friend he is.
Suddenly Cosmic perked up. "Now, how about we meet those ponies who have been giving you trouble." he said, beginning his walk. "By the way, have any other friends around here?"
"Well, the Apple family is always nice to me." Ditzy said, following Cosmic.
"They're a good bunch." Cosmic commented.
"There's Carrot Top. That's all I can think of-" Ditzy was interrupted by two voices overhead, very familiar to Cosmic.
"Hey look, it's Wall-Eyed Derpy. We haven't seen you since you fled Cloudsdale." a male voice said, sounding like one of the two bullies from yesterday.
"Yeah, crashed into any buildings recently?" a deeper voice said.
Cosmic looked up, and saw it was definitely the two stallions who were making fun of Fluttershy yesterday. 'What were their names? Dumb-bell and Hoops?' he thought to himself.
"Hey, who do you have there, Derpy? A new coltfriend?" Dumb-bell said. Ditzy blushed at this and looked to the ground, tears beginning to show.
"Ha, good one Dumb-bell" the light one said.
"Thanks Hoops." the dark one said. The two then hoof-bumped.
"Let me handle this." Cosmic said quietly to her. He then pulled the two stallions to the ground by their tails with his magic.
"Hey what's the big ide-" Dumb-bell froze when he saw who was in front of them. The pair then tried to shrink away.
Cosmic sighed in disappointment. "What are two you doing here? Didn't you learn your lesson? Do we have to go through what happened in Cloudsdale?" he said, clearly disappointed with the two.
"N-No. You don't have to do that." Hoops said, very scared.
"Ditzy, are these two giving you trouble? What would you like me to do to them?" Cosmic asked the mare.
"What are they talking about? What happened in Cloudsdale?"
"I'll tell you later. Let's just say that it wouldn't be that illogical if they came here because they were too scared of what happened in Cloudsdale."
Ditzy sniffed. "Le-let them go." she quietly said.
"As you wish." Cosmic released the magic holding the pair, who then zoomed off, clearly afraid. Once they were gone, Cosmic turned to Derpy. "So, you know those guys?"
Derpy nodded. "They used to make fun of me back when I used to live in Cloudsdale."
"Well they won't anymore. Who else makes fun of you here in Ponyville?" Cosmic asked, walking again and helping Derpy deal with others.
"Actually, I'm good now. Most of them just saw what happened." she pointed to a nearby restaurant with tables outside. Most of the customers looked at them with shock about what just happened, about what the single stallion could've done to those two, bigger stallions who were making fun of Derpy that would put them in such fear. Most present at the restaurant clearly made fun of her regularly. They were stricken with fear when she gestured to them.
"I'm going to go over there to make sure." Cosmic said to Ditzy, quietly so only she could hear.
"Okay."
Cosmic began to walk over to the restaurant, and most of them were clearly afraid of what was to come. Those were the ones he would approach. When he reached the edge of the eating area, he spoke to everypony present. "Okay, everypony. Raise your hoof if you've made fun of Ditzy." Most present raised their hoof, looking ashamed and scared. "Okay, those who apologized for it, lower your hoof." None of them did. "Those who would like to go apologize to her, go do so now." All with their hoof raised rose from their seats and walked over to Derpy to apologize.
When they returned to their seats, Cosmic returned to Ditzy. "You okay? Was that all of them?" he asked her.
"Yes. Thank you." she said with a smile and tears in her eyes, and suddenly hugged him. "Thank you, thank you, thank you.".
Cosmic, now blushing, said "Uh, no problem. What are friends for."
Ditzy sniffed and let go. "You're right, thank you." She wiped a tear away. "You're such a good friend. No pony has ever stood up for me before."
"You sure you're okay?" Cosmic asked for confirmation
"Yes. Now, about what happened in Cloudsdale..." she said
"Ah, yes. Well" Cosmic told her what happened the prior day, up until her crashing into him.
"Wow. You stood up for her, even though she was a complete stranger, and you sent those two running just with a look of your eyes." Ditzy said
"Well, yeah, though that being the short version." Cosmic said. He looked at the clock tower, which said it was half past nine. "My, how time flies. Seems just an hour ago I was at Sugarcube Corner, enjoying my breakfast."
"That was an hour ago." Ditzy said with a giggle. Her stomach then growled.
Cosmic chuckled at this. "I know. I guess you were in such a hurry to hunt me down that you forgot your breakfast muffin." He levitated one from his saddlebag. "Here you go."
"Thanks." the mare said, before again eating it in one bite, just like last time. "Mmm, so good." she smiled in satisfaction of the baked good.
She then seemed suddenly worried. "Wait, what time is it?" She turned to the clock tower. "Oh Celestia! I'm late for work! I got to go Cosmic. Thanks again for all your help." And she flew off.
"Bye." Cosmic waved goodbye.
He spent the rest of the day wandering around Ponyville, helping those who looked like they need it, minor things. Towards the end of the day, he felt a wave of distress, but it didn't feel like his. It was a telepathic distress signal, and it seemed to be nearby. He looked into the mind of the source, and saw that it was Fluttershy who sent it, but what he saw was a pink mare in front of about a dozen of other ponies, who all seemed to be screaming 'Surprise!'. But their eyes seemed to be like spotlights, focusing on the trapped mare. He pinpointed the location, at Sugarcube Corner, and cast the spell to teleport there, slightly after the crowd dispersed and went off to mingle on their own, so that they all wouldn't be staring right at him. He teleported in front of a cowering Fluttershy, and saw Pinkie Pie wearing a large creepy smile, but looking slightly worried and confused.
"Pinkie! You promised you wouldn't do this to her." Cosmic said, sounding very annoyed and on the verge of screaming at the pink mare.
"Sorry. It's just that she looked so lonely, she wouldn't talk to anypony, so we threw her a party so that she can make lots of new friends. And I didn't invite the whole town, just a dozen guests." Pinkie defended herself.
"In Sugarcube Corner. where more ponies are always coming in." Cosmic stated in a dead-pan tone, pointing out the problem in Pinkie Pie's planning, making the number of guests pointless.
"I see your point." Pinkie said, putting a hoof to her chin.
"um, Cosmic" Fluttershy poked his hoof shyly, clearly still terrified.
"Oh right." he helped her up. "Fluttershy, this is Pinkie Pie, the mare I warned you about." the stallion said softly as he gestured to the grinning pink pony, who waved back. "And Pinkie Pie, this is Fluttershy, the mare I warned you about." Cosmic said harshly.
"I said I'm sorry." Pinkie defended again.
"It's, um, okay.You didn't mean any harm." Fluttershy said, hiding behind her mane and Cosmic Mind.
"Great. Glad to see you two are good now. So, how are you liking Ponyville?" Cosmic asked her, hoping that she'll stay and and that Pinkie won't explode.
"It's, nice. The animals are really nice too. I think I might stay. I've already chosen a cottage." Fluttershy said.
"That's great. This town is really nice and quiet. I think it would be good for you." Cosmic reassured her.
Pinkie then took the still nervous pegasus and began to introduce her to all the ponies that were invited. Cosmic followed to make sure everything went fine.
"And this here is the Apple family. Here's Applejack, Big Mac, Apple Bloom, and -" Pinkie said, pointing to each one in turn. "Hey AJ, where's Granny Smith?"
"Sleeping. She's not as young as she used to be, ya know. She needs peace and rest." the tan mare stated.
"Right." Pinkie said.
Pinkie then took Fluttershy to the Cakes, who seemed to be enjoying their anniversary."This is Carrot Cake and Cup Cake, the owner's of this building, my landlords and bosses."
"Nice to meet you." said Carrot Cake. "How do you do?" Cup Cake asked.
"I'm fine. Are you two married?" Fluttershy asked.
Mr. Cake nodded. "9 years today." Cup Cake stated. Carrot Cake said "It feels like only 3.", and quickly nuzzled his wife's neck. "Oh, you" Cup Cake responded, clearly blushing. Cosmic smiled at this, happily knowing that he helped make this earlier today.
Pinkie pulled Fluttershy over to a white mare with a purple, curled mane and tail, and a filly with a softer white coat, curly pink and light purple mane. "This is Rarity and Sweetiebelle. Rarity is the town's fashion designer and Sweetiebelle's older sister. Sweetiebelle is Rarity's younger sister, and a student at the local school." Rarity dipped her head in a polite manner, and Sweetiebelle smiled widely.
Pinkie pushed Fluttershy over to a brown earth stallion with a brown mane and an hourglass cutiemark, staring intently at the clock on the wall. "This is Time Turner. He is the local clock maker, and of the best, but beware of his rambling."
Time Turner turned to the pink mare and had an annoyed look on his face. "I've mostly stopped rambling recently, in case you haven't noticed. Don't ramble nearly as much as I used to. I know cause I time my parts of a conversation, and it has really gone down. Especially with you, Miss Pie. My time talking is less than half, which is very nearly unheard of, because I can really talk when I want to, in fact-"
"Time Turner! You're rambling again." Pinkie pointed out.
"Was I? I didn't notice." he said with a smirk.
Pinkie pulled Fluttershy to meet the rest of the guests. This time, Cosmic didn't follow. Instead, he sat down with the clockmaker, and formed a telepathic conversation with him. It was of matter that was best kept private and quick.
'It's good to see you again, Doctor. Stopped travelling, settled down and got a job, I see.' Cosmic thought to the old stallion.
'After a few centuries, you get kind of tired of it, and want to see what ordinary life is like. Of course, I still sneak in a bit of travel once in a while. And what about you? Still travelling I see.' the old stallion replied to his old companion.
'You know I won't stop helping others while seeing new things. You inspired me to do so, remember?'
'I remember. So, how's the search going along?'
'Going well. You tell me how well. What did you think of the one that just left here, the one that this party is for?' Cosmic asked the Doctor.
'Yes, she is definitely one of the Elements. So that's 4/6 now, right?' the earth pony asked the unicorn pony.
'Right, and don't forget you helped bring the pink one here. Though Celestia thinks she's found one, training her now. So that's 5/6 found. Though I've got a feeling the last one will come here on their own.' Cosmic reassured Turner.
'I hope the Elements cure her this time. To make up for my failure millenia ago.' stated the brown stallion, thinking back to Nightmare Moon's appearance.
'As do I. Come now, don't think like that, it's a party. Come on, let's go interact with some fixed points and be the life of the party.' Cosmic told the old traveler.
'I don't know.' he sounded hesitant.
'I brought a bananna.' Cosmic thought, knowing he couldn't resist a bananna at a party.
"Deal." Turner said aloud, ending the private telepathic conversation. The two stallions both looked up to the clock-face. About 40 seconds had passed for their conversation. (Telepathy is awesome)
"Thanks again for the saddlebags, Turner." Cosmic said, while levitating a bananna out of the infinite saddlebags and giving it to the brown stallion.
"Nothing a bit of science and magic can't do." Turner replied, moving to the snack table, bananna in his hoof.
Cosmic returned to the Element of Laughter escorting the Element of Kindness to meet more ponies. They had met Lyra and Bonbon while Cosmic was with Turner, so he missed that.
Pinkie then brought Flluttershy over to the delivery mare. "Hi Fluttershy. Hi Pinkie Pie. Hi Cosmic Mind." Ditzy waved to each of them, grinning widely.
"Hi Derpy." the three said in unison.
"Glad to see you got your deliveries finished. On time right?" Cosmic asked.
"Of course." Derpy said, visibly proud that she did, and clearly still happy about earlier today.
"So you already know Ditzy, Fluttershy?" Pinkie asked her.
"Yes. We were friends back in Cloudsdale. We were both weak fliers when we were fillies, and we were always teased for it, so we decided to be friends." Fluttershy explained.
"And Cosmic, how do you know Derpy?" Pinkie asked.
"She crashed into me, heard she was having some trouble with some ponies, took care of it, the usual." Cosmic said, dismissing it with a wave of a hoof.
"Fluttershy, what's wrong? You seem down on something." Pinkie asked.
"What about Rainbow Dash? I'm her best friend, now I'm leaving her and moving." said Fluttershy, her voice cracking.
"I'm sure she'll be fine." Cosmic reassured her.
"How-how do you know?" Fluttershy looked up, with tears visible in her eyes.
"Just a feeling."
