Chapter 1 - Welcome to Ponyville!
Proofread by agentporpoise
It was a warm, sunny day, a gentle breeze was flowing through the air, while proud citizens of Canterlot were entering the train station.
Some of them were hard-working ponies who were going on a well deserved holidays, on the contrary there were also these ponies who were coming back home from their vacations in capitol of Equestria.
Tourists, diplomats, workers,the posh and the poor, everypony was traveling somewhere for different reasons, sometimes you could even see a royalty on these trains, just like today.
Today’s passengers were incredibly lucky, as they were able to see and possibly meet not just one, but two Princesses of their Kingdom, and where is no greater honor than….
“Can you tell me again why should I follow you to that backwater town?!” Nidra shouted with irritation towards Starburst, who slowly was losing her temper.
“Oh believe me, if I didn’t have to I wouldn’t be taking you there!” Star answered massaging her temples with hooves, they only just left Canterlot and Nidra was already getting on her nerves. “Auntie Luna asked me to take you with me this time since, and I quote, “Nidra has no real friends.”
“I don’t have any friends? Tis is a lie!” Nidra shouted with pride and then lowered her head a little. “I-It is a lie, isn’t it?” She mumbled quietly.
“Truth to be told, those friends that you showed me clearly were hanging out around you because you’re a Princess. do you have any other friends?” Starburst asked not even trying to be gentle.
Nidra shook her head and sighed in defeat. “I shall then honor your friends and their village with my great presence, hopefully by the end of the day they shall become mine friends as well.”
“Yeah, hopefully, so I don’t have to take you with me ever again.”
“What was that?”
“I just said we have a nice weather.”
“We are sure thou just said something else!”
“Again with that old speech?! Where did you even learn this?”
“From my beloved mother.” Nidra said holding her head high.
“Wasn’t she supposed to get rid of that talking pattern?”
“She was but….”
“But what?”
Nidra sighed. “….but my father said it was really ‘cute’.” She said making the quotation marks with her hooves.
“P-Pff.” Starburst kept her mouth closed with her hooves, barely stopping the laughter.
“What’s so funny?!” Nidra shouted.
“Nothing, nothing really.”
And so, their journey to Ponyville continued, every time they finished arguing it didn’t took them longer than five minutes to find a new subject for argument. Starting with how Nidra disliked the shape of the mountains they were passing by, ending on Starburst reminding Nidra of her weird sleep patterns.
“Tis a lie! I do not sleep over 18 hours a day!”
“If we were to count all your naps it would easily pass even that number!”
“Well at least I don’t lose my time staring at those common guards training.”
“What did you just say?!”
“I said that no matter how much you look, you will never become a guard, midget.”
…On the other hand perhaps today wasn’t the luckiest day for other passengers.
This endless travel finally had come to a finish as the train our Princesses were on came to a stop at the Ponyville train station.
Ponies started to leave the train in hurry, some of them annoyed but most of them were simply scared. After almost everypony else managed to get far away, two Princesses slowly made their way onto the station.
“Well then, since we are finally here, which one of your friends shall I honor with my royal presence?”
Starburst growled quietly and sighed in defeat. “We will start with Cotton Candy, if she won’t be able to withstand you, then you can give up.”
Nidra of course got offended by Starburst words, she decided though that it will be better to let this one off. “Shall we go then?”
“Why not.”
And so they did, Starburst led the way while Nidra followed her quietly, as they journeyed through the Ponyville, Princess of the Slumber couldn’t help but look around.
Wooden houses, old shops with old salesponies, selling old things, she felt as if this was one big retirement home for elder ponies. Soon enough they entered the main street where most of the vendors were standing, age diversity was bigger here, with more younger stallions and mares, but that surely wasn’t enough to impress young Princess.
Nidra watched young colts and fillies running around playing with their toys, some of them were kicking a ball to each other, somewhere else she saw fillies jumping on skipping-rope.
“This town really is boring.” Nidra said, even though in reality she felt an urge to play with these kids, she could never possibly admit something like that.
“If you say so.” Starburst replied too tired to even try to argue.
With no more words they continued until they finally stopped before their destination, the Sugarcube Corner, Star smiled for the first time today ;she couldn’t wait to meet with her friend.
Without further ado Starburst walked inside, Nidra quickly followed her and for the first time today, she was awestruck.
She saw many bakeries and candy shops in Canterlot, but this one, this bakery placed in this backwater town Ponyville was truly something else.
Nidra felt her nostrils getting filled with sweet aromas of countless cakes, candies, cupcakes, donuts and many, many more delicious creations.
The inside of the building didn’t look any special at first glance, it was quite spacious with quite a few tables, but what was truly amazing was the sight of this variety of sweets at the counter, and every single one of them looked absolutely magnificent.
“Impressive right?”
“What makes thou think that?” Nidra asked acting as if she didn’t care.
“Oh I don’t know, the fact that you’re drooling like crazy perhaps.”
“What are you…” She didn’t get to finish and instead moved her hoof through her mouth, she looked at it and to her surprise she saw a lot of her own saliva on it.
“How embarrassing.”
Starburst grinned, she wanted to say something more and enjoy the situation but suddenly she felt the world spin for few moments.
“Starburst! It’s so good to see you!” On top of Star was nopony else than Cotton Candy, one of her best friends from the town.
“Candy, it’s good to see you too, but was jumping on me and throwing me into the wall necessary?”
“Of course, what a silly question.”
“You never change.” Star said with a smiled and hugged her friend, Nidra looked at the whole scene with a confusion on her muzzle.
“I’m so glad to see you again Star! How are you doing?” Said somepony from behind the counter.
Star’s ears perked up and she looked into the direction of that voice she knew very well, her smile widened. “I am great miss Pinkie!”
“Oh please, stop with miss, just Pinkie or auntie will be fine!” She added in her usual cheerful tone and bounced over to the trio, earning a smile from few other customers present at the bakery.
“Okay then, auntie Pinkie, how are twins doing?”
“Cloudy and Sugar? Oh thank you they are just adorable, aren’t they Candy?”
“Of course! I help a lot with babysitting!” She said with pride.
Pinkie chuckled. “Yes indeed, although Pound and Pumpkin are helping a lot as well.” She added and then finally noticed somepony she didn’t see for way too long. “Oh my! Isn’t that Nidra? You grew so much since last time I saw you! Oh come here you little crazy filly.” She said and forced Nidra into bone crushing hug.
“M-Miss P-Pinkie I-I c-can’t…”
“You can’t remember me? Of that is no problem, you were just a small filly when I last saw you, it was few years ago, good times.”
“N-No I-I can’t…”
“You can’t withhold your enthusiasm? Me neither! This is so amazing! How is Luna doing, and Celestia oh she didn’t write for so long, only Twilight visits us regularly on our little talks, and Discord sometimes comes around so we can talk about old times, like that one time when we pranked your Dad and Mum on their first date, ohh it was so much fun!”
“I CAN’T BREATH!” Nidra shouted with all the air she could muster from her lungs.
“Oh sorry.” Pinkie said and finally set her victim free.
“I tend to do that sometimes, really sorry, are you all right?”
Nidra gasped for air hungrily, she couldn’t do anything else but feel her anger grow as she heard the unstoppable laughs of Starburst and Candy. “I’m fine.”
“Oh deary, I hope you are.”
Starburst finally stopped her laughter and cleared her throat. “Well then, if we are done with that, then we should get on with what we were supposed to do here in the first place.”
“Which is?” Candy asked.
“Getting Nidra some friends, ‘cause she’s a total loner.”
“I’m not…” Nidra didn’t manage to finish as she was suddenly approached by Pinkie Pie, who lifted her into the air with her hooves.
“Oh deary! You don’t have any friends? That can’t be right! Everypony needs friends! Don’t ya worry, your good auntie Pinkie Pie will fix that!”
’I don’t know what have I done to deserve this, but I will change, I promise! Nidra shouted in her thoughts as Pinkie’s enthusiasm was growing stronger and stronger.
“That’s a great idea! Mum’s the best at these things.” Candy said.
“Yeah, why didn’t I think about it earlier.” Starburst added with mischievous grin.
Nidra shot daggers at Star who only smiled in response.
“Well then, lets get to work, there’s a lot to do! Who do you think we should start with, I think Del would be a nice pick!”
“Who’s Del?” Nidra asked. “Also, could you put me down, Auntie?”
“Oh sorry.” Pinkie said quickly and gently lowered her to the floor. “Del is a son of one of my bestests friends, and a very handsome gentlecolt.” She said with a wink.
Nidra sighed. “Lets get it over with then.”
“Hurray!” Pinkie shouted and took off her cooking apron. “Piercey! I’m leaving the shop to you, Pound and Pumpkin will later today to help as well!”
“Sure sugar!”
“I love that stallion.” She added and they left they shop. “All righty! SPSFFFN is going!”
“What’s SPSFFN?” Nidra asked ,and quickly regretted that decision.
“Oh silly, it is “Special Party Searching For Friends For Nidra” of course! What else could it be?”
Nidra facehoofed. Starburst and Candy chuckled. Pinkie cheered and sang as they walked forward towards the Sweet Apple Acres.
*****
“So ya think I can’t buck that tree?” Del asked with a look of pure determination written on his muzzle.
“Eeeyup.” His uncle replied.
“Hmph, then watch me, I have improved a lot since ya last time saw me.” He said with walked to the closest apple tree with baskets under it.’All right here we go, find mah center of gravity, get a good stand on front hooves, and hit it right in the core with all mah force! Del recited his mother’s instructions in his head and delivered a strong kick to the tree, which in turn started to drop its apples.
Big Mac stared in awe at his nephew, who not so long ago wasn’t even close to getting an apple out of the tree, and now he got almost every single one of them.
Del stood proudly with his chin raised up, until he heard a noise, a squeaky noise he knew very well.
Suddenly a small bat jumped from the tree and flew right past Del’s muzzle, who immediately turned pale.
“Are ya scared of that little thing?” Mac asked amused.
“A-A-A bit, is-is it gone?”
“Noope, it’s right on ya head.”
“I-I-It’s on my h-head? TAKE IT OFF!” He shouted and started to rub his hooves into his mane, he didn’t stop until he heard his uncle’s laughter.
“Very funny.”
“Eeeyup.”
“Big Mac, Del come here both of ya, dinner’s almost ready!”
Said stallions smiled upon hearing Applejack’s voice and a message it carried, they quickly trotted back to the house and saw a smiling Applejack, but she wasn’t alone.
Del smiled even wider as they approached a group of ponies he knew very well. “Starburst! Ya are in Ponyville today? So good to see you.”
“Hey Del, glad to see you too, you’ve been working out it seems.”
Del scratched his head as his cheeks reddened a little. “Y-Yeah, maybe a bit.”
“Hey Goldy!”
“Hey Candy, how’s your cooking?”
“Decent, but I can’t get even near to your amazing food, you have to teach me how to do these awesome apple fritters one day.”
“Sure thing, hey Mi-Auntie Pie, how are ya doing?
“Great Goldy! Thanks for asking.”
Del smiled but couldn’t stop himself from asking a certain question. “Guys, I’m really happy you all are here, but is there some reason you’re here?”
“Oh, he guessed it!”
Del raised his eyebrow.
“Our reason to be here today, is standing right behind me! Del meet Nidra, daughter of Princess Luna!” She shouted and pushed Nidra from behind her embarrassing the Princess of Slumber in the process.
Nidra cleared her throat before speaking. “Welcome there fair citizen.”
“Howdy, so ya are a Princess? That’s really cool.”
“Yes indeed I am.”
Del smiled and looked closely at his new friend. ’She’s quite pretty isn’t she? At least I think so, she’s got horn and wings so she’s an alicorn, well duh, she’s a princess and….’ Del felt his mind stop functioning for a moment as he paid a bit closer attention to one of her aspects, namely her wings.
Nidra looked at him with confusion, raising hear head proudly. “It seems you are rendered speechless by mine royal appearance, fear not it is completely normal.”
“….”
“I think I like you, unlike a certain Princess I know you are really easy to talk to, I have deemed you worthy to become my “friend.”.”
“B-B…”
“What is it my new friend?”
“BAT! SHE’S A BAT!” Del shouted as he ran away into the fields, leaving everypony present speechless.
The silence fell upon the group and it stayed, until everypony beside Nidra broke it by bursting into unstoppable laughter.
