Adventures of Markipony

After we walked out of Sugarcube corner, Button decided to rush home to grab some gaming devices for us to play with. Meanwhile, Pinkie and I traveled around town for a bit.

"We should go see Applejack, or Rarity, or Fluttershy! OOH! Maybe we should ask Dashie to have fun with us! She's always enjoyed spending the day with her friends, and she's very loyal to them too! That's why she's the element of loyalty! And she does amazing, spectacular, wonderific tricks! Ever since she got accepted into the Wonderbolt academy, she's been practicing her moves every day! She's gonna become a real Wonderbolt for sure now! She even passed a written test on the history of the Wonderbolts, thanks to all of us of course. I still think my rap might've helped more though, I mean, learning stuff through song is a great way to learn! It get's you into the grove of things. Speaking of music, did you know Fluttershy has a really sweet voice, especially when she sings? She's not into crowds for some reason, so we can't really see her use her singing talent to perform. Except that one time when she changed her voice to sound like dude so she could sub in for Big Macintosh. Speaking of apples, Applejack is the most dependable out of all of us here in Ponyville, and I think you might like her since you two have so much in common. She's got a really big family, and I might be part of it! Can you believe that!? I think that out of all of the Apples, Applebloom might be the most excited about me being a relative..." She just went on and on.

"Uh, Pinkie? I know your having fun talking about your friends and everything, but I have to ask. Where are we even going?" I asked. Even though I was trying hard to listen to everything she had to say, I still noticed that we were just walking in a circle around a fountain of what looked like downtown.

"Oh, right. Uh, we are going to...Rarity's house! That's it! We're going to the Carousel Boutique to see Rarity! She makes amazing clothing and I thought you might wanna take a look." She offered.

"Alrighty then. Lead the way."

"THIS WAY!" She sang, as she trotted off.

As I started to follow, I saw something at the corner of my eye. It made me stop and look at the direction it was coming from, but as I turned to look, it was gone. The only thing I could make out of it was a black cloak. Must've been another traveler or something.

Once I caught up to Pinkie, we stood in front of a much taller building with a bunch of mannequins in the windows. I took one good look at the fancy place and shivered. And I swear I saw a couple of them turn their dead heads to stare at me.

"What's wrong?" Pinkie asked.

"...Mannequins." was all I could say. I do NOT have a good past with them. In fact, they were like one of my hated enemies as of now.

"...What about them? They're just used for dress-making."

"I know that, it's just...well you know." At least I thought she knew since she is a fan of me.

"OOOOH! Right! Well maybe if we go in, it won't be so bad!" Pinkie knocked on the door, then just went in like she was invited. These ponies have weird ways of living. "RARITY! You home!? It's Pinkie Pie!" She announced.

"I'll be down in just a minute Pinkie." Another voice was heard at the top of the stairs. A rather sophisticated voice at that. Oh great, a snooty pony. I decided I'd better be careful at what I say in front of this one.

As she took her long ass time to get down from upstairs, I looked around for entertainment. There were pony dresses on mannequins everywhere, and I'm not gonna lie, they did look pretty. But that didn't necessarily mean that I liked them! I mean yeah, they'd probably look good on horses and everything, but...well you know.

"Hi!" A squeaky voice greeted and made me jump. What is with all these ponies making me jump every time they say hi? This was a new voice though, and it came from a new pony. A smaller pony, about Button's size, and she was a white unicorn like me. "I'm Sweetie Bell! What's your name?" The little filly greeted.

"Oh hi! My name is Markipl-pony." I replied. I almost forgot I had a new identity now. Markipony from Fillydelfia, got it. "You startled me a bit."

"Yeah, I tend to do that a lot, but I try not too. I just like meeting new ponies." She settled.

"Well ain't you just adorable." I complimented, rubbing her head. She has got to be the cutest pony I have ever seen...not that the cuteness was getting to me...at least not that much...don't doubt me.

"Thanks! Are you here to buy a dress for a special somepony?" She asked eagerly. Special somepony? Does she mean a girlfriend? That's kind of quick to judge.

"N-no, not really. I just followed Pinkie here." I pointed to Pinkie who was patiently waiting for...Rarity was it?

"Oh! Okay! In that case I'll just keep drawing." She walked back to a small table in the corner. It had a couple crayons and a half finished art piece...if you can call it that.

"Whatcha drawing?" I followed her trying to find better entertainment. I mean yeah, the dresses were nice, but it's not really my thing.

"It's a picture of me and one of my best friends playing a game together. It's not really finished, but you can kind of make out what it is." She showed it to me. It was a pic of her and Button playing a sort of block game. It looked a lot like minecraft to me, but I didn't know if it was the same to ponies.

"Hey, I know that pony. That's Button Mash, isn't it?" I pointed out.

"Yeah it is! How did you know?"

"I met him not too long ago near the outside of town. We found out that we both like games a lot, so he went back to his place to grab a game or two so we can play."

"You play games too!? That is so neat! I'm not much of a gamer myself, but I love playing minecraft with him." So it IS the same. Well that makes things easier. "Hey! Maybe I can play with you guys. I don't really have a cutie mark crusader meeting today and Button is one of my good friends, and I hope you don't mind Mr. Markipony."

"Sure, you can play with us. That is, if Pinkie.."

"WOW RARITY! You look AMAZING!" Pinkie shouted. I looked to see another white unicorn in a nice looking dress.

"Why thank you Pinkie Pie. It's for when I travel to Canterlot next week for an interview." Rarity remarked.

"OH OH OH OH OH! I helped to make it!" Sweetie Bell raised her hoof. Rarity turned to look at her, but met my eyes as well.

"Oh my, a customer! Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, where everything is neat and magnifique!" She walked down the stairs. Oh boy, here we go. "How may I help you?"

"Rarity, this is Markipony. He's spending his time here in Ponyville for the week, and he came in with me." Pinkie introduced me.

"Oh! Well nice to meet you dear Markipony. As you might have heard, my name is Rarity." She bowed.

"Uh...hi. Umm..." I started to sweat. What was I supposed to say? "I..really like your...dress! You're dress looks nice! In fact all these dresses look nice."

"Why thank you darling. I made them myself."

"All of them?" There were a lot of them. How in the hell does a pony even make all these dresses when they don't even have thumbs?

"Yes. I know it does look like a lot of hard work, but I enjoy creating dresses and I get plenty of support to make every single one and more." Well that was all good and everything, but still.

"Hey Rarity, can I talk to you for a sec?" Pinkie chimed in.

"Oh, of course. Excuse me." She walked to Pinkie. She actually wasn't all that bad from the start, at least not as "fancy" as anyone else you'd expect them to be. She was actually calm and welcoming and not so cliche. Maybe there was more to this pony than what meets the eye.

"I wish I was like my sister." Sweetie Bell said next to me. "She always so generous and pretty. Well, maybe not always."

"Yeah..." I kept looking at Rarity for some reason.

"...Somepony's got a crush." Sweetie nudged me trying to be clever.

"Okay, first off, I do NOT have a crush on her! I just like her...mane!" I tried to find a good excuse. I swear I didn't have any sort of crush on her!

"I thought you liked her dress."

"That too!" I replied, a little annoyed.

"Well anyway, how long have you played games?" Sweetie changed the subject, which was a good thing since gaming was basically the only thing I COULD talk about.

"Oh, I've been playing video games ever since I was little actually. My brother and I always had a gaming device that we would play on during our spare time, which was practically ALL the time."

"Do you have any favorites?"

"I have a lot of favorites actually, minecraft being one of them. There's also Amnesia, Slender, Gmod, SCP, Five Night's at Freddy's, Among the Sleep, and a bunch of other games I can't really name off the top of my head."

"I..don't think I've ever heard of those games before." Oh shoot! I think I went a little too far. I didn't want to blow my cover.

"Uh...they're hard to find." I tried to cover my cover back up again. (Cover my cover, that's fun to say.)

"Oh, well what about Dungeon Nightmares? I think that's a good game, despite it being scary." Ah yes. The ol' "B to blow" game. I remember playing that game like it was yesterday.

"Yep, that's a good one too. The tension in that game gives you a sense of dread in a way that keeps you going."

"Oh, so your one of those analysis ponies!"

"A what now?"

"Oh Sweetie Bell! Could you be a dear and come here for a moment? I have something I need you to do for me." Rarity called back to us.

"Coming! It was nice talking to you Mark!" Sweetie called back to me as ran to Rarity.

"Time to go!" Pinkie bounced to me.

"Wait, what? Why? Didn't we just get here?"

"We have to go see Applejack. She has a few things we need."

"Why? What do we need and for what?"

"Just trust me. You'll thank me later." Pinkie bounded toward the door. "At least that's what the author told me."

"Author? Wait, PINKIE!" She was already out the door. The hell was this pony's problem?

Once I caught up with her, again, we stood in front of an apple orchard with a sign in front of a big barn that read "Sweet Apple Acres." It looked promising, and a bit delicious. In fact, that was about the time I started getting hungry. I forgot I didn't even have breakfast yet, and now it was getting close to lunch time.

"APPLEJACK! You in here!?" Pinkie yelled at the door while knocking. I swear, this pony's got some issues if she thinks this is a good way to be a guest. Then again, she's practically knows everyone.

"Houdy Pinkie! What can ah do ya for?" An orangish pony opened the barn door. A hill-billy pony, huh? This should be good.

"We need some things to take back to Twilight. Can you help us out?" Pinkie asked.

"We?" Applejack responded. Pinkie pointed at me and I met eyes with Applejack. Since I stood from a distance away from the door, I waved as a way of saying hi. "Oh! Sure thing sugercube. Come on in! Granny's makin' some special, home-made apple pie for the family. And ya know how much she likes company." She welcomed.

The barn from the outside didn't look anything like a barn on the inside. This barn looked more like a house instead of a room full of hay laying everywhere. I didn't mind it though. It was a pretty nice house after all. Nothing too fancy, nothing too childish, just the right kind for my taste.

"Hiya Pinkie!" A smaller pony called out. She was about Sweetie and Button's size with a pink bow to add to the cuteness. Although, I still thought Sweetie looked cuter.

"Hi Applebloom! I heard Granny Smith was making some yummy apple pie." Pinkie replied. As I walked more into the house, I could definitely smell something was cooking in the kitchen, and man did it smell good!

"It definitely smells like it." I added sniffing the air.

"Who's this here friend o' yours, Pinkie?" Applejack asked behind me.

"Oh, this is Markipony. He's staying in Ponyville for a couple of days. He says he wanted to meet Twilight for something, but since I bumped into him first, I'm treating him to lunch while showing him around town." Pinkie introduced again.

"Whell houdy do Mark. I'm Applejack, we here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like makin' new friends!" Applejack violently shook my hoof.

"Frie-en-nds? Actually-y-y, I.." I tried to speak.

"Ah'm Applebloom, and if it's lunch ya need, we've got the best apple's in Equestria. Ponies come here worldwide just to get a taste of our apples! Care to try some?" The little filly greeted as Applejack let go of my hoof, even though I was still shaking a bit. I'll never understand these ponies ways of greeting guests.

"Well, that does sound nice but I.." I started.

"GRANNY! WE GOT GUESTS!" Applebloom shouted toward the kitchen. Jesus, these guys were rude as hell.

"Oh, is it one of ma dear cousins from Appleoosa? Ah been expecting one o' them to show up." and older pony voice called back. That must've been Granny Smith.

"Nah, it's just Pinkie an' another pony from outta town!" Applebloom replied.

"Whell where they from anyway?" Applebloom looked at me.

"Fillydelfia." I remembered this time.

"He says he's from Fillydelfia!" the filly called back to Granny. Jeez kid, just go into the kitchen and talk to her.

"Whell that's nice. Could ya get in here and help me with this here uh, thingy?"

"Sure, Imma comin!" She ran into the kitchen. Ya know, compared to the other fillies I've seen today, she's got to be either the most rude or the most energetic.

"She's nothing like Sweetie Bell at all." I said out loud.

"Yeah, she can be a hoofull, but we love her." Applejack replied. "Ain't that right, Big Mac?" I turned to see a much bigger pony just walking into the room. He was probably bigger than I was, but of course didn't mean he was stronger than me!

"Eyup." was all he said.

"So you came here all the way from Fillydelfia to see the new princess of Ponyville, ain't that right?" AJ asked me.

"Uh, yeah I guess." Was she talking about Twilight?

"Boy houdy, ah remember the first time I met Twilight." Okay, good. She WAS talking about Twilight. "Feels like only yesterday we were saving Princess Luna from being Nightmare Moon." Whoa hey. That name sounded familiar.

"Princess Luna?"

"Yeah, she used to think everypony wasn't payin enough attention to her, so she turned into Nightmare Moon to get her own way. But then she was banished to the moon for a while, then she came back, and then we helped to get the princess back." Well this was new. I was actually interested in this story.

"How exactly did she turn into...Nightmare Moon was it?" I asked.

"Yeah, Nightmare Moon. Ah don't exactly know how it happened, but Twilight said there was this black magic of some kind that took over her body and mind. Scary stuff, ah know." ...okay, now it was starting to feel a little too familiar, but in a different way. I certain way I've experienced. I couldn't quite remember what it was though.

"OH! That reminds me! Can I talk to you for a sec AJ?" Pinkie chimed in.

"Sure thing Pinkie." AJ walked to Pinkie. I started getting the feeling that Pinkie wasn't telling me something cuz whoever we'd meet with, Pinkie would talk to them privately. But anyway, I was left alone to talk to AJ's brother for a bit since Applebloom and Granny Smith were still in the kitchen.

"...It's a nice place you got here." I just stood by him awkwardly.

"Eyup."

"...You must be the big brother of the fam, huh?"

"Eyup."

"...Do you...mostly take care of the fam or do your parents...?"

"...Our parents are long gone, never gonna see 'em again." Oh crap, wrong question.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to.."

"It's alright. We've all gotten along just fine without em. But we still miss them both." Wait, BOTH!?

"I-I'm so sorry..." I hung my head.

"Yeah well you're lucky. Just be glad you have both." That actually wasn't true.

"...One." He looked at me. "My dad died of cancer when I was young...and throughout most of my life, I've lived with my step-mom..." I felt his hoof touch my back.

"Then ah guess there's one thing we can both agree on." I looked at him. "Families keep ya going."

"Yeah...yeah they do."

"SOUP'S ON EVERYPONY!" Granny's voice called out to all of us as she brought out some apple pies. Applebloom followed with some plates.

"OOOH! That looks SO GOOD Granny Smith!” Pinkie squealed. I’m not gonna lie, the pie DID look amazing, and I could already feel my mouth watering. She started to reach out for a plate when Granny stopped her.

“Now Pinkie, ah know you’ve been a guest here many times before, but now we have a new guest from outta town. Ah think we should give him the first share.”

“Oh, thanks Mrs. Smith.” My ears perked up (I have no idea how, but they did).

“Just call me Granny, sonny.” She handed me a slice. I took off my glasses, sat down, and just dove right into the pie, I was so hungry that I even forgot MY manners. And also because I couldn’t really eat anything like a normal person since I now just had stubs instead of fingers. In fact, some of the Apples just sort of looked at me like I hadn’t eaten in days. But it. Was. DELICIOUS! I had never tasted something so awesome since the Fourth of July! And it wasn’t like any other apple pie I’ve ever tasted either. This one was like...GOOD pie!...Okay, it’s hard to explain it, but it tasted really good. I mean despite the ponies bad manners and all, the food here was great!

After everyone ate, Pinkie and Applejack ran outside to get some quote one quote “supplies” for when Pinkie and I headed out on our way. I honestly still had no clue what we needed them for, I mean it’s not like we were going on a quest for stuff in order to like save the world and get me back to my world. How far does it even take to get to Twilight anyway? I would assume she lived in town too since she and Pinkie are close friends. But anyway, as I thanked Granny Smith for lunch, I walked outside to see Big Mac was already back to doing his thing harvesting apples. He seemed to have a hard time doing so cuz of how big and heavy his cart full of apples was. I decided to go and help him.

“Need some help?” I asked. He looked at me and smiled.

“Eyup.” He helped me put another harness on my back (I, now a horse, have to have horse things on me...good.) and we started walking toward the barn.

“This cart looked a little heavy for you to carry on your own, so I decided to come help, if that was alright with you.” I told him as we kept walking.

“Eyup.” He nodded. “Like ah always tell my sis. One pony plus hundreds of apples just doesn’t add up.” We laughed. I liked this guy. Strong, smart, and relatable, kinda like me.

After Bic Mac and I talked for a bit, Pinkie came back from the other side of the barn with a saddle full of…stuff I guess. Applejack followed her, and I could hear her say, “Ya sure he’s the one, Pinkie?”

“Of course silly filly! And don’t worry, he’ll be fine. Just meet me there in a few minutes.” Pinkie came bounding toward me as AJ slowly walked back to the barn.

“What was that all about?” I asked her.

“Oh nothing!” She kept bouncing toward the gate. Okay, now I know she’s knows something I don’t know. This didn’t seem like an actual day with a fan. It felt like a day meeting the friends of a fan. Plus, she kept talking to her friends about something she obviously doesn’t want me to know about. I decided to keep a close eye on her.