Friends

CHAPTER 3: PINKIE'S DILEMMA

Me and Octavia walked out of the house. There was a path in front of it that led over a hill, probably to Ponyville. I stopped for a quick second to get a good look at my new home. It was fairly small. Simply a cottage, with a few rooms, a living room, and a kitchen.

"Alright Octavia. I think I'm calm now. Although, being able to hang out with you is gunna be amazing, I bet."

"And why is that?"

"Because I look up to you! I've always wanted to meet you and Vinyl, but now I get to hang out with OCTAVIA!"

"Yes, I suppose so. Also, I do assure you that you will get to meet Vinyl in her studio."

I suddenly stopped. Something started to worry me. "Why... are you all doing this for me?"

She stopped to, and smiled. "Nopony deserves to not be a part of friendship."

"I've lost hope in that. Friendship doesn't mean a thing to me right now. With the exception of Azekahh..."

"Well, that's why. Nopony should do that. We need to put the spirit of friendship back into you. You need it."

And with that, we continued walking.

We eventually ended up in Ponyville, and we sat at the edge of it.

"So Octavia, how exactly do you plan to 'put friendship back into me'?"

"Eh heh... Well, gosh. I don't think it would be right to tell you right now. It's a suprise."

"O...k?"

"It's nothing bad, we wouldn't do anything BAD."

Alright. Now they were planning a surprise for me. My life is going straight up. Straighter then Celestia's horn. I looked around at all the ponies, and saw Dr. Hooves, Derpy, and Lyra in different spots almost immediately. Just then, Derpy seemed to have seen me too and came flying straight at me.

"Uh... Derpy?!"

But it was too late, she couldn't slow down in time and hit me. For the second time today. But, I was still laughing.

"Sowwy again! Hi Core! Oh, hi Octavia!"

Me and Octavia said 'hi' back to her in perfect unison.

Derpy blushed. Then she went back to grey and said, "You get to meet Octavia? Cool!"

"I know. Meeting you was cool enough, and now I get to hang out with Octavia!"

"It... was cool meeting me?"

"Yeah!"

"Thanks! Well, I gotta get some errands done, see ya!"

Again, in perfect unison, Octavia and I both said 'bye' to her. Once she was gone, Octavia instantly gave me a mischievous look.

I sighed. "No."

"Oh come ON! You two are perfect!"

"No..."

"Yes!"

"No.

"Yes!! I can do this all day," she said with a grin.

"Let's talk about this later, OK?"

"Oh fine. Anyways, anywhere you want to go?"

"I might want to visit Pinkie real quick."

"Have you two met?"

"Oh yeah, she made me jump out of bed by screaming 'HI' at me when I woke up this morning."

"Typical Pinkie. Why not? Let's go!"

So we walked over to visit Pinkie.

However, as soon as we got to Sugercube Corner, we heard frantic talking from inside. We walked in hesitantly, and Mr. Cake, Mrs. Cake, and Pinkie noticed us immediately. They then ran over to us. Pinkie didn't stop, and tackled me to the ground. "YOU HAVE TO HELP US!!!"

I was taken so much by suprise, it took me a second before I responded. "With what?!"

Mrs. Cake then walked closer and started talking. "Somepony stole all the bits out of the tip jar! It may not seem like much, but that tip jar hasn't been emptied in years and it had a LOT of bits in it!"

Then Mr. Cake jumped into the conversation as Pinkie got off of me. "Please! We don't know who did it! He just left, did you see anypony run out of the store on the way here?"

Then I said, "Yeah, it was a mix of red and black. I guess I can try to find them. You in, Octavia?"

"I don't see why not. Let's go!"

With that, we ran out of the store and headed in the direction we saw the mysterious red and black colt go.

Eventually, we got to a more run-down part of Ponyville. It had a bar, a casino, and other stuff.

"Wait," said Octavia, "is that the mysterious mastermind walking into the casino?"

"I think it is! Let's run, before he gets there! We don't want to make a scene."

So we started running. It was a fairly long run to get there. About halfway there, we noticed a very light grey colt running beside us. He was a pegasus, and had outstanding blue hair.

"Hi," he said, with again, a fairly young voice, "whatcha doing?"

Octavia didn't seem at all displeased with him, and said, "Do you see that red and black pony over there? He robbed Sugercube Corner's tip jar! We are trying to get him, can you help?"

"Help?" he said, "Hah! Watch this!"

And with that, he sprinted in the direction of the red and black colt with the fastest legs I have ever seen. The red and black colt saw him, but just before he was tackled to the ground. When Octavia and I got there, the red and black colt was lying on the ground, with a sack full of bits. Beside him, the blue-haired pony was lying on the ground in pain. We got a better chance to look at both of them. The red and black pony, who was an earth pony, had a grey body, along with his cutie mark being an ace. His mane also seemed to have an ace in it. The blue-haired pony was a fairly small, but fast, unicorn with the cutie mark of an arrow pointing forwards. I spoke first.

"What hurts, blue-hair?"

"The name is Nix, and I think I broke my leg. It really hurts... I tackled him and landed in an awkward position."

"We will get someone to help you. Octavia, can you see to that?"

"Yes. I'll get Fluttershy."

I looked up, I guess I'd meet Fluttershy. But then I looked at Nix.

"Can I do something real quick?"

"Sure, leave me to suffer in pain," giving a sarcastic look.

"OK, it'll just be a second."

I then proceeded to walk over to the red and black pony. Then I proceeded to kick him.

"Why did you steal those bits?!"

Just as the others did, he had a young voice. "Because!"

"Because WHY?!"

"Because I'm broke, and I... need to gamble."

"You need to? You don't have to."

"Shut up, I have an addiction."

"Well what is your name?"

"Ace. Got it, dipshit?"

"Do you want me to kick you again?" I said with a grim face, "Because you know that first one hurt."

"No. It's just that I've lost my kids, my home, my wife, everything..."

I then gave up the grim expression. "You too?..."

"Whaddaya mean?"

"Well, I lost my family and home too... about 4 years ago... I didn't resort to petty theft though."

The pony then looked right at me. His eyes seemed like they were in a world of hurt. Not from the kick, but from his experiances. "Please don't take me to get arrested! I'll give the money back, and I won't bother you again!"

Right then, Octavia returned along with Fluttershy, and Fluttershy immediatly trotted over to Nix with a cast. "You'll be fine, don't worry... Although there's one problem... My cottage is full."

I then piped in. Looking at the red and black pony, and then the others, I said, "I think I have a solution for all of us..."