Chapter 1: First Birthday
Rainbow Dash was stunned to say the least. “You… You know my name? How do you know my name? I thought we-“
“We did. And it worked! At least, until Scootaloo broke the spell.” Picture watched as his ex-marefriend’s mental gears put everything together. It, unlike her, wasn’t very fast.
“You know Scootaloo…?! Wait. The spell was broken?! How are you…? But he said…? He said that if you’d- you’d…” A single tear rolled down her cheek. “He said you’d die.”
“Yeah. He also said that his marefriend was banished to a place with furless, bi-pedal creatures instead of ponies. He was a crazy pony!”
Rainbow laughed nervously at that. “Heheh. Yeah. Crazy…”
“Anyways, where’s Scootaloo? I heard that it’s her birthday t’day.”
“Uh. Excuse me!” The sound of Joy’s voice sounded from behind the stallion. Perfect snapped to the realization of his mistake. He had forgotten his companion.
“Oh! Sorry, MJ. Dashie, this is Musical Joy, the best actress this side of Manehattan. And MJ, this is Rainbow Dash, fastest pony in all of Equestria.” Picture had gotten out of the way so they could see each other.
Actress stared at speedster as the speedster wiped the trail left behind by the tear.
“Sup!” Rainbow said as she took a demeanor more befitting of a speedster.
“Hello.” Joy replied in a lame, formal way.
“Why don’t you two come inside?” The rainbow-maned pegasus stepped out of the way as she offered them entry.
The unicorn mare and the pegasus stallion both entered and saw the birthday party in full swing.
After a few seconds, Picture noticed Pastel walking towards him with a blanket that covered something on her back. When she was right in front of him, she levitated both the blanket ant the thing it covered and set it down in front of Picture. She then refocused her magic on just the blanket before she looked at Picture and asked, “Ready?”
Before the stallion could reply, a voice came from underneath the blanket that excitedly answered, “Ready!”
With a small flourish of magic, Pastel removed the blanket and reviled that Scootaloo was underneath it.
“Scootaloo,” Pastel said, a large smile on her face. “This is Picture Perfect. He’s your father.”
Picture smiled at Scootaloo nervously. “Hey there, Scootaloo. Happy birthday!”
Scootaloo just stood there as she stared at him dumbfounded. “H-How?”
Perfect knelt down until he was level with his daughter. “It was your name.”
Scootaloo was confused. “Wh-What? My name?”
The stallion nodded. “I picked out your name. When you and Princess Twilight left I remembered where I heard your name before. I was the one that picked it out for you all those years ago.”
“But… But what about the spell? Mom said if the spell was broken, something bad would happen.” Scootaloo’s voice was full of concern and confusion.
“Something did happen, but it wasn’t as bad as we thought it was gonna be.” Picture replied with a smile.
“Scootaloo?” His cobalt eyes stared into her magenta eyes. “Would you let me be your father?”
Scootaloo didn’t say anything after that. Not a single word came out of her mouth. Instead, what she did was…
(Alternate Ending)
… stand there. She looked down to hide her face. “I don’t want a father.”
“Wh-What?”
“I don’t want a father! I want a dad!” Scootaloo yelled at the stallion.
That caught Picture off-guard. “What do you mean? Aren’t they the same thing?”
“Well, actually…” A new voice spoke up.
Picture turned his head and found that the voice came from none other than, “Princess Twilight!”
“Please, just ‘Twilight’ is fine.” The Princess essentially asked. “As I was saying, a father and a dad are actually different in their own right. A father is just a biological parent of a child while a dad is a parental figure that cares for and raises the child.”
“Oh. Well, guess I gotta change what I said, huh?”
“Yup!” Snarked the birthday girl.
“Scootaloo!” Her mother was quick to fix that.
“Oh! Uh… Yes please.” Fixed the birthday girl.
Picture smiled. “Scootaloo… Would you let me be your daddy?”
Scootaloo smiled and wrapped her hooves around his neck. “Yes!”
Picture instinctually wrapped his hooves around his daughter and pulled her into a tighter hug.
“Hey dad,” Picture’s smile grew lager. “You wanna go meet my friends?”
“I’d love to.”
“So Musical, how did you meet Perfect?” Rainbow Dash was in a conversation with Musical Joy who felt a little out of place at the child’s birthday party. She looked for any reason to distract her mind of that and Rainbow Dash offered a solution.
“Well, we met during one of my solo rehearsal sessions. I was in the middle of practicing one of the songs when he comes bursting through the door and ran as fast as he could towards me. Then seemingly out of nowhere these two brutes came in after him and started casting harmful spells at us. Had it not been for Picture pushing me out of the way I wouldn’t be standing here.”
“I guess you’re pretty thankful for him then, huh?” The rainbow-maned mother asked.
“Are you mad?! He ruined my rehearsal and the damage done to the theater delayed the entire performance! Don’t even get me started on the running!”
Rainbow smirked. “You like him don’t you?”
Joy’s eyes widened as a blush covered her entire face. “Wh-What?! You think I actually like that colt of a stallion?! You must be mistaken. He drives me crazy! I’d prefer it if him and his strong, soft wings stayed away from me.”
“So you like his wings, huh?”
That was the moment the barrier known as “Musical Joy’s Facade” shattered. “N-No! I-I-I was… I mean I just… I don’t-“ Joy had never blushed so hard in her life. Her face was so red she made tomatoes jealous.
“Relax Joy. I’m only messin’ with ya.” The cyan pegasus did little to help the musical mare.
Rainbow had to think fast. “Hey! What if I brought someone who can help you?”
Musical Joy was frozen with embarrassment.
“Just wait here. I’ll be right back.”
The previously tan mare did not move.
Picture Perfect had enjoyed meeting his daughter’s friends. They were very sweet. And when his daughter wanted to talk to her friends, he respected that and went on to mingle with the ponies more his age. Specifically a mare named Rarity who had found out who he was thanks to the small commotion that took place when he arrived.
They both shared gossip with each other. Most of it was about a certain pegasus that they mutually knew. “…She finished in 10 seconds flat. I mean, I knew she was fast but seriously! I didn’t even get to show off anything that I could do! She just did it and it was done!” Picture gossiped in a slightly annoyed tone.
“Rea~lly?” Rarity asked in an intrigued tone. “Well, I’m going to have to remember that one for when I need her to model for me again.”
“Again?”
“Yes. There was a couple of occasions where I was able to get Rainbow Dash to model a dress or two but it was never for very long.” Mingled the marshmallow mare.
“Interesting.”
“Rarity!” The voice of Rainbow Dash made itself known as the mare forcefully moved her friend. “Rarity, I need your help! It’s an emergency that I caused!”
Rarity was confused. “What do you mean? What did you-? Stop pushing me!”
“Uh. It was nice talking to you, Rarity!” Picture had seen that happen a few times before and he knew that it was for the best to stay out of it. If only he brought his camera to the party.
“Darling, what did you do to her?” Asked Rarity as she looked over the frozen, still blushing Musical Joy.
“I don’t know! I just pointed out that I knew she likes Perfect and she froze and turned red!” Said rainbow as she hovered next to Rarity.
Rarity paused at that. “Rainbow Dash, what was she saying before she froze?”
“Hmm. Well…” Rainbow then told her friend everything she remembered about their conversation.
“Oh.” Rarity looked very sympathetic. “Oh the poor dear… She didn’t know.”
“What didn’t she know?”
“She didn’t know how she felt, Rainbow.” Rarity explained. She thought of something for a moment. “Rainbow? Would you be a dear and me a cup of ice, please?”
“Uh, sure.” Rainbow Dash went off to complete Rarity’s request. She came back a few seconds later, a cup full of ice in her hoof. “Here ya go. What ‘cha what ice for?”
“You’ll see.” Rarity grabbed the cup with her magic and pulled out a single ice cube. “I’m very sorry about this, darling.” She placed the ice cube on the back of Joy’s neck and quickly ran it down her back.
“Ahh!” The effect happened immediately, jolting Joy out of her frozen state. “C-Cold! So cold!”
“So sorry about that dear. I was only trying to get you moving again.” Rarity cleared her throat. “Now, according to my friend here,” Rarity gestured toward Rainbow Dash. “it seems as though you could use some advice.”
“Advice? I’m sorry but I don’t even know just who you are.”
“Oh! How rude of me. I haven’t introduced myself. Hello, my name is Rarity. And you are Musical Joy, correct?”
Joy paused. “Rarity? As in the fashionista?”
“Oh! You’ve heard of me?”
“I. L~Love your fashion! I go to your boutique in Canterlot at least once a month and I always find a dress that I just adore!” Joy spoke with excitement.
“Oh. Why, thank you.” Rarity smiled brightly. “Well, now that we are introduced would you like to come back to my boutique to talk and try on a dress or two?”
Joy nodded in reply and the two of them left the party.
Author's Note
You know, it's the weirdest thing. I got a new job where I get a lot let free time and I'm coming out with more chapters then I ever have... probably. What have you all done to me?!!!
Anyways guy I'd like to thank you for taking the time to read this. I'm having a lot of fun writing Joy's character and the story in general but I'm probably going to have to delay the release of the next chapter. The reason being that I need to physically get advice to give to Joy because I've never actually had here problem before... or have been in a relationship. But besides that I will do my best to get the next chapter to you guys as fast as ASAP. Now it's time for me to have an awkward conversation with my parents........... This is gonna be great.
Anyways guys I hope you had fun with this chapter and have an awesome day. Enjoy!
Edit (3/9/2016): The alternate ending link is now enabled.
Beep… Beep… Beep…
A slow, high-pitched beeping filled the air. The beeping was coming from a room that was void of most anything except for what appeared to be a sleeping pony. His chest moved up and down as he breathed slowly. This pony was an orange coated pegasus pony, his dimming light blue mane appeared to take a light grey color with the light of the early morning sun. With the light hitting him in the face, the orange pony began to rise from his sleep. He slowly opened his eyes only to immediately close them shut from the intensity of the light that was shining upon him. He turned his head away from the window and tried again, this time succeeding in keeping his eyes open with the first thing he saw being the a vase of white, 6-petaled flowers. He stared at the flowers for a while, he was never very into flowers but it was a beautiful thing to see as he woke up.
When he finally looked away from the flowers he realized that he wasn’t in his bedroom. The walls were a soft shade of yellow. The floor was made of what looked like white marble. And the bed that he was laying in was white. The blanket was white, the pillows were white even the soft bed spread was white. He then noticed the slow beeping in the back ground and turned to the source of it only to find… a heart monitor. He followed the cable and found where it stuck onto his upper forehoof.
He… He was in a hospital. Why was he in a hospital? He didn’t remember ever being rushed to the hospital. In fact the last this he did remember was-
“Oh! I see you have finally woken up, Mr. Perfect.” He was cut off from his train of thought when he heard a voice.
The pegasus looked to where the voice was coming to find a young looking mare. She was silver-coated unicorn mare with a syringe and a stethoscope as her cutie mark. She was wearing pink scrubs and was floating a clipboard in her magic.
“Uh… Hello. Who… Who are you?” He asked, wanting some answers to what was happening.
The mare took a few steps towards him grabbing another clipboard that was hanging at the foot of his bed. “Well Mr. Perfect it-“
“Please. Just call me Picture. The whole Mr. thing makes me sound old.”
“Alright then, Picture, it says here that you’ve been a coma for quite a while.”
“A-A coma?” Picture Perfect was shocked when he heard that. “H-How long?”
“Let’s see…” The nurse flipped through the pages on the clipboard for a couple of seconds. “It says that you were brought in last month about 3 years ago.”
“3… 3 years ago?” The stallion was even more shocked. 3 years! 3 years of his life that he’d missed out on. 3 years that he’d never get to experience.
“Yes. We believe it was caused because you had an amnesiatic spell holding on to a few of your memories, but it appears that you were able to brake hold of the spell and the magical force exerted from that threw you into a coma.” As the nurse explained Picture listened with both shock and understanding. But even so…
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Perfect could hear the sound of the heart monitor getting faster as his shock became more apparent to himself. Alright Picture, you need to calm down. It’s not as bad as it sounds. Just breathe. Breeeathe… Good, good. There ya go! Now you’re thinking straight! Now me thankful that it was only three years and not life. I mean, you can make up for three years of lost time. You’re Picture Perfect! If anypony can do it, it’s you! So buck up and smile boy!
“-Mr. Perfect?”
Picture was brought out of his daze by the concerned nurse who was softly shaking his shoulder to get his attention.
“Huh? Oh! S-Sorry ma’am. I was just thinking, is all.” He replied.
The nurse pony quickly looked him over. “Are you sure? Would you like me to get the doctor?”
“No. Thank you but it’s alri-“
CRASH!
The pegasus was interrupted by the sound of breaking glass. He looked over to where he heard the come from. There was, what used to be a vase that held fresh water and more of those flowers from before shattered across the floor leaving the flowers in a broken pile, soaked by a puddle of water. Standing above the puddle was a tan unicorn mare with a cherry red mane and equally red eyes. Her face showed nothing but shock and disbelief. She took a few steps towards him as tears began forming in the corners of her eyes.
“Picture?” She asked, her voice filled with longing.
He smiled. “Hey MJ. What’s up?”
She laughed at that. “What’s up?... What’s up?!” Her smile disappeared. “You were in a coma for THREE YEARS! and the first thing you say to me is ‘What’s up?!’”
She was mad.
“Uh… Sorry?... Th-Thanks for the flowers.” Picture Perfect knew this mare very well. It was one of his closest friends, Musical Joy, she was a Broadway pony and he knew that when she got angry, you better not be in her way. Unable to move much at all he opted for the next best option… change the subject!
“Well at least you’re somewhat grateful. Hmph!” She turn her head up and away from him and closed her eyes. His plan had miraculously worked! Or maybe she took it easy on him. Probably the latter. After a few silent seconds she lowered her head and opened her eyes but still looked away from him. “Are… Are you alright?” She said as a light blush formed on her face.
Picture’s smile returned to his face. “My throat’s dry, I’m hungry and I can’t get myself out of bed… I feel good. How… How ‘bout you?”
“Hmph. I’m annoyed, my hooves are filthy and I’m late for work…” She paused for a moment. “I’m glad you’re back, Picture.”
“Me too.”
It took Picture Perfect a few days to gain enough strength to be released from the hospital. He was told not to fly for a few more weeks but other than that he was free to do as he pleased. So he did the first thing anypony that came out of a coma would do, he went home.
When he arrived back to his suite he noticed that it was just how he always left it, albeit a lot cleaner. Probably the maid service doing their job. He’d have to thank them later.
“You’re lucky you had enough saved up to keep this place after 3 years.” Also, Joy had decided to take the day off to help him had he needed it. He didn’t but he was still grateful that she was there with him.
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that. As it turns out, I’m the long-lost heir of one Lord and Lady Treasure.” Picture replied with a non-challan tone to his voice.
“Wait, does that mean you found your parents?!” She asked in shock and surprise.
Perfect chuckled at that. “Yeah. I took a blood test and I apparently inherited everything they owned. Sucks I couldn’t meet them though.” His smile faltered slightly.
“Wh-What do you mean?”
The stallion remained silent for a few seconds. “They… They died shortly before I got the chance to meet them.” His smile had completely disappeared from his face.
“Picture I-I’m sorry I-“
“No. No, it’s alright I promise. It’s just… I never got the chance to meet them before and now… now I’ll never get that chance.” He sighed. “But enough about that for now, I have to pack.”
Joy was confused. “Get packed? Get packed for what?”
“I’m gonna go find my family!” He said from a closet down the hall.
“But you just said your parents were dead!”
Picture ran down the hall until he was right in front of Musical. “Do you know how that amnesia spell the doctor said I had was broken?”
“Well, no. I didn’t study mind-affecting magic, if you haven’t noticed.”
“Something –or rather somepony made me remember and I’m gonna go find her!” He excitedly replied.
“Find who exactly?”
He walked back to the closet as he replied, “My daughter!”
Joy’s eye twitched. “I’m sorry. I think I was hearing things. What did you say?”
“I’m going to go find my daughter! Wanna come?”
Joy was speechless. She had known Picture for quite a few years and out of all the ponies in the world he’d be the last pony she’d suspect to be a father. It just didn’t make sense to her. Just where and when did he…? And with who?!
“MJ! Hello~! Ground control to MJ! Come in MJ!”
“Huh? Wha?”
“Would you like to come with me?” Picture was sitting in front of MJ, starring at her while he waited for her answer.
Musical huffed, as she always does, before she sternly answered. “Fine. But only to make sure you don’t hurt yourself. You’re still underweight you know!”
“What do you want me to do?! I ate like to hay burgers on the way here alone! I mean come on MJ! Cut me some slack here!”
“So when do you plan on leaving?”
“Hm? Oh, I don’t know. I was hoping right away.”
“Well you’ll have to wait until tomorrow. I’m going to have to tell the director that I won’t be available for a while. I’ll see you tomorrow then!” She said as she left.
“Yeah. See ya tomorrow!”
“So why are we in Baltimare?” Joy asked as both she and Perfect walked down a neighborhood sidewalk.
“This is where I grew-up. Down the other way is the orphanage I stayed at.” Picture pointed proudly.
“Then why are we walking away from the orphanage?” She was starting to get annoyed.
“Because we’re not going to the orphanage.” In all honesty, he probably said that with way more sass then he meant but it still got the same reation.
“Well then where are we going?!” She was getting mad again. Luckily…
“Here!” Picture turned on the spot and pointed to the house across from him.
Joy had to stop suddenly to avoid crashing into the adult-colt of a stallion that was Picture Perfect. “…What’s so special about this place?”
“You’ll see” was all he said before he walked up to the door and knocked.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
“Be right there!” A voice came from behind the door. After a few seconds, a middle-aged unicorn mare who had a very light grey coat, a fading, soft-pink mane tail with the latter tied up near the end with a somewhat clear magenta ribbon that matched her eyes opened the door. When she saw the stallion her eyes widened. “Picture?”
“Hey Pastel. It’s been a while.”
The as fore mentioned mare embraced the stallion in a near bone crushing hug. When she released him from her grip she went into a series of nostalgia. “Picture it’s been so long! Oh dear, look at you! You’re all grown up now! How’s life been treating you? I heard you moved to Manehattan! How is it over there? Did you become a big time photographer like you always wanted? Oh, it’s so good to see you again!”
“It’s good to see you too, Pastel and yes, I’m the biggest photographer in all of Manehattan last time I checked.” Picture skewed his face for a moment as he tried to remember. “Probably should’ve checked before I came here. I was in a coma for the last three years so I don’t know if my title of “Best Photographer in all of Manehattan” still stands.”
At the mention of the coma Pastel became immediately concerned. “A coma. Oh my dear. Are you alright?”
Picture just smiled. “Oh yeah. I’m peachy. Just a little underweight is all.” He then realized something important. “Oh! I almost forgot.” He stepped to the side to reveal the unicorn standing behind him. “Pastel, I would like to introduce you to Musical Joy.” He then looked to the musical mare. “MJ, meet Pastel Light. Best interior decorator this side of Equestria!”
“Oh, Picture you flatter me.” Pastel then looked to the younger mare. “Hello Miss Joy. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Likewise, Miss Light.”
“Tell me. Has Picture here been treating you well? I’d assume he is considering he’s able to get a marefriend as lovely as yourself.”
Joy just broke. She mind couldn’t respond to what the elder mare said. “Wh-What?! Me?! With him?! Ahah! Ahaha! That… That would NEVER happen! I can barely stand this colt! Let alone go out with him!”
Pastel’s response to that was a smirk and an all knowing “Mmhm! Sure sweetie. Whatever you say.” She then moved her attention over to the stallion. “So Picture, not that I don’t appreciate you coming to visit but what brings you to Baltimare? Surely you didn’t come just to tell me you were in a coma.”
The stallion nodded. “You know me too well, Pastel. Yeah, I was wondering if about three years ago you were visited by Princess Twilight Sparkle and a little filly named Scootaloo.”
“Hmm.” Pastel had an odd look on her face. “Yes they did. I remember they were looking for somepony.”
“Were they looking for Rainbow Dash?”
Pastel’s eyes widened at that. “How do you-?”
“By the look on your face I can tell that she told you about the amnesia spell. The coma I was in was caused by that very same spell breaking after I got a visit from that little orange filly.”
“Yes but how did you-?”
“I was the one that named her.” Picture took a breath before he explained, “Before we went to the hypnotist Rainbow Dash let me pick out a couple of names. If it was a boy, it was going to be Pitch Slider, but if it was a girl-”
“You’d name her Scootaloo.” Pastel understood what had happened… and she was so happy about it. “You want to find Scootaloo, don’t you?”
Picture just nodded and smiled.
Pastel smiled proudly. Picture Perfect might not have been her son but she still cared for him like a mother would their child. “Why don’t you two come inside? I still have a little bit of packing to do.”
“No. Pastel. You don’t have to come with us if you don’t want to.”
The elder mare just smiled. “Oh dear. That’s not why I’m packing. I was invited to her birthday party later today and the train leaves in a little over an hour.”
Picture was stunned. His eyes were wide and his mouth hung open. “It’s… It’s her birthday?”
“Alright you two. I’m going to head inside now. Feel free to come in when you’re ready.” With that said, Pastel Light made her way to the door of Sugar Cube Corner, opened it and went inside, the door closing behind her.
Picture just stared at the gingerbread themed bakery, frozen in place. Joy was first to break the silence that had formed. “Well. What are you waiting for? She just right through those doors, correct? Just go in there already.”
Picture didn’t respond.
“Look Perfect, you were put into a coma for three years because of this filly. You dragged me across half of Equestria because of this filly. Now all you have to do is go inside and finally talk to this filly.”
Still no response.
“Are you just going to stand there and do NOTHING?!”
Yet again, no response.
“Oh that is it, you overgrown colt!” With that said she picked up the motionless stallion in her magic, placed him in front of the door and knocked, getting out of the way as she took a position to keep him from fleeing.
After a few seconds, the door opened and reviled a cyan-coated, rainbow-maned pegasus mare. She stared at him in shock for a moment before she forced a smile and spoke. “H-Hello. C-Can I help you?”
Picture’s only response was to remain frozen for a few more seconds before he responded with, “Hello, Dashie.”
Author's Note
Huh? What's this? 2 uploads within a single month? From me?! Is the world coming to an end already?!
*Cough, Cough* Uh, no. The world's not ending anytime soon (at least not that I'm aware of). So you guys really got my blood pumping with all the support you guys gave me in the "surprise" epilogue of "Have you seen my Mommy?" and I had a bit of free time at my new job with limited things to distract me. So that means that I was able to write up this entire chapter while I was bored at work. Will it always be like this? I doubt it but I do promise to bring you guys a new chapter whenever I can and hopefully I'll get better at writing quickly so that not only would you guys get more chapters sooner but also so that the chapters you get are more high quality. I know I'm not the best writer out there but I can still try.
So anyways, thank you guys for reading this prologue to a beautiful new story... I don't know if beautiful is the right word for it. Oh well. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and all the chapters to come. Enjoy!
