CMC meet the Easter Bunny... well Easter Pony
Twas the week before Easter and all through Ponyville (and the rest of Equestria but we'll focus on Ponyville for this story), everypony was getting ready for the holiday that represents New beginnings, New life, and Hope.
EASTER!
And all over town everyone was helping in getting it ready for when The Easter Bunny comes.
Extra eggs were being painted, the trails were neat and tidy so it would be slightly easier to find the eggs, Chocolate eggs were being made, and the school ponies were all getting lessons on 'Why they have Easter, and what it was about.'
"I just don't understand..." Scootaloo said one day as they were leaving to head for home "Why do we go through so much trouble, just to celebrate a day when somepony dies?"
"It's not the dying we celebrate Scootaloo," Apple Bloom says as they head to Sweet Apple Acres "It's the fact that he comes back to life."
"That makes even less sense," Scootaloo say coming to a stop on her scooter "Nothing can bring things back from the dead."
"And yet each year we have trees and plants that 'died' in the fall because of how cold it was getting, come back to life, my little pony," a Unicorn stallion to the side says a small smirk on his face, as he was in the shade of a building painting a few eggs
"That's different Mister, we ponies make them come back to life because of our magic," Sweetie Belle said getting nods of agreement from the other two.
The stallion in question had a grey coat, light blue mane and tail, markings on his forehead and his Cutie Mark was a paint brush.
"Not from where I'm from, ya little ankle biter," he said said chuckling.
"These eggs are really pretty Mister," Apple Bloom said coming over and looking at them not sure if she should pick them up or not.
"Why thank ya, little miss," he said looking at the clock tower for the time "Welp I gotta get going, still got a lot to do before the holiday comes."
"Wait, you didn't say where you were from," Scootaloo said making him stop "The only place we've heard that sounds like that is the Everfree Forest and only Zecora lives there doesn't she?"
"Beats me, but I'm from beyond the walls of Equestria," he said smiling "Where plants and trees grow all by themselves and animal don't need to be taken care of as much as the one here do."
"If you're from beyond Equestria, what in the hay are ya'll doing here?" Apple Bloom asked confused.
"Why I always come here for Easter," he said gently packing up the eggs "Just guess that ya never seen me before." getting all three filly's to shake their heads.
"So, if you're only here for Easter each and every year, who do you stay with?" Sweetie Belle asked looking at the guy suspiciously.
"Little Miss Fluttershy lets me stay over at her place," he said.
"FLUTTERSHY!" the girls screamed in surprise pinning him to the ground standing on his chest, getting ponies to stare.
"Don't worry ya sad over-protective sacks about anything, I don't do a thing to her except help with her animals and around her cottage and then say goodbye to her when I have ta leave." he said levitating them all off him and placing them a few steps away.
"If you do this every year, how come we never seen ya before?" Apple Bloom asked determined to get some answers, blocking his way.
"Beats me short stack," he said getting a little annoyed now "Now can ya move please I really need to get going only three more days until Easter ya know, and there are still so many eggs to paint."
"Well... We can help you if you want," Sweetie Belle said beaming.
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS EASTER EGG PAINTERS! YEAH!" the three girls screamed/cheered together.
"If I let you help will you let me get to where i need to be?" the stallion asked getting nods from them.
"Fine, meet me at Sweet Apple Acres in about an hour," he said saying he needed to go get the eggs and the paints.
Cheering the three girls zoomed off towards the farm.
Rolling his eyes the stallion makes it back to Fluttershy's cottage.
"Aster, you're back," Fluttershy says sweetly "Is everything ok?"
"No, everything's fine," 'Aster' says collecting his things "But would you mind coming with me to Sweet Apple Acres? I met three little gal's in town who really seem to want to help me with by eggs, and I'm still a wee bit out of practice when it comes to kids."
Giggling, Fluttershy nodded.
With that they head for the apple farm where Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and the CMC, along with some other filly and colt friends had set up and were all ready and waiting for them to get there.
"So darling," Rarity asked once the introductions were made "Is there any proper way on how to decorate Easter eggs?"
"*Well actually, there is, but I learnt a long time ago that if I keep enforcing the rules to make things the way I want them to be, eventually everyone will just leave me. So," Aster said turning to everypony "Just as long as they are nicely painted, colorful, dry by the end of the day, and not broken, you may do whatever you please with them."
With that and quick cheer, everypony got started on painting Easter eggs, making baskets, and some even making floppy bunny ears and tails to match.
At the end of the day all the eggs were painted and the foal were starting to get a little sleepy so they were told to go home.
"Thanks for all the help shortstack and stackette's" Aster said waving them off, collecting all the eggs and helping to tidy up "I'll make sure we will use your eggs on Sunday."
o*o
Sunday came, and as Celestia raised the sun, all over Ponyville, Sweet Apple Acres, and in the park, there were eggs hidden everywhere, and everypony, young and not-so-young were out looking for them.
"Found another!" Apple Bloom called out holding up an egg from under a bush in the park.
"Me too!" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle say holding up their newly found eggs.
Once the egg hunt was finished, the eggs were counted up and it seemed that the CMC had collected the most eggs, so got the prize of one giant chocolate Easter egg and some mini ones on top of cupcakes.
"Hey well done kiddo's" Aster said coming over to congratulate them, getting muffled 'Thank you's' since their mouths stuffed with chocolate.
"Well I gotta be getting going," he said putting on a saddlebag "See ya next year girls," he said going to say goodbye to Fluttershy before taking off.
"You girls ever work out who he is?" Scootaloo asked once her mouth was empty.
"Nope," they said as the watched him leave down the road.
Just then a group of ponies got into their line of sight and once they were gone all that was on the path was a spring flower that was not there before.
"Hey... Where'd he go?" Scootaloo asked only getting shrugs and just as confused looks from her friends.
"You really think he'll come back next year?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"I think he will," Fluttershy said coming over. "For as long as I remember he always comes for Easter. You just have look for him and believe that he will."
Author's Note
First... Happy Easter!
Second if you didn't work it out the mysterious stallion 'Aster' is meant to be Bunny from Rise of the Guardians (which is why this is a Crossover)
Third * = a reference to 'Winnie the Pooh Springtime with Roo' (yeah I watch that deal with it) were it's Easter, and Rabbit is taken on a 'Christmas Carol' like trip just because of something that happened last Easter.
