Piston

Twilight Sparkle, Rarity and Pinkie Pie were walking through Ponyville to find Piston. Spike was not walking (as he was still stuck inside Rarity). Twilight Sparkle now had a saddle bag attached to her side.

"Okay everypony," Twilight began. "We will go buy a clock from Piston, you two ponies will say hello, then we can decide what you think of Piston."

"Don’t get your hopes up," Spike interjected. "Piston is not a pony to change. But I suppose it’s worth a shot." He said, with an unconvinced tone. Pinkie (being Pinkie) hopped straight onto Twilight and began riding her. Twilight, of course, did not even notice as it is a common belief that Pinkie Pie is not a creature of mass and energy, and therefore must not obey physical laws.

"I’m excited!" Pinkie Pie said. "I’m going to make a new friend today." She then hopped off of Twilight and began crawling beneath Rarity in order to talk to Spike.  "So Spike, how do you and Twilight know Piston?"

"Piston lived close to where Twilight and I lived. Twilight also knew him from school before she went to be the princess’s pupil." "Ooooh, neat!" Pinkie Pie said, finally returning to her carefree hop down the road.

As they continued their walk, Rarity began giggling. Twilight, interested by the outburst, decided to question the marshmallow-colored pony. "Um, Rarity, is something funny?"  Rarity managed to fight down the giggles long enough to reply. "Ho, no. It’s just that Spike is tickling me. A little bit more to the left there, Spike; no, your other left. Oh yes, that’s the spot."

The four friends, being amused by the antics, shared a laugh and continued their silly conversation as they walked. The conversation ended, however, when they reached their destination. They made their way towards his house; but when making their final left turn, quickly halted into an awkward silence. There, before them, stood Piston's home and workshop. A large sign was stabbed into the ground out front.  It said, "Fire hizard. Keep all flamable objecks away."

The sign was misspelled and two of the letters in "objects" were backwards.

The home was rather misplaced.  Not misplaced as it wasn’t where was supposed to be, but misplaced as in it did not fit the typical building design usually seen in Equestria. It had no straw roof and was primarily made of stone with three tall chimneys sticking out from the top which billowed puffy, gray smoke. In addition to this, it had two large bellows which occasionally pumped up and down. The building emanated heat and was, frankly, not comfortable to be around. Upon further inspection of the grass growing near the building, Twilight saw that the grass was dying and, within a few more days, would probably be nothing but lifeless dirt.

Then, Twilight boldly walked up to the door (one wouldn’t describe Pinkie Pie as being "brave" since fear doesn't seem to be an emotion she possesses). Rarity quietly walked behind both ponies with her head down. Spike, of course, was oblivious to the situation.

Once, then twice, on the big metal door Twilight knocked. The door itself inspired fear as the ponies gazed upon its alien features.

Do allow me to explain why this is. In Ponyville, the doors are mainly made of wood and their locking mechanism is usually just a latch that can be easily undone from either side. However; Piston's front door was solid metal and had both a handle and keyhole. This made the ponies feel unwelcome (as was its intended purpose).

As the giant door clattered and clinked, they could hear it releasing its latches. As the door swung open, it gave a loud, angry squeak as if demanding oil as some form of hefty ransom.  Piston, with his cigar burning brightly and smoke puffing from his nostrils, walked out.

"Twilight Sparkle. I thought you lived in Canterlot; what are you doing here?" Piston asked, with absolutely no acknowledgement of the other two ponies. Twilight tilted her head to the side.

"Piston, I’ve lived here for quite some time. Didn’t you notice my absense at all?"

"No," Piston replied hastily.  "Now what do you want?"

"I’d like to buy a clock," Twilight said with a smile. "One of the big ones that tells time, season, and weather. Oh, and is it possible to make it self-winding?"

"Fine," Piston replied. "You pay me now, they’ll bring the clock tomorrow. It will take me some time preparing it for travel." Twilight then levitated some money out of her saddle bag and into Piston's possession. Afterwards, Piston began retreating back into is home.

"Wait!" Twilight insisted. "These are my friends; Rarity, and Pinkie Pie." Pinkie Pie grinned at him, while Rarity peeked out from behind her. Piston, then glanced back to face Twilight and gave her a calm, curt response.

"Good for you," he moaned, disgruntled. He then grasped the door handle and began to close it; however, just when the door was halfway shut, Pinkie Pie spoke up.

"I plan parties and bake sweet treats! And Rarity here is a fancy clothing designer!"

"I hate that fancy garbage. There's no need to get something just for looks." He said, snorting smoke from his nose. "As for you, little pink nightmare; I hate parties and I don’t eat junk food. If you don't need anything made from metal or glass, then we have no reason to interact." Piston grasped the door and slammed it shut.

"Why, I never!"Rarity exlaimed indignantly.

"I told you so!" Spike shouted.  Twilight sighed. "Yes, well, I was kind of hoping he would be different."

She was just about to walk away, but stopped immediately when she realized that Pinkie Pie had vanished.

"Rarity, where's Pinkie Pie?" She asked.

The two mares looked around confused before hearing racket inside the house. They quickly pressed their ears against the door to listen. Inside, they could hear Pinkie Pie’s voice.

"You’re JUST like cranky!" She yelled to Piston. "But don’t worry; I have everypony in Ponyville as my friend, and I will not sleep until I keep it that way!"

They then heard Piston's voice: "HOW THE BUCK DID YOU GET IN MY HOUSE?!" Thinking quickly, Twilight and Rarity backed up away from the door. The door's locks and other mechanisms rattled, then swung open. A very unhappy Piston carrying the pink pony walked out and dropped her to the ground. "Bad pony!" He scolded before attempting to walk back inside.

"Wait!" Pinkie insisted. "You’re not my friend yet; I can’t leave until you’re my friend."

Piston began a grinding his teeth and accidentally bit through his own cigar; which dropped to the ground.

"So," Piston began, "you're every ponies' friend?"

"Yes," Pinkie Pie replied.

"Okay then, friend" he said with emphasis. "Wait right here." Piston ran back inside his house and then immediately returned, holding the small basket of tomatoes that were slightly past their prime.

"Can you please hold these for me?" He requested. Pinkie Pie, thinking that this was an act of friendship, gladly complied. As soon as Pinkie Pie grabbed the basket, Piston grasped the two of the tomatoes and with cannon-like strength launched it over the mares' heads. The three ponies, puzzled by the action, tracked the tomatoes' trajectory until finally saw it land on the face of a big, white pony with a set of barbells as his cutie mark.

At first, the pony was angry; demanding to know who threw the fruit. However, when his eyes met the gaze of Pinkie Pie (who was still holding the basket), tears quickly welled up in them.

"Pinkie Pie’s not my friend anymore," he said sadly as he flew away. Pinkie Pie gasped at the realization of Piston's trick, and she quickly dropped the basket containing the tomatoes. "No, Roid Rage!" She screamed. She then stood on her back hind legs, tucked her from hooves into her armpits, and began slapping her front legs up and down. After giving a small cluck like a chicken, she quickly flew after him.

Piston was somewhat taken aback from the situation. "I didn’t believe it was possible for either of those two ponies to fly."  He stated flatly.

Rarity was not at all happy; "That was a horrible trick. You should feel ashamed!" Piston only rolled his eyes, and let out a grunt. "I don’t. And I believe that is the end of our business transaction," he said, finally retreating into his home and slamming the door.

"Well, I never! You’re right, Spike!" Rarity said. Twilight sighed with frustration. "Come on everypony- let’s get Pinkie Pie and go back to the library. Maybe I can find a way to get Spike out of you, Rarity."

After a quick search for Pinkie Pie, they found her trying to convince Roid Range that the thrown tomato was a misunderstanding. When she was finished and all was well, the three ponies made it to the library.

Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbowdash were waiting outside. Apparently, Rainbowdash had the spilled the beans about Rarity's condition, and the other two ponies came to support their friend.

The six ponies all converged in sharing the events of the day inside the library. Rainbow Dash was very displeased with the actions taken by Piston. "Why, if I see that pony, I’m gonna give him a piece of my mind! Twilight, how could you possibly stand to live next to him in Canterlot?"

Twilight sighed. "Well, I’ve known him longer than most ponies, so sometimes he goes easier on me.  Usually, everypony just avoids him. But you must understand it wasn’t always like that. In fact, there was a time when Piston's kindness and outgoing nature made him friends with everypony. Believe it or not, he could have made Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy look like monsters."

The five ponies looked at Twilight in disbelief.

"Here," she said. "Now, it’s time to you the story. Let me just write a letter to the princess about what happened. I’m also requesting special permission to look at the personal records of the Canterlot schools I attended with Piston. I’d prefer to keep my facts straight; you know how I am."

The five ponies looked at each other and began whispering as Twilight scribbled down in to the letter. "Rarity," she asked. "Can you please send this to the princess?" Rarity looked puzzled. "How could I possibly do that? I am no dragon!" Twilight, holding the letter, looked around. "Well, I guess you just do the same thing did when you received a letter." At that moment, Spike shouted, "I’m on it, Twilight."

Rarity, realizing what Spike meant, quickly objected. "No, Spike! Don’t you dare! A lady should never-" However, her sentence was cut short by a massive burp that shot out fire and burned up the letter.

After a few minutes (which Twilight used to do little bit more research into spells that could pull Spike out safely), Rarity perked again; casting (instead of a letter) the giant book. The book contained many pockets and young foals' names. Two of which being Twilight and Piston.

"Here we go," Twilight said. "We can only look at Piston's record; that’s what I promised in the letter." Twilight then pulled out the stack of papers and other items from the pocket and laid them onto the table. The ponies gasped (even Twilight, seeing as she only heard rumors and had not seen for her eyes what might be contained inside the book). Now, on the table, were many pages of writing and several pictures and drawings. The drawings, being things Piston drew in school, had the dates in which he drew them.  There was a photograph of a small, white filly recovering in a hospital bed and bandages covering his flank.

"Twilight," Applejack interjected. "What is all of this?" She asked, pointing her hoof to some of the pictures. The pictures were arranged chronologically; they started out colorful and happy, but then gradually changed to black and white. The black and white ones had finer and finer detail to them, and possessed disturbing imagery.

"Okay, everypony," Twilight began. "It all started on the first day of school…"

End of chapter two.