The Mare had yet to release Ace from her embrace. She was comfortable just the way she was and was showing no signs of letting go. She buried the side of her face into his neck, in an affectionate way, one that caused Ace to uncontrollably blush.

"W-what are you doing?" he asked, red as a tomato. The Mare finally released Ace only to look at him, with her head leaned to one side.

"Oh... Right, no mouth..." he said, face hoofing himself. "But you need to get out of here! If the towns ponies learn who-- what you really are, you never know how they'll react!"

The Mare, however, only gave an innocent stare. Nothing more, nothing less.
"Do you even understand what I'm saying?" Ace asked, giving her a questioning look.
But still, she said nothing.

Looking around, he could see more ponies exiting their homes and began to panic.

"Ok, listen to me..." He pointed in the direction of the Everfree forest, " You need to head back to the forest, where you came from. Are we clear?"

The Mare turned in the direction of the Ace's hoof, but turned back with sadness across her features, invoking feelings of guilt within him.

"I'm sorry, alright? But I just don't want you to get in any trouble or potentially hurt." he apologised.

She sat down, emitting the same expression.
"Soooooo, I guess I'll leave... It was nice meeting you, to say the least!" Ace stated, plastering a fake grin on his face.

She saw through his mask, though...
And kept the same face locked with his eyes.

Slowly, Ace began to walk away and turn his back to the Mare.
'Just don't look, Ace... Don't even think about her' he kept telling himself.

As for the Mare, she started walking too, her head hung. She could feel her heart ache a little, like she just lost a friend.

But that all changed when a hoof grabbed her shoulder, causing her to jump in shock and surprise.

It was Ace.
He sighed deeply as he looked to the floor in sorrow
"I'm sorry, I really am. I understand, you were just trying to be friendly. And I didn't exactly repay your kindness correctly," he mumbled, grinning weakly, "I've been a really crummy pony, I'll admit that. So, I was hoping I could make it up to you by showing you around town. Is that OK?"
This time, the Mare could see that his smile was not only 100% genuine, but was from the very bottom of his heart.

This made her beam brighter and brighter until she bounced around in pure joy and excitement.
As far as she could tell, Ace was going against everything he said just to make her happy.

"I'll take that as a 'yes' " Ace whispered inwardly. "So are you coming?"

He didn't have to tell her twice. She stopped jumping and tried to drag Ace to wherever she was running to.

They were just about to start trotting, until a huge explosion of confetti and streamers blasted their way, causing them to effortlessly fall onto their flanks!

"Welcome!" An extremely high pitched chirped, "To Ponyville! You seem to be be new? I mean, I haven't seen you around here! So what's your name?"

"Pinkie?" Ace questioned, still recovering from his heavy daze, "when did you get there? And did you really have to blow up my ear drums like that?"

"Well of course my favourite food is cherry changas! I've told you this before." Pinkie pie emerged from behind the party cannon and gave Ace a confused look.

"What? That had nothing to do with what I asked. Are you sure you're not going deaf firing that cannon all the time?" He responded, somewhat sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, but what did you say?! I think I might be going deaf firing this cannon all the time!" She screamed, unnecessarily.
Ace just playfully rolled his eyes.
The Mare, however, was struggling to even stand up properly after the party cannon blast. But after some time, she managed to regain her balance.

As for Pinkie, she was busy pulling cotton buds from her ears.
"Oh, right. I forgot I had these on! Anyway, what's your name?" She said looking at the Mare.

And as usual, she merely blinked with nothing else to say or do. Making the entire space around them go quiet and awkward, something Pinkie wasn't very used to.

"Well?" She said, breaking the silence. She started to walk in front of her enough to make the Mare extremely uncomfortable, making her take a few steps back. It was only then, that Pinkie started to notice that something was off about the Mare

"Heeey, wait a second. Am I seeing things or is ther--"

"Sorry!" Ace swiftly interrupted, jumping in between them, "she's just not that open when it comes to talking with strangers."

Pinkie narrowed her eyes in judgment and interrogation.

"Errm... So Yeah! I hope you can understand my point and respect her personality..."

The expression on her face only became more tense, as she edged closer to his nervous, almost fear-ridden, smile. With all of the strong silence, Ace was beginning to sweat an entire river.

" Okie doki loki!" she chirped, returning to her energetic and happy-go-lucky attitude, "I get how she feels! I mean, you can't just make somepony talk with you if they don't want to. Otherwise they'll be less likely to want to be your friend! You just gotta give em' time to open up! Am I right, or am I right?"

"R-right! Yeah, of course!" Ace stuttered.

"Oh! I forgot! I have to get back to Sugarcube corner! Sorry about this, maybe we should talk later when I'm free!"
Pinkie ran away faster than a flash of lightning, leaving him in the dust.

Ace breathed in the biggest sigh of relief in his life. "Whew, that was close... Now continuing with our tour--" he looked behind him to find that the Mare had disappeared completely.

He frantically searched the area to find her, but calmed down once he saw she was by the fountain. Not only that; she also climbed in and was playing in the water!

Without hesitation, he ran towards her, "you need to get out there. This is a public fountain, not your bathroom!"
However, she didn't seem to hear...

Or listen...

Or even care, for that matter.
Ace just stood there facehoofing, feeling a bit embarrassed for her.

He had a feeling that today would be a very long day...

Author's Note

Hey...

Sorry I haven't posted in a while!

I hope you like this new chapter!

As usual, I am open to any criticism. I'm still new to this!

But anyway, have a good one!