Missing Pieces

It’s a new day, inside the Everfree Forest. I dreamt of everything in my life, turning out okay. I hope that it’s a sign on good luck. I opened my eyes and glanced around the hut. Zecora was still asleep in the same haystack. I felt like I had to repay her in some way, so I stretched out my body and got up quietly. There was smashed pottery over in the corner and the puddle still remained there. I guess Zecora was more worried about me than the large mess I’ve made. I walked around to find something to clean it up with and found a mop and broom. Lucky me at the moment I know how objects work. I silently cleaned up the mess of broken bottles and dangerous ooze. Wow, I thought. I was weak last night, but now I feel as strong as an ox. I smiled at myself before putting the tools away. This isn’t enough for a ‘Thank you’ gift. I looked around the small shack, but mostly found ingredients and the giant cauldron. Maybe I will make her some breakfast.

I found a flint in a cupboard which I used to start a fire under the pot. I couldn’t really figure out anything I could make out of veggies and herbs as a breakfast meal. It’s the only stuff Zecora had in her hut. I do remember this one recipe. I grabbed a jug of broth, two green bell peppers, and bunch of essential vegetables from the pantry. I started mixing the broth and vegetables in the cauldron with a wooden spoon. I can’t give it a taste test, since ponies had no pose able thumbs, so I have to trust my nose. I grabbed my sword with my mouth and cut the tops of the bell peppers, then carved the insides out, making a nice bowl. I continued mixing the ingredients inside the giant tub until I thought it was done. I used the wooden spoon to pour the mixture inside the bell pepper shells and closed it up with the lids and waited.

Zecora seemed to be waking up by the time I was finished. “Good morning, how are you feeling?”

“Morning Zecora. I feel great, thanks to you.” I brought her the stuffed bell pepper. “I made breakfast. Be careful, it’s hot,” I warned her.

“Oh, you didn’t have to do this for me. I should be the one cooking for my guest to be.”

“No way,” I protested. “You’ve done too much for me already, Zecora. I mean, you sheltered me, healed me, and took care of me. I think I should do something for you at least. I know this isn’t much, but this is my thanks until I find something better.”

She gave me a heartwarming smile and went to sit down next to the table. “Ah, well then, thank you…” she started before falling silent for she didn’t know my name.

I didn’t really know what to call myself, but it didn’t feel right to leave conversation like this, so I thought quickly, “Strong Charger. You can call me that if you like.” I smiled nervously. I might’ve thought of a name corny enough to leave us speechless.

Zecora’s face gleamed with please. “Thank you, Strong Charger, for the wonderful food. This food would definitely lighten up any pony’s mood.”

“That’s the point. I remember my grandmother cooking this for whenever I felt bad, or lost. Or just anyone in particular.” I happily smiled, then started to dig in. Many flavors exploded in my mouth, giving me such a happy memory I’ve had of my family. The image was only a brief moment, but it’s still brought tears to my eyes. “Oh, I’m sorry Zecora. I don’t mean to cry so much. They just keep coming on their own.”

“Those are tears of joy that you shed. This always leads to a promising future ahead,” she simply said as she began to feast on her bowl of soup.

“I guess they do…” I paused to hearing Applebloom humming to her music. I spun around and saw the filly enter the hut. “Good morning, Applebloom.”

“Good mornin’, Sleepyheads. I gotta show ya 'round Ponyville, Sir.” She cheerfully hopped around us and the table. “Some ponies in Ponyville really wan' to meet’cha.”

“Whoa, calm down Applebloom,” I said holding her in place. “I still have breakfast to finish with Zecora. Then you can take me there, IF Zecora says I’m healthy enough to walk long distances. My wound hasn’t completely healed yet.”

“Aww but you’ve been here fer like weeks,” the foal complained. “Ya should be fine now.”

“It seems I have no other choice. Zecora would you mind having a look at my flank again?” I asked. Applebloom got even more excited and started bouncing around the shack.

“For now, you will want to thank. For what you will see is a blank flank,” Zecora said removing the bandage to reveal nothing more than a blank flank. “So now, you can move around at your free will. Now it is safe for you to take a tour around Ponyville.”

“Thanks a lot Zecora. I’ll tell you all about it once I get back,” I joyfully say as I attached my sword onto my back. I borrowed one of Zecora’s cloaks so that I could hide the sword. I didn’t want anyone to be frightened of me, nor did I want to walk around defenseless. I followed Applebloom into the enormous forest of  Everfree. She led me through thorny bushes, around poisonous plants, and past overgrown trees until we finally exited the maze of mysteries.

“This is where I live, Sweet Apple Acres!” Applebloom announced as she pointed out to a large field of apple orchards. Somewhere within all these orchards, I could see a lovely red barn which seemed to be hiding from where I was standing. “Let’s go see ma’ big sister. She’s usually doin’ her chores around the barn at this time of day.”

“That’s good, Applebloom. What’s she like? Your sister, I mean,” I ask as we trotted along the fields.

“She’s the most awesome big sister ever. Her name’s Applejack, the Element of Honesty.”

“’Element of Honesty’?” I asked in confusion. “What is this element that you speak of?”

“Ah don’t really know. Yer gonna have ta ask her yerself, Sir.”

“It’s Strong Charger now. So please call me that,” I pleaded to Applebloom.

“Alright Mr. Charger. Here we are,” she pointed out to the old red barn and house that stood in the middle of these orchards, which an orange pony was bucking a few of them. Apples fell to force of the pony’s kicks; they fell into a straw basket. “Hay Applejack.”

“Howdy… there… Applebloom.” She said in between each kick. She stopped to take a break from bucking, and turned her full attention to us. “So, this here is that pony feller y’all been talkin’ about fer all of breakfast.”

“Yeah, Big Sister. This is Strong Charger, ah thought he was a goner, once Zecora found ‘im.”

I simply just nodded to Applejack before saying anything, “I actually don’t know my real name so I thought up of Strong Charger earlier today.”

“Well ain’t that just fine and dandy. Ah reckon that be the best fittin’ name fer ya. So, what bring ya here t’ Ponyville, Strong Charger?”

“Well I’m not so sure on where I came from,” I explained myself to the orange pony. “So since I’m going to stay at Zecora’s, I might as well know my way around the town she visits. It’s not a bad thing, is it?”

“No, sir, it sure as sugar isn’t. Ah was wonderin’ because Applebloom wouldn’t  answer any of mah questions ya see. Then, she left in a hurry this mornin’ t’ see ya, so ah never got the chance t’ know anything…” She paused for a moment probably with this look on her face as if she was trying to remember something. “Wait a sec, its still mornin’. Applebloom! Why ain’t 'cha in school right now? Y’all know t’ain’t  nice t’ be skippin’ school.”

“Aw but Applejack…,” she whines.

“No ‘buts’ missy,” Applejack interjected before Applebloom could say anything else. “Ya get t’ school now, ya hear? Ah’ll take Strong Charger around Ponyville, but ya need your education. So run along now before Ms. Cheerilee come t’ get ya herself.”

“Yes Big Sister,” she sighs in defeat as she trotted away. “Ah see ya after school, Mr. Charger.” She waves her hoof as she disappears into the field of orchards. As she disappears, I couldn’t but noticing something pink off the corner of my eye. I slowly turned to investigate, to find a pink pony staring at me. She was close, I mean she’s standing too close. I quickly jumped away, letting out a yelp.

“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie, and you must be Strong Charger!” she exclaimed. “It is so great to meet you, and to honor our friendship, I threw this party just for you!”

“Uh what party?” I ask in confusion as I try to catch my breath.

Pinkie Pie grabbed me and Applejack and pulled us into a library in a matter of nanoseconds. “This party!”

“W-What? How did you-How did we get here? I could’ve sworn we were back at the farm not too long ago.” I was extremely confused. This pony is really fast.

Pinkie laughed and gave me a big smile. “Silly, we are at the library. This is where your party is at, and it is easier to move you two to the party than to move the whole party itself.”

“Isn’t it a bit early for a party?” I asked the strange pony.

“It’s never too early for a party when you are with Pinkie Pie! Speaking of parties, I have a song that I made just for you!”

“Since when did parties and a song that ya wrote fer him ever relate?” Applejack asked raising her eye brow. “But ah’d rather not question yer logic Pinkie.”

“I agree with Applejack on the first part, Pinkie Pie. But I’d like to hear that song.” Without any warning, confetti suddenly explodes in my face and Pinkie Pie began to sing:

Welcome, welcome, welcome. It’s my fine welcome to you.

Welcome, welcome, welcome. I say, “How do you do?”.

Welcome, welcome, welcome. I say, “Hip, hip, HOORAY!”

Welcome, welcome, welcome to Po-ny-ville todaaaaay!

The strange pony played a series of instruments and dancing as she sang the song to me. It made me wonder where she got all the instruments if they weren’t present to begin with. I ignored asking Pinkie the question thinking she might give me an answer that made no sense. So I clapped my hooves, applauding her. She took a bow to her strange performance and hopped her way into the crowd of ponies. Music began to play by a blue, electric-mane styled unicorn on the stage.

“Welcome to Ponyville, Strong Charger.” I was greeted by a purple pony. Her mane was highlighted with two different shades of purple and a streak of pink. “My name is Twilight Sparkle. Please to meet you.” She extended her hoof to me.

“Likewise. Is Pinkie Pie always like that?” I asked Twilight.

“Get used to it, there’s more where that came from. Follow me, I’ll introduce you to my friends.” I followed the mare through the crowd until we met up with a group. Pinkie Pie and Applejack was part of it. “Strong Charger, I’d like you to meet the gang: You already know about Applejack and Pinkie Pie, this is Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy.” She pointed out to me. “All of us took turns delivering medicine to Zecora while you were unconscious.”

“Then I should thank you all for helping me recover. What can I do to repay you all for your kindness?”

“Oh darling,” the white unicorn said stepping forward, “there’s no need for you to repay us. We are all very much thankful to know that we didn’t have to attend a memorial on your account. You being here right now is plenty enough repayment for us.”

I wiped the tears forming from my eyes and bowed. “Thanks you all for saving me as well as Zecora and Applebloom.”

“What did you expect?” Rainbow said spinning in the air. “We never leave a pony hangin’. Most of your thanks should go to Zecora though. Without her crazy knowledge of potions you probably wouldn’t be here.”

“I know. Without her, I could’ve been dead. But I mostly didn’t expect to be rescued by more-or-less ponies.” I laughed to myself.

The mane six just looked at me with confused faces. “Um..” Fluttershy said breaking the silence, “are you okay? I think you might have hit your head by the tiniest bit… oh, sorry if that sounded rude…”

“Was there something I said?” I asked.

“Well,” Twilight paused to come up with the words to say, “you made it sound like as if you weren’t a pony.”

I paused, remembering that I haven’t seen a human in sight since I got here. I know I was going to have to tell them about me being human at one point, but now is a bit too early. “Oh I’m sorry I guess I did get hit in the head a bit too hard,” I lied to them and casually laughed some more.

“Well then, since the day is still rising why don’t we take you on a tour around Ponyville,” Twilight concluded making steady pace toward the door.

I followed the group outside of the library to notice that we were inside of a tree. I guess I wouldn’t as surprised since Zecora’s hut had the same feature. We first trotted over to a very decorated home. Must be the town’s bakery because it looked like a gingerbread house.

“This here is Sugarcube Corner, the bakery and home to Mr. and Mrs. Cake,” Twilight said motioning her hoof to the gingerbread house. “That is also where you find Pinkie most of the time because she works there and babysits Mr. and Mrs. Cake’s children. So if you are ever looking for something sweet or a bunch of randomness and fun that will be your place to go. Straight across is the town square, the mayor works there.”

We trotted over to the clothes designer store. Just like Sugarcube Corner, this building stood out over all the other places in this village. “This here is Carousel Boutique,” Rarity said proudly before Twilight had a chance to open her mouth. “This is where I live and work on some of the most exquisite fashion you will ever see in all of Equestria. As a matter of fact, I have just finished a magnificent design for a colt like you, and I believe you will look marvelous in it.”

“Maybe we can do that later?” Twilight half asked and whined.

“Heh Heh, why of course, we still have to give you the tour around. Maybe later indeed.”

Walking by the apple orchards again, Twilight continued, “That over there is Sweet Apple Acres, home to the Apples family and Applejack. This is where all the best apples are made, well in my opinion.”

“And that over there is my place,” Rainbow Dash shot to the front of the group and point toward a cloud in the sky. In my opinion, it looked like a rich person’s home. The way the structure is built and how is has a rainbow waterfall. “It’s nothing special. It is definitely not in comparison to the places the Wonderbolts live.” I kind of found that hard to believe.

Walking down close to the Everfree Forest, we stopped at a cottage sitting on its outskirts. “This is Fluttershy’s cottage. She cares for all the animals here, and this is where she lives. If you have an animal that was sick or anything, this would be the place you want to take them because Fluttershy is the best.” Twilight smiled toward Fluttershy’s direction, but she just simply hid behind everyone trying not to draw attention to herself. Starting their way back to the library, we passed by the area where everyone is selling their fresh produce. “This would be the market, where you will find everything that you need to live. Everypony does something different, so there is barely any competition for better quality and quantity. Lastly, this is where I am staying along with Spike, my number one assistant, and it is also Ponyville’s library. If you ever need a book to read, just come on over, and I am sure I can find you something that will suit your interest.” She finished ending at the library as the sun started to creep its way behind the mountains.

“I should be going back then,” I said to everyone. “I promised Zecora to tell her about my day today.” We said our goodbyes and head off in different directions. I followed the same trail Applebloom showed me before. Nothing dangerous happened along the trail. I have finally made it to Zecora’s hut. “Good Evening, Zecora. How was your day?”

“Good evening to you too. I am doing good, how do you do?” she asked as she was setting up our beds.

“I met the ponies who helped you out, they showed me around town, and they threw a party for me.” I explained my day to the zebra, which she seemed very pleased that I had a good time. We chatted for a while until we fell asleep.