Fugue - Volume 1

"Welcome, welcome, welcome!" Pinkie greeted enthusiastically while ushering in a young, bright blue earth pony mare with a grey mane into Sugarcube Corner. Applejack, Rarity and Huey watched her greeting the guests from across the room, which had been decorated in the usual decorations, like bunting, balloons and streamers.

"So, who's this Gilda I ain't heard nothin' about?" Applejack asked inquisitively.

"I heard she's an old friend of Rainbow Dash!" Rarity replied. "A griffon too! So rare!"

Huey unconsciously grumbled in acknowledgement, causing the two mares to turn towards him.

"Is there somethin' wrong, sugarcube?" Applejack enquired. "You don't seem too pleased. Is this 'cause Pinkie Pie put you and Gilda's parties together?"

"Hmm?" Huey hummed, his attention finally torn away from his quiet sulking. "What? Oh, Gilda? Yeah, she's a griffin, I and Pinkie were able to catch a glimpse of her in town at one point."

"Ohhhhh!" Rarity cooed with interest. "What is she like? What does she look like?"

"Honestly?" Huey murmured, his gaze wandering around from the mares to look towards Pinkie, who was now chatting with a clearly nervous Fluttershy. "I think you might like her feathers. Her head's covered in white feathers, but there were some which had slightly purple tips. You'll see what I'm referring to once she arrives, I think you might find them most interesting, Rarity."

"Well!" Rarity exclaimed in delight. "I shall definitely take the time to converse with her, she sounds positively divine!"

Huey grimaced internally before making his excuses and wandering towards Pinkie.

"Don't worry your pretty little head about mean, old Gilda!" Pinkie stated cheerfully before reaching up and patting Fluttershy's mane. "Your Auntie Pinkie Pie's got it all taken care of!"

Fluttershy frowned in disapproval at the patronising tone and head-patting she had received. It was not enough for her to tell Pinkie Pie, who had trotted back towards the front door, how she really felt, but she still said it to herself, unaware that Huey was stood next to her.

"I'm a year older than you." She murmured with a hint of frustration. Huey waited a few moments before quietly clearing his throat, causing the butter yellow pegasus to whirl round in surprise.

"Oh, um... I-I'm sorry, H-H-Huey," She whispered timidly. "Was I standing in your way?"

"No, no!" Huey replied in a reassuring tone. "I just came over to ask if you would like a drink?"

Huey caught the faintest hint of a blush forming before Fluttershy looked towards the floor and began pawing her hoof against it, her face now hidden by the familiar curtain of pink mane.

"You... Don't have to do that... F-For me," She murmured. "I... I don't... You know... Want to be a bother."

Huey grimaced and knelt down. Lifting a solitary finger, he gently parted the pink mane in front of him so that he could, at the very least, look into a solitary emerald eye belonging to Fluttershy. Her view continued to flick from the floor to the human looking back at her with concern, clearly preferring to be 'invisible' behind her flowing locks of pink hair.

"Fluttershy, it is not a bother at all," Huey stated truthfully. "I know that I'm probably really scary to you, but I promise, I could never consider hurting you."

"Y-You really mean it?" She asked, her eye contact increasing ever so slightly. Huey nodded solemnly.

"I do," He reiterated. "So, could I have the privilege of getting you a drink? Please?"

Fluttershy's eye contact completely broke down and she leaned backwards, causing her mane to no longer be restrained by Huey's finger and swiftly hide her face again.

"O-Okay," A barely audible whisper said. Huey was about to ask her to repeat herself, unsure if he'd actually heard her at all, but decided against it and swiftly wandered over towards the buffet table. After quickly browsing through the selection of savoury and sweet snacks on offer, Huey grabbed a paper plate and stocked up on mini donuts and some cupcakes. He was about to head towards the punch bowl next, but quickly turned back towards the food to grab a few random savoury snacks. Admittedly, he had no intention of eating the savoury items, which were mostly grass and assorted flowers put into sandwiches or small puff pastry casings, but he thought that the gesture would be appreciated by Fluttershy.

"Gilda!"

Huey's ears pricked up as he spun round to see Pinkie Pie greeting the guest of honour herself.

"I'm so honoured to throw you one of my signature Pinkie Pie parties, and I'm really, truly, sincerely hope you feel welcome here amongst all us ponyfolk... And our resident human too!" She stated with an almost jaw-dislocating grin. Huey sighed, he was aware that he had given his blessing, under duress, to Pinkie, but he would have preferred her to not highlight the fact that he existed too. Shaking his head, he began to quickly scan the crowd to see where Fluttershy was, before his attention was brought back to Gilda. The griffon, who had accepted a hoofshake from Pinkie, appeared to be in a great deal of distress. Huey's eyes narrowed in suspicion, followed by concern when Gilda collapsed to the floor.

"Gilda!?" He called out, while quickly leaving his plate of snacks on the buffet table and wading through the crowd towards her. "Are you okay?"

Pinkie Pie suddenly burst out into laughter, her hoof turning over to reveal a small button strapped to it. Huey grimaced as he knelt down beside the shocked griffon and waved into her eyes.

"Gilda, you alright?" Huey asked urgently, but was distracted when a sudden electric shock pulsed through his upper arm.

"NYARGH!" He cried out before face-planting the floor unceremoniously in surprise. Pinkie's laughter doubled in volume, her breathing so irregular that she began snorting between laughs.

"Gotcha you boooooooth!" She sang before taking the button off her hoof. "Hoof buzzer!"

Huey mumbled an unheard obscenity under his breath before picking himself up, followed by giving Gilda a helping hand to stand up too.

"Ha! Oh, Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow Dash guffawed, while approaching her, Huey and Gilda. "The old hoofshake buzzer! You are a scream!"

"Yeah," Gilda began awkwardly with a half-hearted chuckle. "G-Good one, Pinkie Pie."

"No, it wasn't," Huey muttered to himself before speaking properly. "If there's nothing wrong, please, excuse me, I was getting someone a drink."

"Come on, G!" Rainbow Dash cheeped. "I'll introduce you to some of my other friends!"

Huey rolled his eyes and swiftly walked away from the trio to retrieve his plate. With two glasses of punch and the plate of snacks balanced awkwardly in his hands, he carefully made his way over to a solitary table in the corner of the room, which Fluttershy had taken refuge at.

"Here," Huey said as he deposited his collection of items onto the table. "I got some different snacks. I don't know which you'd like. So, I'm sorry if none of them catch your fancy."

"Oh, i-it's okay," Fluttershy replied nervously. "You... You picked some nice things."

Huey carefully pushed Fluttershy's glass closer to her before taking a donut and popping it into his mouth.

"Everyone!" Pinkie called out, causing everyone, Huey included, to look towards her. "I'd like you all to meet Gilda! A long time dear friend of Rainbow Dash! Let's honour her and welcome her to Ponyville!"

Huey smiled as she watched the pink mare wrap her forehooves round Gilda, causing the griffon's eyes to widen in total surprise at the sudden physical contact. After Pinkie disengaged, Gilda glared at her, but was unable to pursue the matter any further when a massive chorus of cheers and applause rippled throughout the room, forcing her to smile awkwardly in an attempt to show appreciation for the warm welcome. Huey scoffed and turned his attention back towards Fluttershy.

"Um... Are you not i-interested in the party?" Fluttershy stammered. "I... I-I'm just a little nervous."

"I'm okay," Huey replied quietly. "Honestly, I just wanted to keep you company. You seem to be a little... What's the word... Out of your comfort zone? So, I thought you might appreciate having someone you can trust by your side."

"Th-Thank you," Fluttershy mumbled. "But, it's okay. I'll be fine, you can go and have fun."

"Fluttershy, don't worry about me or being a bother," Huey insisted. "I'd like to spend a little time with you. I didn't really get much of a chance since your nerves got the better of you yesterday."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to let them do that."

"It's fine, I promise! I've been scared too, I know how hard it is. You don't have to explain yourself to me," Huey said nonchalantly. "Whatever you decide to do, I've got your back."

"Th-Thank you, Huey." Fluttershy murmured after a long pause. Suddenly, Huey noticed the mare's perpetually frowning lips begin to straighten into a line. His eyes widened slightly as they did not stop there and continued until it had curled into the smallest of smiles, barely noticeable, but enough for him to do so. Huey smiled back, while his heart felt warmer. It was the first time he had witnessed Fluttershy smile and it was a sight to behold. However, the smile swiftly became one of surprise when a cry of agony echoed round the room. Huey whirled round, while Fluttershy dove under the table, to see what the commotion was for and found himself witnessing an impossible sight.

Gilda was breathing fire, which was being used by Pinkie Pie to toast marshmallows. However, as soon as the fire stopped erupting from his beak, the griffon grasped her throat.

"Hot!" She yelled in anguish, her eyes watering and a hint of steam or smoke seeping out of her beak and nostrils.

"G, the punch!" Rainbow Dash suggested urgently. Gilda immediately rushed through the crowd of ponies towards the buffet table, knocking over a few who were too slow to get out of the way. The pained griffon swiftly filled up a glass and attempted to pour the contents down her throat, but was amazed to find not a single trace of liquid graced her tongue. Looking down, she discovered that the glass had a hole in it that prevented the contents from being drunk. Instead, the punch had spilt down the feathers covering her chest. All the ponies in the room were taking a great deal of delight from her plight, her friend, Rainbow Dash, included.

"Well, what do you know?" Pinkie Pie noted. "Pepper in the vanilla lemon drops and the punch served in a dribble-glass!"

"Ha! Priceless!" Rainbow Dash remarked with a grin. "Priceless!"

As Gilda looked around frantically for something to douse the flames in her mouth and throat, she felt something tap her shoulder. Turning round, she found Huey presenting a glass of punch for her to take.

"This isn't a prank," He reassured her. "I promise."

Gilda failed to let Huey finished, she swiftly snatched the glass from his hand and let the glass' contents flood her throat. With the fire extinguished, she took a few deep breaths before shooting a hateful grin in Pinkie's direction.

"Yeah, hilarious!" She grumbled with a roll of her eyes before turning to Huey. "Hey, human."

"Huey."

"Whatever," Gilda replied indignantly, while presenting the glass for Huey to take. "Thanks for helping a girl out there."

"It's fine," He stated with a dismissive wave of a hand, the other taking back his glass. "You looked like you were about to burst into flames, so... How could I not help out a griffon in distress?"

Huey was about to return to his table, but stopped when he noticed Gilda present a fist. He glanced down at it and then up at Gilda, who was staring back at him with a mixture of nonchalance and simmering frustration. Hesitantly, he clenched his free hand and accepted the fistbump. The griffon then skulked silently away, leaving him to return to the table, where Fluttershy was only just plucking up the courage to come out from her hiding spot.

"You okay?" Huey asked as he popped another mini donut into his mouth. "This prank stuff isn't exactly what I was expecting."

"It's probably just Pinkie Pie being P-P-Pinkie Pie," Fluttershy whispered, the top of her mane, ears and eyes the visible features available, the rest of her remaining under the table for a quick retreat to safety. Huey grimaced and tapped the table.

"If things get a bit too much for you, I can escort you home, if you like?" Huey suggested, causing the mare's eyes to widen.

"E-E-Escort m-me?" She stammered. "Oh n-n-n-no, I couldn't!"

"It would make me feel better to know you got home safely." Huey added sincerely.

"Oh, w-w-well, if it will make you feel better, I g-g-guess you can... If things get w-worse."

"Excellent!" Huey stated happily.

The party continued with barely any interruptions, even Fluttershy had come out of her shell and was playing the role of conductor for an orchestra of songbirds. The only exception being when Gilda was ushered over to a pile of presents meant for her. The excited griffon was so eager to open them, she fell foul of another prank that resulted in her releasing a canister of spitting snakes. Her bewildered expression and puffed up feathers causing the ponies even more amusement at her expense. Huey, on the other hand, had found the pranks juvenile and, in his view, rather hurtful. He didn't see the harm in pranks themselves, but the fact that they were being carried out in the presence of a massive crowd just made what could be a joyful moment just emotionally painful for the victim. Everyone else might find it amusing, but their amusement was caused by their suffering. As such, even though he did not hold Gilda in the highest regard, Huey felt a twinge of sympathy for her.

"Cake time, everypony!" Pinkie Pie announced, while wheeling a massive, two-tier cake into the centre of the room. Spike rushed over towards it with Twilight in tow.

"Hey, can I blow out the candles!?" The dragon begged, however his request was quickly shut down by the lavender unicorn.

"Why don't we let Huey and Gilda blow out the candles?" She suggested. "They are the guests of honour, after all!"

"I'm fine," Huey stated with a shrug. "Gilda can do it."

"Thanks, dude," The griffon said as she approached the cake. Taking a deep breath, she blew out the candles with a huge puff of breath. Gilda then smirked triumphantly at the crowd, but that triumph morphed into surprise when she noticed the candles had failed to extinguish. Huey frowned, immediately realising Gilda was falling foul of relighting candles. Much to the amusement of the other guests, Gilda began to frantically blow out the candles with ever larges puffs of breath, causing her to comically wheeze with each attempt. As the laughter continued to grow, Huey took pity on the griffon and stepped forwards. He gently pushed Gilda, who was on the verge of passing out due to hyperventilating, aside and pinched the top of a candle after licking his index finger and thumb.

Satisfied that the candle was definitely not going to resurrect itself unexpectedly, he licked his two fingers again and quickly extinguished the rest of the candles in the same manner.

"Relighting candles?" Huey asked with a hint of disappointment. "Really?"

"Really, really!" Pinkie chirped with an innocent smile. "It's a harmless joke!"

Huey bit his tongue and backed away from the cake, refusing to be drawn into the debate regarding whether it was okay to prank others or not. To his relief, Spike had burrowed his way into the cake and was noisily munching through it without any regard for the desires of others to have a slice uncontaminated by his scales and dirty feet, which proved to a be perfect distraction for everyone else. Eager to quickly withdraw to the periphery of the room again, he turned and walked towards Gilda to check on her before heading to the buffet table for more donuts.

"Hey, you alright?" He asked. "You looked like you were about to huff up a lung there."

Gilda grimaced and waved dismissively.

"It's cool, it'll take more than a harmless prank to bug me."

"If you say so, Gilda," Huey replied before swiftly leaving her to obtain more delicious treats.

"Hey, ya'll!" Applejack suddenly called out. "Let's play pin the tail on the pony!"

Huey sneered in disgust and shook his head. He was already here under duress, being dragged into playing such a childish game was something he would not permit. However, he was still forced to hear the equine's chatter.

"Oh, my favourite game!" Rarity declared proudly, causing Huey to cringe privately at how an adult could be so blatant in declaring such an embarrassing truth. "Can I go first? May I have the purple tail?"

"I'm the guest of honour!" Gilda suddenly growled. "I get the purple tail!"

"Yeah! Gilda should definitely go first!" Pinkie Pie chirped. Huey would have written off her statement as just part of the conversation, but his suspicions were raised at the unusual emphasis she had placed on the 'definitely'. He had held his tongue throughout the entire party, but Huey was convinced that Pinkie had established the party as a means to conduct continuous pranks on Gilda. The only conceivable proof that he could show was her answer to his query regarding the necessity of relighting candles. However, the only word stated in that conversation was 'really', so it was doubtful anyone would believe that it indicated an admission of guilt for all of the pranks or an admission that they were all meant for Gilda.

Sighing, Huey turned to watch the equine's play their party game. He mentally scolded himself for thinking Pinkie Pie could be so calculating and evil by orchestrating relentless, degrading pranks on her enemies. As far as Huey knew, the party mare never truly lost her overwhelming aura of happiness, even in moments of frustration or sadness, so how could it be possible that she would stoop to such diabolical levels of manipulation? Huey pushed the thoughts and suspicions to the back of his mind.

"Now, just walk straight ahead and pin the tail on the pony!" Pinkie instructed, while guiding Gilda towards a crudely drawn picture of an earth pony with a purple mane, cream coat and pink heart cutie mark.

"Just walk straight ahead and pin the tail on the pony!" Gilda repeated in a tone of voice intended to mimic Pinkie's. The griffon then turned her head to look in the mare's direction, even though she was blindfolded and incapable of seeing.

"I'm not falling for that!" She snarked. "This is another prank. Isn't it? I'm going this way!"

Huey watched as the griffon u-turned and began walking away from the poster. Even though the sight was silly, he could perfectly understand Gilda's suspicion. He even admitted to himself that he may have done the same thing, if the events so far had happened to him.

"Wait!" Pinkie cried. "The poster's this way!"

Sadly, her warning went unheeded as Gilda continued to walk blindly away. Suddenly, one of her back paws stepped into a piece of discarded cake that was on the floor. The griffon wailed in shock as she began skidding across the room. The ponies watched in amusement, while Huey dropped his plate and began to plough his way through the crowd to try and prevent Gilda from getting hurt. Before he could break free of the horde of equines, Gilda slid into the kitchen with a massive crash. Flour and bits of left over icing in a variety of colours erupted from the adjoining room, the icing splattering all over the floor. Huey's brow furrowed, anxious to know whether the griffon had been injured in what was clearly a very serious accident.

Much to his relief, Gilda emerged from the kitchen, covered in icing and the tail balanced on her beak in a manner that made it appear more like a moustache.

"Uh... Gilda?" Pinkie began timidly. "You pinned the tail on the wrong end."

The dazed griffon glanced down to see the purple facial accessory covering her beak, a look of bewilderment plastered over her features. As soon as the crowd began to laugh at her comical appearance, she clenched her eyes shut. Huey pursed his lips in wonder, it was clear that Gilda was trying to contain her emotions, but he couldn't put his finger on whether it was sadness or rage. His question was answered when the griffon reared up onto her hind paws and roared, causing a gust of wind more severe than the one Huey had experienced earlier that day.

"This is your idea of a good time!?" The enraged griffon bellowed. "I've never met a lamer bunch of dweebs in all my life!"

Gilda's gaze suddenly locked onto Pinkie Pie.

"You, Pinkie Pie, are Queen Lame-o with your weak little party pranks! Did you really think you could make me lose my cool!?"

Huey restarted his venture through the crowd, certain that this confrontation would become physical between the outraged griffon and the party mare. Meanwhile, Gilda flew over to Rainbow Dash and pulled her closer.

"Rainbow Dash and I have ten times as much cool as the rest of you put together!" She declared acidly before striding towards the door. "Come on, Dash, we're bailing on this pathetic scene."

Huey quickly broke free of the crowd and picked up Pinkie. The earth pony squeaked in surprise, while Huey huffed with exertion as he found out how heavy the equines were. Struggling, he carried her away to the back of the room. The plan, originally, was to carry her out of the room entirely, but he settled on putting space between Pinkie and Gilda, with himself standing between them, if necessary. Meanwhile. Gilda noticed that Rainbow Dash had failed to follow her. She turned towards the cyan pegasus angrily.

"Come on, Rainbow Dash!" She growled aggressively. "I said we're leaving!"

Rainbow Dash's head lowered in shame for a moment before perking back up with a look of anger that matched Gilda's.

"You know, Gilda?" She began calmly. "I was the one who set up all those 'weak' pranks at this party!"

"What!?" Gilda gasped in alarm and surprise, her gaze flicking between Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie in disbelief.

"So, I guess that means I'm Queen Lame-o!" Rainbow Dash continued, her growing anger becoming more prevalent in her voice.

"Come on, Dash!" Gilda stammered. "You're joshing me!"

"They weren't all meant for you specifically!" The cyan pegasus explained. "It was just bad luck that caused you to set them all off!"

"I should of have known!" Pinkie Pie remarked, while smacking her forehead with a hoof. "That dribble-glass had Rainbow Dash written all over it!"

"No way!" Gilda argued. "It was Pinkie Pie! She set up this party to trip me up, to make me look like a fool!"

Huey smirked, happy to see that he wasn't the only one who had been suspicious of Pinkie's motives for throwing the party. However, that quickly evaporated when Pinkie peeked out from behind him with a hurt look on her face.

"Me!?" She exclaimed despondently. "I threw this party to improve your attitude! I thought a good party might turn that frown upside down!"

The human's heart sank, a wave of guilt hitting him as the realisation he was completely wrong was displayed in full. He had been mistrusting of the party mare. He should have seen that it just was not in Pinkie's nature to be so callous, but he had believed it anyway, despite evidence to the contrary.

"And you sure didn't need any help making a fool out of yourself!" Rainbow Dash added, while stomping angrily towards the griffon. "You know? This is not how I thought my old friend would treat my new friends! If being cool is all you care about, Gilda, maybe you should find some 'cool' friends... Somewhere else."

Gilda looked down at the floor forlornly, but that soon morphed into frustration as she gritted her teeth and clenched her eyes.

"Oh yeah?" She began, her wings flaring out aggressively. "Well... You... You are just a... Flip-flop! Cool one minute and lame the next. When you decide not to be lame anymore, give me a call."

Without waiting for a response, Gilda stormed out, slamming the door behind her.

"Not... Cool." Rainbow Dash fumed. "And Pinkie, I'm sorry that I brought Gilda here. I didn't know she was so rude and... I feel bad for ruining one of your cool parties."

"It's okay, Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie stated nonchalantly. "If you want to spend your time with grumpy griffons, that's fine by me!"

"I'd rather spend my time with you," Rainbow replied. "No hard feelings?"

The cyan mare offered Pinkie a hoof, which she gratefully accepted. However, as soon as they connected, the pair of them suddenly yelped in surprise and shock. Huey stepped forward to help Rainbow Dash, the next victim of Pinkie's hoofbuzzer, but was surprised when Rainbow Dash revealed she had one too. Huey facepalmed in exasperation.

"Hey, Pinkie," Twilight said sadly. "I'm sorry I accused you of misjudging Gilda. It looks like I'm the one who misjudged you!"

Pinkie immediately pulled the despondent unicorn into a hug.

"It's okay, Twilight! Even you can't be a super-smart-smartie-smart pants all the time!" She replied happily. "Come on, everypony, there's still a whole lot of party to finish!"

The reinvigorated crowd of equines cheered and applauded the master of parties, while Huey shook his head and quickly whispered he was going to head home to Twilight before vanishing out of the front door, while no one was looking.

"Spike, fetch me a quill, ink and some parchment!"

Huey's eyes opened wide. In the exact moment he had decided to retire for the night, convinced that Twilight and Spike were going to party to till dawn, the same pair waltzed into the library. Groaning, he stood up and waved at the ecstatic pair.

"What took you guys so long!?" Huey asked in irritation. "What kind of party lasts... Um... I don't know, there's no clock here, but it's clearly a long time since it's bloody dark outside!"

"A Pinkie Pie party?" Spike suggested sarcastically as he retrieved the requested items for Twilight, while she lit a candle with magic from her horn. "I'm gonna hit the hay. Sweet dreams, everyone!"

"Sweet dreams, Spike!" Twilight replied cheerfully, while Huey merely mumbled a half-hearted reply.

"So, what are you up to now?" Huey enquired, while pulling up a chair next to the desk the lavender unicorn was using to write on. "Aren't you tired too?"

"I am, Huey," Twilight admitted. "But, I have one last thing I need to do before I head to sleep; write my friendship report!"

"You write reports!?" Huey asked incredulously. "How does that even work?"

"Well, when I witness or experience a truly important moment between friends, I record it!"

"I'd argue with you about the principles of scientific method, but I gave up trying to find logic when I discovered griffons exist here." Huey stated in defeat. "What do you intend to write?"

"Well, I've been thinking about that," Twilight mused. "Here's my first draft!"

The human suddenly noticed a scroll occupying the entirety of his vision. With a grumble of annoyance at almost being blinded, he grasped the parchment and began to read it out loud.

"Dearest Princess Celestia,

Today I learned that it's hard to accept when somepony you like wants to spend time with somepony who's not so nice. Though it's impossible to control who your friends hang out with, it is possible to control your own behaviour. Just continue to be a good friend. In the end, the difference between a false friend and one who's true will surely come to light.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle"

"What do you think?" Twilight asked eagerly. Huey looked at the unicorn and then at the parchment again before nodding.

"I think it's perfect," He said quietly. "Um... Could I perhaps write something too?"

"Of course, let me just grab another piece of parchment for you to write on."

"No," Huey interrupted. "I meant... Can I add something to the report?"

Twilight blinked, her expression one of total bewilderment.

"You mean, you learned something about friendship too?" She asked, her mouth agape and eyes wide.

"I really think I did," Huey murmured. "I was going to keep it to myself, since it's about something really bad that I've done, but... I can't."

Twilight reached out and gently rubbed his shoulder.

"Whatever you've done, I forgive you," She soothed. "The fact that you know you're wrong and wish to learn from your mistake shows that you're not a bad po-... I mean human, because of this."

Huey smiled weakly at Twilight, who smiled back before dipping the quill into the ink well.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

Today, I made the mistake of misjudging someone who has nothing, but kindness, in their heart. I fell into the trap of expecting a complete stranger, and member of another species, to act in the same manner as those of my own kind. Even though I had evidence proving that they were not a bad pony, I still harboured unwarranted suspicions about them. It's unlikely that they will ever realise I thought about them in such a mean-spirited way, but I could not let myself carry this mistake as a secret for the rest of my life.

No matter how much your past experiences convince you that those around you are secretly in possession of black hearts, you must always give others a chance, lest you paint their hearts black through your own prejudiced actions.

Yours sincerely,
Huey"

Twilight looked up at the human and nodded her approval.

"Thank you, Twilight," Huey replied gratefully before gently scratching her ears. The lavender mare cooed softly in appreciation before suddenly being surprised by the human embracing her, which she swiftly returned.

"Pardon my asking," Twilight probed warily. "But, who did you think was a bad pony?"

"Well," Huey began nervously. "You know how Gilda kept falling foul of all those pranks at the party?"

Twilight nodded.

"I believed that Pinkie was responsible for them all too," He admitted in shame. "I was convinced that after what I saw before stomping in here earlier today that she was going to teach her a lesson."

"What did you see exactly?" Twilight asked. "You were really angry and Pinkie wouldn't tell me anything!"

"I saw Gilda being a total jerk. She even roared at Fluttershy, causing her to fly away in tears!"

"And you thought Pinkie planned all those tricks as revenge?"

"I did," Huey sighed. "I shouldn't have believed it. It just... Isn't Pinkie... Full stop. No arguments. Pinkie wouldn't dare, yet I still thought that. In fact, when Gilda voiced that same suspicion when she snapped, I felt a twinge of joy upon realising that I wasn't the only one, but it immediately became guilt. I shouldn't have misjudged Pinkie Pie so badly, especially when I had seen with my own eyes that she's a gem. A really unusual gem, but a gem nonetheless."

Twilight leaned closer and gently nuzzled Huey's cheek to comfort him. He nodded gratefully before returning to his impromptu sleeping bag.

"Sweet dreams, Twilight," Huey said, while wrapping himself in the quilt.

"You too, Huey, sweet dreams." Twilight whispered before blowing out the candle and heading to bed.