Sour Sweetness

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12

Chapter 1

It was a bright sunny Tuesday when he arrived, nothing bad had happened recently and everypony's day were going quite well. That is until reality seemed to bend and fracture, there outside Ponyville was a portal to another dimension. This of course alarmed the ruling diarchy of Equestria, they feared the potential of an invasion from a nearby dimension. In response a battalion of knights, war mages, and the princesses themselves went to investigate the hole in their reality. One of the princesses stepped forward to inspect the opening only for it to start ripping and sparking erratically. The warriors readied themselves for the coming onslaught of enemies and to fight for their lives. Then one creature stepped out while looking down at a strange device that was connected to him somehow. It kept moving until it walked right into to chest of the alabaster alicorn looking up in shock then slowly gazing around at the army surrounding it then back up to the alicorn and quietly said sorry then turned back to the portal to go back home only for it to close behind it, leaving it trapped in a new land with a huge army surrounding it filled with unknown creatures “ well dang”

1 year later
“Happy Anniversary Anon!” The harmony of yells seemed to echo through the medium sized home as the group celebrated the arrival of their human friend to their world and the time they have had with him.

“ Thanks you guys, I really appreciate this” Anonymous seemed to be overcome with emotion for a moment until one of his friends pointed something out.

“But, Anon you helped us set up” The statement seemed to stop Anon from letting out any alleged tears and making him turn to them with a straight face.

“Nonetheless I appreciate the sentiment Tavi” Octavia simply rolled her eyes at the odd human before trotting back to the side of her girlfriend Vinyl Scratch who was enjoying some of the cookies Anon baked himself alongside a small dragon who’s speaking in an animated style about his latest game of Ogres & Obulettes with Anon and his friends. Anon was quite fond of the small dragon and once he had a home of his own he let Spike host games of his choice as long as he was careful not to make a mess and soon the place had become a sort of second home to the dragon which Twilight appreciates.

“Anon! Happy Anniversary Darling” The sound of a door opening along with the sound of many clopping hooves brought Anon’s attention to his new guests entering through his front door. The first was obviously Rarity followed by Rainbow dash and Applejack all surrounded by their younger counterparts which consisted of Apple bloom, Sweetie belle, and Scootaloo who after saying hello made a b-line to the desert table which was pretty amusing to the four friends. Anon turned his attention back to the three mares and remembered how he met each of them, he was introduced to Rarity through Spike when he heard he was having clothing issues. When he explained his situation to Rarity she seemed to understand completely and was even willing to make him a full new wardrobe for free which Anon didn’t agree with. So after a lot of bargaining and compromising they decided that Anon would owe her a few favors along with agreeing to joining her for some tea, which ended up making the two become friends faster. Though in the back of his mind Anon had the idea that she might never use those favors just to prove a point.

In the end they became pretty good friends and spoke frequently about fashion from his world and her many interest besides fashion. He met Applejack for the first time during one of his and Rarity’s tea times when she burst into her house and yelled that the Crusaders had somehow gotten themselves trapped at the bottom of a crevasse. Thinking he could help stop the events from 127 hours from happening in pony form Anon tagged along which proved useful as when they arrived they found that the crevasse had caved in somewhat and little sweetie belle was stopping the rocks from crushing all three of them, thankfully Anon and Applejack were strong enough to hold back the rocks from the top while Rarity levitated the young ones out of peril. After a long session of scolding tears the children and their guardians started their way home and on the way Applejack said that he was welcome to the farm at anytime. He took her up on that when he needed somewhere to stay after he moved out of the library and had to wait for his home to finish being remodeled. The apples accepted him without a second thought and he proceeded to bond with all of them so much that he’s now considered a cousin to Applejack which warmed Anon’s heart to no end. Rainbow dash doesn’t have such an elaborate story as the other two as he had met her a day after the crevasse incident, she had tackled him to the ground while tearing up and thanking him profusely for saving her surrogate sister. Apparently she had been in Cloudsdale for some kind of weather team meeting that she couldn’t avoid so according to her the two of them were as cool as can be and were automatically friends. Which she really meant as she quickly took to hanging out with him when they didn’t have work which usually consisting hanging out in a field where she could show off for a bit or at his house where they just hung out and talked which was nice.

“Ay Rares, Jax, and Skittles thanks for coming!” The three reacted positively when he said their nicknames especially Dash as she seemed to grin a bit more than they was, the funny thing is when I first called her that and explained what skittles were to her she didn’t just almost die laughing she said she would use “Taste the Rainbow” as a pickup line when she can which is hilarious and will always be an inside joke between us.

“Anon, you know we wouldn’t miss this for the world” Dash spoke up next while flapping to his side and giving him a hug which he relished in… ponies are soft. Applejack and Rarity refrained from hugging him though due to the height difference and didn’t want to basically lay on him just to hug him for a moment which he knew and didn’t take personally.

So...uh is ‘she’ coming?” Anon looked away while fiddling with his hands while asking the question which helped clue in the three about who he was talking about and glanced at each other before Applejack spoke.

“Uh sorry sugarcube… ah tried ta get her ta come but it’s ah no can do sorry again” She gave Anon a sad smile which he returned for a moment before shaking himself out of it and grabbing Applejack’s hat and pulling it down over her face gently while saying.

“Ok, no more of that sad face. This is a party, which means no sad ponies allowed, got it?” The three brightened up considerably at the words and happily went along with being brought to the living room instead of standing in the doorway talking, the three mares spoke among themselves while Anon stayed silent thinking about the topic of the conversation which turned sour, the one pony most would think would come to his party but has never even come near his house once… Pinkamena Diane Pie or as most would call her Pinkie Pie.

When Anon first arrived in Ponyville after meeting the princesses and being briefed on his situation he was able to begin making a life for himself somewhere close by, the first pony that greeted him was Pinkie Pie which is obvious as she is the first to greet every new occupant of the town but to Anon she was different from all the other ponies he’s met where they were just small and cute but compared to Pinkie Pie they were nothing. Pinkie looked as adorable as a baby kitten that wanted to cuddle with you while being surrounded by flowers, her big baby blue eyes and soft cotton candy mane made him want to hug her forever and this was before he got to know her. Soon after meeting her a party in honor of Anon arriving to Ponyville was thrown in the local library where he was staying with the princess’s student Twilight Sparkle along with her assistant/little brother Spike, the party was amazing and was full of many new faces and new foods which he enjoyed immensely but it was around then when his relationship with Pinkie changed. It started with Lyra asking me what my profession was back home and Anon was happy to answer that he was a very accomplished event planner and that he dealt in many different types of events ranging from regular parties and weddings to even official meetings and planning, at the time Anon didn’t see anything wrong with telling them his prime method of income but was surprised to hear from Lyra that the towns resident party planner was none other than Pinkie Pie which only heightened his interest in her which led to him asking other ponies about Pinkie and when he was told about all the selfless and nice things she has done for everyone along with saving the world a few times along with her humble beginnings his feelings of admiration for Pinkie slowly changed into something a bit more affectionate, sadly while his affection for Pinkie grew Pinkie started to hear about what his job was and a seed of annoyance and an unknown feeling was planted in her mind. In the coming weeks after the party Anon’s crush along with his business grew rather large giving him the opportunity to start making payments on a plot of land where his home would be, due to Ponyville being so close to the capitol many of the businesses had connections to other towns and corporations which meant sometimes they needed to schedule a meeting with them or with a representative. One of his more frequent customers was Big Mac of the Apple Family, when someone says their family trees roots run deep and wide they aren’t kidding as they apparently have some kind of familial connecting with every food related business including meats as someone in their family married a griffin and had hippogriff children who grew up to be famous meat distributors. When someone wanted a meeting with a certain branch of food they contact Big Mac who works as a sort of liaison or bridge for his family which means a lot of meetings needing to be setup along with location works, catering, sleeping arrangements, travel, and company preferences need to be kept in mind and all done through letters, which means he needed to be extra clear about what he need done before the deadline.

All the business Anon was getting had started to annoy Pinkie as she was the prime party planning pony of Ponyville particularly pertaining to partial payment plans, the annoyance was easy for her to ignore at first as she reasoned it off with just him being good at scheduling a meeting and not parties so she was fine. Then one day the straw that broke the ponies back appeared, it turned out to be Octavia’s birthday and when Pinkie found out about it she was more than prepared. It wasn’t even noon before she had all the supplies and invitations ready for when Octy inevitable asks her to plan her party, her pinkie sense told her she was in for a doozy of a surprise and it would happen around her breaktime so she waited outside at a small table while she had her lunch with her adorable little Gummy. Her break was going so well and she thought it would be even better as she saw Octavia walking down the road towards Sugarcube Corner which positively elated her… then He entered the picture, Anonymous the human who she for the first time felt annoyed by exited Quills & Sofas nearby and turned to greet Octavia.

“Oh hey Octavia, happy b-day” Octavia seemed to smile a bit wider at the greeting then responded.

“Thank you Anon and it’s very nice to see you as well, I was wondering if I could trouble you for something if you are not against it?” The question seemed to throw Anon for a moment before he responded.

“It’s fine, I got nothing planned for today.” After he accepted her request Octavia smiled politely and continued to speak in a calm mannered tone.

“As you already know today is my birthday and I wish to have a nice calm party with my friends and family so I am inquiring if you could organize such an event for me, of course I am willing to pay the full price for your services” Pinkie zoned out after she said the dreaded words she silently hoped nopony would say to Anonymous and it just happened right in front of her, slowly the small twang of annoyance inside pinke changed and twisted into something she hasn’t felt since she faced Discord for the first time… Hate.

Author's Note

I hope you enjoy the first chapter

For those who are asking I’m not stopping my other stories I just need a small break from it so enjoy this smaller series for now
Thanks <3

Chapter 2

The sun had started to set over the small village of Ponyville and the party in Anon’s house had started to come to an end as many of the guests started their way back to their homes for a good night's rest… well not all of them. Anon relaxed on his couch next to a drowsy Rarity while Rainbow Dash rolled the dice and got two sixes again.

“Aww Yeah! 12 again!” The prismatic pegasus went to move her hat piece again around the board when spike reached out and stopped her by snatching her piece.

“Wait just one second… according to the rules if you roll doubles three times in a row then you go straight to the dungeon and don’t pass go!” Spike grinned at the shock mare and placed her piece on the dungeons space, Anon was happily shocked when Rarity pulled out a box with the words Mareopoly on it and promptly grabbed a few of his friends to play and much to his amusement and annoyance he was still terrible at the game and apparently so was Rarity as both of them were quickly bankrupted and were left to spectate Spike and Rainbow fight for the rest of the board.

“What! Come on that’s so unfair!” Rainbow crossed her forelegs and waited for Spike to roll next, what’s really unfair is how Rainbow has been cheating for the whole game by using her wings beats to move the dice to get a better roll. Anon noticed after she bankrupted him by buying the properties right in front of his poor shoe piece by rolling double twos twice and getting a bunch of villages built on them knocking him out in one fell swoop.

“Yes! Canterlot Castle please!” Spike handed Anon four fake 100 bit coin while Anon handed back the property card, at this point two were just trying to buy up the whole board in hopes of the other landing on their property. Now that it was Rainbow’s turn she held up a get-out-of-dungeon free card then went to roll again and unfortunately for her rolled a five which landed her on the first of the four purple spaces called ‘Hallow Shades’ which already had a full castle built on it which fortunately for Spike belonged to him… and that means.

“Yes! That’s game cheater!” Spike sat there laughing while Rainbow held her face in her hooves for a brief moment before joining him in laughter, the loud laughing seemed to rouse Rarity fully as she sat up straight and started to fix her mane with her magic while addressing the three of us with a tired smile.

“Well darlings, now that our game has finished I believe it’s about time to clean up and retire for the evening don’t you think” When Rarity said evening Anon glanced over to a wall clock that he had hanging next to his pretty sparse bookcase to see much to his astonishment that it was much later as it seemed as the clock read 10:13 pm which means he needed to get to sleep, without further prompting Anon stood from his couch and dusted himself off while addressing his friends.

“Alright Rares is right it’s about time to clean up and hit the sack, oh and Spike? Twi said it’s cool if you sleep over so you can stay if you want” Spike perked up at the information and stood along with Rainbow to help clean up, while Anon’s home wasn’t the largest in town it did have quite a bit of space in it so the clean up took a few minutes but in the end it was all put away and Anon’s living room returned to normal aside from the folded blankets and pillows for Spike. Anon and Spike had just said goodbye to both Rarity and Rainbow Dash for the night and had gone back inside to get ready for bed, Anon went straight to his bathroom and brought out some spare toiletries for Spike along with a special metal toothbrush he got from Twilight for when Spike slept over. Anon decided he would take a shower in the morning and said goodnight to the basically sleepwalking Spike he passed by on his way out of the bathroom and headed into his bedroom, forgoing the idea of changing his clothes Anon just flopped onto his bed after kicking off his shoes and fell asleep and had dreams of blue and yellow balloons bouncing about.

A few hours later

Some ponies say the most important thing about sleep is resting or the feeling of warmth around them to Anon it was neither of those, his favorite part of sleep was the dreams he could have and he was in the middle of a particularly good one about him exploring the deep sea. Anon didn’t question how he could breath but didn’t matter as he was nonetheless rendered breathless at the amazing scenery around him, after swimming around Anon found what looked to be a giant white clam on a pedestal made of multi colored coral which seemed to glitter and shine from underwater light shining down from the luminescent moon high above the surface of the water. Anon was drawn towards the clam and as he drew near the clam slowly opened slowly with the inside giving off a soft pink glow that appealed to the eye or at least to Anon’s eye, after a few moments of unbearable suspense the clam finally opened revealing-

Anon jerked awake as the right rays of the sun splashed onto his face, after a few moments from recovering from the temporary blindness Anon turned to the curtains which he sworn were closed when he went to sleep last night. After taking a quick glance Anon found the perpetrator to this sacrilege.

“Goood Morning Anon!” A bright eyed and scaly tailed Spike the Dragon greeted his friend happily while holding open the large curtains the best he could, the same could not be said for Anon as he glared balefully at the young dragon and silently contemplated the consequences of punting him out of the window for disturbing his slumber. With a mighty yawn Anon decided the risk was too high and finally got out of bed while giving a still smiling Spike a quick head rub which he seemed to enjoy and started his way to his bathroom with Spike in tow.

“Dibs on shower first… “ Anon’s tired declaration was punctuated by a wide yawn.

“Dibs- aww man!” Spike smiled good naturedly at Anon and hurried ahead to get started on brushing his teeth as it took him a bit longer due to his strong fangs. Anon sluggishly entered the bathroom and started to brush his teeth while Spike scrubbed the edges of his fangs carefully as to not cut his brush, when they finished Anon shooed Spike out of the bathroom so he could shower in peace. After a good scrubbing with some borderline scalding water Anon felt refreshed and ready to take on the day after a good breakfast, Anon exited the bathroom and walked down the hall into his living room where he saw Spike folding up the covers he used until he saw Anon.

“Oh Anon umm… is it okay if we have some… uh you know… with our breakfast?” Anon immediately caught on to what Spike was asking and smiled and nodded his head at the drake who did a small fist pump in excitement then jogged off to go take a shower, Anon entered his connecting kitchen and opened his fridge and pulled out a few ingredients and the object of Spike’s desires… Bacon… or more specifically wild manticore bacon which was both his and Spike’s favorite. Ever since Spike found out Anon was omnivorous he instead of acting wary like most ponies did at first he asked if he could try some once they were alone in his house which didn’t surprise Anon much as when Spike first laid eyes on the BLT he made for his lunch that day he almost started drooling all over the floor of Twilight’s kitchen, ever since that day Spike has eaten some kind of meat while at his house which had actually had a positive effect on him as his scales had more of a shine to them and even his height has changed by a few inches over time.

“Mmmmmm” The smell of frying back seemed to attract Spike to the kitchen table and sat down still a bit damp from the shower but clean nonetheless, with a quick flick of his wrist Anon slid Spike’s plate of bacon and eggs in front of him which he immediately started to dig into. Anon sat down with his own plate and dug in as well filling the air around them with the sound of chewing and the clinking of silverware, it didn’t take long for Anon to finish his food with Spike not far behind. Leaning back Anon let out a sigh of contentment from his full stomach and didn’t even try to stop the burp trying to escape him body.

“*Buurp* excuse me” Spike gave a small giggle at the burp before freezing and grabbing his stomach before puffing his cheeks out, Anon knew the motion well and went to duck under the table as stream of emerald fire spewed above him and barely missing his face. When the stream of fire ended and coalesced into a scroll which fell nicely onto the table between them, Anon slowly rose above the edge of the table with a deadpan look on his face that slowly morphed into a grin as he licked his fingers and put out a small flame on the edge of his hair.

“Nice one… what’s it say?” Spike rubbed his head sheepishly with one claw while grabbing the binded scroll with the other before unfurling it and read for a moments.

“It’s for you from Twilight… apparently Mayor Mare requested Twilight to get in touch with you for a meeting at the town hall about some kind of event… um also Twi wants me to pick up a package at the post office for her while on my way back… well I guess we know what we’re doing today hehe” Spike put down the scroll when he finished reading and watched as Anon put their dishes in the sink and clean up a bit before responding.

“Cool … well I better get ready so i’ll meet you at the door okay?” Anon walked back to his room and grabbed his shoes and his bit pouch then returned just as fast only stopping to tie his laces, at the door waiting patiently was Spike who didn’t bring anything with his this time so he was leaving empty clawed.

“You gonna be okay walking home alone?” Anon showed mild concern for the reptile who only waved it off and responded.

“I’ll be just fine it’s only a little package then a leisurely stroll home so don’t worry okay” Anon nodded to Spike and went to unlock his door and exit with Spike while grabbing the key off of the hanger next to the door, outside was a normal bright day in ponyville with ponies of different types and colors going about their business as usual. Due to the location of Anon’s home the two will need to split up to reach their destinations so Anon held out a fist to Spike which he reciprocated with his own then the two turned away from each other and started to walk down the road away from Anon’s home. Anon didn’t live very far from the town hall so it only took a few minutes of walking and saying good morning to some random acquaintances on the way like Bonbon and Lyra or Cranky on his way to the market with his wife, the outside of the town hall was nothing remarkable other than being pretty well maintained so nothing really stopped Anon from walking inside and being greeting with the sight of an empty waiting area with a receptionists looking down at something below the desk covered in papers and files.

“Excuse me, I believe the Mayor is expecting me?” She didn’t even look up and pointed a hoof as a door the said ‘Mayor Mare’ written on the glass window, paying her no mine Anon continued past the receptionist and walked up to the door and knocked. Anon heard the sound of papers moving before a voiced from within.

“Come in!” Anon enter the office and saw Mayor Mare waiting for him while sitting behind the desk with a small pleasant smile on her muzzle, Anon walked up to her desk and stopped beside a chair and only when she gestured to sit he did. Anon wanted to show the utmost respect for potential clients so he did whatever he could to not overstep his boundaries when it came to his job.

“I would like to start immediately but we have one more pony coming to this meeting so it shouldn’t take long her to get here” Anon was confused at her words and was about to ask who else was coming when the sound of fast paced knocked came from the door before it opened with a quick fanfare leaving confetti floating in the air as Pinkie Pie bounced into the room with a large smile on her muzzle only to stop suddenly on the floor when she caught sight of Anon then the smile quickly fell flat and she glanced questioningly at the Mayor.

“Ah yes Miss Pinkamena i’m happy you could make it so quickly, if you could please take a seat next to Mister Anon we could get this meeting underway” After hesitating for a moment Pinkie Pie slowly trotted to the chair next to Anon who was trying to keep himself calm in the presence of his crush with mild success, after taking her seat Mayor Mare organized some of her papers before speaking again.

“You two might no know but the annual tax summit for the surrounding cities is coming up in the next few weeks and due to the summit being of the highest importance so we may regulate the income tax for businesses in out towns this is where you come in Anon because as of late you have been making a name for yourself as a very dependable event planner, but due to the popularity surrounding Miss Pie’s parties it has been decided that the summit shall be a bit more fun than it’s usual dry and tedious self. Of course you shall be compensated for your work as the usual pay for planning an event of this size and importance ends up being… over a thousand bits each depending on the outcome” The sound of pay over a thousand bits each distracted both Anon and Pinkie from their feelings as they started to fantasize about what they would use their thousand it for, they didn’t get far in thought as Mayor Mar continued to speak.

“My only condition is the two of you must work together to complete this task” That snapped both out of their reverie quickly as a myriad of very different emotions ran through the two then in a synchronized manner other stood up and said.

“What!” Anon’s smile only grew as he thought of this as the opportunity of a lifetime to not only make a thousand bits but also try to get the target of his affections to reciprocate them… This was amazing!

“What!” Pinkie’s lips actually curved down into a frown along with her curly hair going slightly straight from her less than positive emotions, if she agrees then she’ll have to work with the one whos trying and slightly succeeding in stealing her calling but also her friends and because she was a bit strapped for cash because of the last party she threw not have as big of a turn out she was strapped for cash so not having a way out of working with ugh…Anon… just made her opinion of him even worse… if that was possible.

“So… Will you two accept my terms?”

Author's Note

I’m glad everyone is enjoying my story so much so... here’s some more to read

I really appreciate all the support from all of you and I want to say thank you for all the likes and constructive criticism given all of which will help me give you more and better content so again thank you and I hope you enjoy this chapter <3

Chapter 3

“So… Will you two accept my terms?” Mayor Mare rested her forelegs on her desk while the two party planners thought about her proposal, Anon looked like he had already made up his mind judging by determined expression on his face. Anon had nothing to lose and everything to gain from this job so he was ready to work his hardest to impress Pinkie Pie and get paid in the process… it’s a win-win situation for them.

“Well?” Mayor Mare arched an eyebrow at Pinkie’s frozen expression which betrayed no emotion which is quite a contrast from the turmoil raging inside of the mare’s mind, Pinkie really didn’t want to accept the offer and would rather go cold pony on cupcakes then have to stay and work around Anon for what sounds like a few weeks at least. Pinkie chanced a look at Anon’s face and felt a spike of irritation from the determined expression on his face, she could almost hear what he was thinking “With this I can completely overshadow Pinkie Pie and become the new premium party planner hahah!” well not on Pinkie’s watch you aren’t then slowly an idea came to Pinkie’s equally pink brain, she could accept the proposal and do so much better than Anon that everypony will see the truth about him. A smile finally grew across Pinkie’s muzzle almost at the exact same time as Anon’s and in an excited tone both loudly proclaimed.

“Deal!” Mayor Mare jumped slightly at the overzealous acceptance but smiled nonetheless at there enthusiasm then slid forward a contract detailing their side of the job and their inevitable payment upon completion. The two wasted no time in signing though it took Anon a bit longer due to the quills being so small but afterwards the two were dismissed along with a comment from Mayor Mare about notifying her if any problems arise or if they have any questions. Outside the Town Hall the two beings had just left the building and turned to look at each other for a brief moment and stayed like that for a minute, Anon’s nerves started back up now that the excitement of the offer was over and was struggling to keep himself under control so he settled on just looking into her adorable baby blue eyes. Pinkie Pie on the other hand was going through some doubts on her decision to try and showup Anon as she’s known to not have the best patience when it comes to things that she feels strongly about. The staredown lasted for a moment longer until the sound of grunting and struggling was heard nearby which caused the two of them to look around them in confusion until they noticed some of the other ponies nearby staring at something down the road behind Anon, turning around Anon saw a tired and bedraggled Spike pushing a large wooden crate that was half the size of Anon down the road while grumbling something not so nice under his breath. Concerned and a little bit amused Anon hurried over to the poor dragon and stopped him from pushing any further.

“Spike… please explain why you are pushing a griffin sized crate… alone?” Spike just continued to breath heavily and raised a shaking claw up in the one moment gesture before struggling to say.

“I’ll … huff… tell… puff… you… later” The small dragon seemed ready to pass out from exertion and in a moment of pity Anon turned to Pinkie and nodded goodbye before picking Spike up and setting him on top of the crate then reaching down and slowly raising the crate and started his way to Twilight’s home the library, Anon had built up a fair bit of muscle since coming to Equestria due to all the random monster attacks and evil villains so he at least gained something from it that didn’t involve friendship. After a good bit of walking Spike had finally recovered enough to have a full conversation with Anon though he was still covered in sweat and dust much to his displeasure.

“Thanks for the assist dude, I owe you one” Anon laughed at his thanks and replied jokingly.

“That makes ten you owe me, remember the time when you accidentally burned Rares favorite measuring tape and I had to distract her while you replaced it?” Spike was rendered breathless again by his laughing but was quick to respond this time.

“How about the time you got yourself stuck to Applejack’s tail with glue huh? Come to think of it… how did that happen?” Anon would have face palmed hard at the memory if he wouldn’t have dropped the box and Spike along with it so instead went with an amused sigh

“Jax had need some help scrapbooking some photos from the most recent reunion with her family and since i’m the only being she knows with hands she invited me over to help and while we were gluing them in some of the photos had glitter on them and a lot had spilled onto her tail, I told her and she just said to brush it off for her and where it went to do so… I couldn’t let go… you don’t know how many misunderstandings happened that day” Spike was rolling around on top of the crate laughing his tail off at the memory which made it a bit harder for Anon to walk straight but he didn’t mind it all that much. The walk to Twilight’s library didn’t take long for Anon to reach but he was still just as winded from carrying such a huge crate to far and talking the whole time as well, with a bit of difficulty Anon was able to set down the crate without crushing any of his fingers outside next to the front entrance to Golden Oaks where Twilight spend a good 60% of her time reading or experimenting and the other 40% hanging out with her friends which included all the random adventures they have. Anon was still a bit sore from the walk but still went to knock on the door anyway to get Twilight’s attention which didn’t take long as the sound of her voice came from inside.

“Coming!” The door opened to reveal a slightly ragged looking Twilight Sparkle, her mane was sticking up in a few places and her eyes had bags under them which slightly concerned both Anon and Spike considering what happened the last time she look like this.

“Oh there you are with my package Spike! And hello to you too Anon, please bring it around back” and with that Twilight stepped outside and closed the door behind her then without any further prompting walked past the two bipeds and walked around to the back of her home leaving Anon and Spike just staring after her. Anon and Spike glanced at each other before Spike shrugged then climbed off the crate and went to follow leaving Anon to pick the crate back up and trail behind slowly.

“Dang Twi, what did you order… a bunch of rocks?” Anon placed down the crate once he reached the back of the building and looked up to see what looks like a large circle with many different elaborate symbols inside and around it, just looking at it gave Anon that prickly feeling he got when he came in contact with magic… like pop rocks against his skin. Without a word Twilight lit up her horn and covered the top of the crate in her magic then popped it right off exposing its contents to the three.

“Wait a second, It is rocks!” Anon was slightly annoyed that she sent her small young assistant to go push around a huge crate of rocks all day but before Anon could state his feelings Twilight spoke first.

“They’re not rocks, they’re waystones and I needed them to complete… this” A quick flash of her horn and all the waystones levitated out of the crate and around the circle leaving six diamond shaped rocks floating in the air unmoving in Twilight’s telekinetic grip. Twilight let go of the stones leaving them to float on their own then took a deep breath and scrunched her eyes shut in concentration, the prickling feeling Anon was feeling went from pop rocks all the way up to needles jabbing at him which would have caused him to flinch if he wasn’t distracted from the bright flare of lavender magic springing from Twilight’s horn and flying to the first waystone saturating it with her magic which clung to it like purple napalm. The mare wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead then got back into position.

“Now for the others” Five quick flashes of magic came from her horn and covered the remaining five in the impossible flame before all six flashed a quick azure blue and the fire was absorbed inside leaving behind blue arcane symbols that seemed to hum with energy, the six waystones started to spin slowly around the circle painted on the ground while slowly giving off a blue aura some of which was channeled into the circle which made it turn a similar hue of blue as the symbols on the stones. Anon was astounded by the light show happening before him and when it stopped he was stunned and slightly glad he didn’t have epilepsy because he would be in trouble with all of the flashing colors.

“Done, and with that it’s finally finish” Twilight had many droplets of sweat around her horn and seemed to sag even more from exhaustion while her horn gave off a thin line of smoke until Spike lick his fingers and reached up and put it out which snapped Anon out of his stupor.

“What is it?” Twilight slowly turned her head towards Anon and spoke in a slow tired tone.

“It’s a self reliant magic transfer node which can send you anywhere with a corresponding waystone with just a thought and with no magic drain from the user” as tired as she was Twilight seemed to puff up in pride of her creation until Anon spoke again.

“So it’s a teleporter for those with no magic” Twilight nodded wearily at Anon and responded “More or less” before suddenly tipping over and almost slamming her head against the empty crate before Anon caught her.

“So… sorry… I haven’t slept in… a while” And with that she was asleep in Anon’s arms leaving a very concerned Spike and a confused Anon to carry her inside and get her to the bed, Anon was not expecting this when he went to help Spike and was looking forward to telling both Spike and Twilight about the good news so he’ll just have to settle with Spike.

“So… guess what the Mayor wanted?” Spike perked up from his side of the couch and set down the book about gem types he was reading to listen.

“Uh… she needed something planned?” Spike said that like it’s the most obvious thing in the world which made Anon wilt a bit at how he made it sound but shook it off and kept talking.

“Not just anything, she need my help to plan the next tax summit with the other towns in the area!” Spike just stared at Anon while his voice grew an octave from excitement and waited for the rest of the news then felt confused when he stopped talking.

“That’s it?” Anon realized Spike didn’t get it and kept explaining.

“This job is as huge as the pay is and if that wasn’t enough Mayor Mare wanted to make the summit a bit more fun and wanted me to work with… you know who” Spike’s eyes widened when he saw the meaning behind Anon’s excitement and suddenly felt just as pumped as he did.

“So your telling me that not only are you getting paid what sounds like a whole bunch of bits for this job but you also get to work and stay around the mare of your dreams? You are the luckiest guy I have ever met!” Spike was floored by the opportunity that had just fallen into Anon’s lap that it until that dark place in his mind brought up probably the biggest problem with Anon’s situation which is Pinkie’s opinion of Anon. It was no secret that Pinkie hated Anon with a sugar filled ferocity that none could top and showed it openly whenever someone brought up Anon, but whenever Anon was around Pinkie seemed to hide away all of her disdain and put up a neutral face so he doesn’t see which relieves anypony in the vicinity as just like Pinkie Anon doesn’t like to hide his emotions and wears them on his sleeve except when Pinkie is around which its assumed he hides due to embarrassment of plain shyness.

“I’m gonna talk to her tomorrow to get started and hope I don’t screw it up somehow and actually get some work done” Anon continued on completely oblivious of Spike’s face slowly changing from a look of excitement to a look of worry.

“Now that I think of it I should probably go prepare for tomorrow, I gotta send some letters to my usual caterers and pre-reserve a few locations so we have a few options to choose from and that could take a while so I might head out now” Spike was brought out of his thought by Anon standing and went to walk him out while forcing a grin on his face.

“I wish you luck Anon and try to get some sleep okay?” Anon nodded to Spike on his way out the front door and went on his way back to his house while Spike watched him walk off into the distance and the moment he was out of sight Spike turned and sprinted in the opposite direction towards Carousel Boutique. As it was quite far Spike was huffing a bit when he reached the front door and knocked a bit frantically while trying to catch his breath.

“Rarity! Rari-!” Much to Spike surprise the one to open the door wasn’t Rarity but her younger sister Sweetie Belle who was looking at the young dragon with concern.

“Spike! What’s wrong?” Sweetie Belle let him inside the store/house and waited for his to catch his breath.

“Where’s Rarity we got a code Pink!” Sweetie’s face went uncharacteristically serious when Spike spoke and turned to hurry up the stairs leaving Spike standing in the entryway, after about a minute Spike heard a loud gasp then the sound of hooves hitting the floor above him. Rarity jumped down the stairs with Sweetie Belle on her back and sped past Spike and out the door while yelling to him.

“Go gather the others darling! I’ll meet you at the usual place!” With a salute Spike ran off to go get everyone.

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait, life sucks :derpytongue2:
Enjoy!

Chapter 4

The room was dark with a single spot light shining down from above onto a normal wooden table which held a sketched map of the town of Ponyville, the dark room was silent with only the faint sound of what sounds like small busts of wind… or maybe breathing.

“Have you identified the targets?” A figure stepped out of the darkness covered head to hoof in a dark robe with only a purple streak running down the hood, the first figure’s words seemed to summon another unknown individual seemed to simply appear across from the purple striped figure this time with a brown stripe.

“Yes” Two photos were thrown onto the table, one was of a particular pink party pony preparing a pastry and parfait perfectly and the other was of the towns resident human event planner reading at the library. Once the second figure threw the pictures onto the table four more figures in robes stepped forward all of various sizes.

“Where is out seventh member?” The first figure seemed confused by their member being absent for the first time and turned to one of their smaller members who had a green stripe on their hood to answer.

“They got held up with a… project and had to rest afterwards” The six members seemed to nod their heads in understanding and continued with their meeting.

“All of you know our goal with these two and you know your missions, make sure nopony else interferes and it will all go smoothly so if anything unexpected happens report to me immediately understood?” a round of yeses went around the room before the assumed leader spoke again

“Alright then this session of the S.S.S is adjourned” And with that the six entered the shadows once more leaving the two photos sitting on the table.

“Hey Rarity? Why did we have to wear these robes?”

“What? Can’t I like dress up?”
__________________________________

It was late that night when Anon finished writing and sending the letters to his usual caterers and reservations to the larger locations for the meeting, while Anon fully believes in Pinkie’s god like ability to make food he doesn’t want her to burn herself out and not have any energy left to help. Thoughts about Pinkie started to enter Anon’s head after he put away the last envelope which made him think about what he’s going to do about tomorrow where he would have to… talk to her actively, Anon felt a blush starting to burn on his face at the thought of a full day with Pinkie Pie alone… with no interruptions… oh boy Anon was not prepared for this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Next Day

Gummy stared on from the window sill as he watched his owner pace around their room while ranting about an apparently frustrating and annoying creature only know as Anon… this being must truly be formidable to trouble his perpetually smiling master.

“Can you believe him Gummy! He had the nerve to just… just… be himself like that… okay I know that doesn’t make sense but it’s true, whether he knows it or not Anon always finds a way to ruin my day and now I have to spend the whole day with him! You hear that a WHOLE DAY, a day I could use to make cupcakes or planing a party but nooo I gotta… “ Gummy started to tune out his ranting master and directed his attention behind him out the open window where a large creature was also pacing back and forth with what looks like a bouquet of flowers in its appendages, due to Gummy’s knowledge of all of his master's friends and acquaintances he could deduce this to be this Anon she is so affected by. Empowered by the sense of undying loyalty and to protect his master Gummy took a few steps towards the window and off the edge with a small leap of faith, in the air Gummy went down nose first towards his target and when he got near he opened his mouth.

“Gah! What the!” Bullseye.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“And then she said they already booked Anon as their planner, an you believe that!” Pinkie was still in the middle of her rant to her pet alligator Gummy when a frantic knocking was heard from below her which surprised her.

“I though the Cake’s closed the bakery while they were visiting their family? I’ll be right back Gummy” Without even looking at her scaly companion Pinkie turned to exit her room and trot down stairs to see who was at the door, as Pinkie passed the kitchen she saw it wasn’t in the best conditions and that she promised to wash everything while the Cake’s were away and she had been putting it off for a while. Another round of frantic knocking sounded off making Pinkie zoom to the door to answer it with a smile, that would quickly disappear.

“I think you dropped something” At the door was Anon wearing what seems to be the latest fashion of living alligator headwear locally known as ‘Gummy’. Pinkie was for the first time speechless at the sight and after a few moments of just stunned silence a small sound emanated from Pinkie.

“Ghe… hehe… “ She was trying her hardest to keep it in but it her control was slipping and after a pregnant pause the dam burst letting her live up to her namesake as the element of laughter.

“haHahaHaha...” Pinkie couldn't help but laugh at the situation Anon was in and tried to gain control of herself so she doesn’t show the wrong impression, but judging from the small grin on Anon’s face he was a bit amused as well.

“So you think this is funny huh?” Anon reached up and grabbed Gummy’s tail and pulled down trying to pull him off and after a moment of exertion all he succeeded in was pulling Gummy down his face so now it looked like Gummy was trying to eat Anon’s face, Anon whipped back down to Pinkie making the alligator on his face wiggle around which was too much for Pinkie as she descended back into hysterics.

“Hahahahaha*Snort*hahahaha” The giggle-snort was Anon’s weakness as it made him start laughing as well as he tried to pry off the alligator without hurting it without much success as it only shifted down to his chin giving him the highly coveted alligator goatee, everyone was jealous of his goatee and Anon knew it but sadly the world wasn’t meant for such beauty as Pinkie had finally collected herself enough to reach up and gently pull of Gummy from Anon’s chin. The moment past and she was reminded of who she was laughing with which kinda spoiled the moment for her, on Anon’s side of things he had completely forgotten his nerves (and the flowers on the ground) and was slightly thankful to Pinkie’s pet for it’s indirect help.

“Sorry to bother you like this but, I wanted to know if you would want to get started on planning the summit today or some other planned time?” Pinkie knew Anon would ask this sooner or later but she still didn’t want to do it with the prospect of spending the whole day with the human that holds a very cold place in her heart, in the back of Pinkie’s mind the subtle chime of a thousand bits called out to her reminding her the reason she took the job in the first place.

“S-sure Anon let me just put Gummy to bed and i’ll be right out okay?” Her face screwed up in a way that was similar to when she ate one of Applejack’s baked bads though she still tried to hide it behind a smile as she trotted back inside and closed the door behind her leaving Anon outside waiting. Pinkie trotted up the stair as slow as she could in an effort to put off her job but she knew it was futile as she knows this was necessary to get the job done… that doesn’t mean she has to like it though, Pinkie sat Gummy on his miniature bed that was an exact replica of hers and tucked him in before turning to her closet and pulling out her saddlebags full of her usual party planning supplies like paper, quills, ink, cupcakes, sprinkles, her party cannon, and a brush incase her party cannon goes off in her face again. Begrudgingly Pinkie returned to the front door after snagging a few more pastries for the road and taking a deep breath before opening the door outside showing Anon patiently waiting for her.

“Ready to go?” Pinkie had a plan, all she had to do was keep her cool and try to keep the meeting as short as possible so she could work on her part of the event and be done with it.

“G-great! I know a cafe nearby where we can relax at while we work and I was hoping we could go ever some of the logistics of your usual parties so we could work out a budget.” When Anon turned around to lead Pinkie to the cafe Pinkie took a moment to look at the sky ask a simple question.

“Why me?”

“You say something?”Anon turned around for a moment think he heard Pinkie say something.

“Nothing” and with a quick sigh the two continued on with no knowledge of six figures following them from the shadows.

Author's Note

Sorry for the week long hiatus and the shorter chapter things have been hectic lately but luckily it’s all behind me now so the story can hopefully continue uninhibited.

I just want say that at the time I’m posting this the story is only 7 off from 50 likes! That you for all the support in the way of likes and supportive comments
Thank you so much and I hope you enjoy <3

Chapter 5

Anon was relieved Pinkie was following behind him so she wouldn’t see his nervous expression, thoughts about what to do next once they reached the cafe shot through his mind at Rainbow Dash levels of speed which didn’t help him whatsoever so Anon decided to just get to the cafe first and go from there. The cafe was small and family run but it was a favorite of Anon due to its delicious grilled cheese that he orders whenever he needs to calm down which was the main reason why he chose the cafe in the first place. A quick glance behind him showed the target of his affections was looking away from him and was looking across the road where a few pegasi were arguing about something while standing on some low hanging clouds, planned weather was the first odd thing Anon had to get used to in Equestria but it didn’t take long for Anon to grow used to it as it had an establish schedule that he could work around which benefited him a lot when it have to his job. Turning back forward Anon saw that his destination was in sight which relieved Anon and he was about to pick up his pace when the loud crashing of thunder startled both him and Pinkie Pie making them whip back around to see what happened.

“False alarm move along” There standing in front of the once quarreling pegasi were two unicorn guards wearing the standard gold armor, but one of their armor was a bit burned around the edges. Seeing that it had nothing to do with Pinkie and Anon they hurried over to the cafe and sat down at one of the tables put out near the door, it didn’t take long for a young earth pony to come around and take our order. Anon ofcourse ordered a grilled cheese while Pinkie seemed hesitant to order anything so after a quick deep breath to stop his voice from cracking Anon told Pinkie that he would pay for their meal as he was the one to bring them there, it didn’t take Pinkie long to order a strawberry smoothie with extra whipped cream on top then the earth pony left with our orders leaving Anon and Pinkie alone to speak.

*ahem*”T-thank you again for agreeing to come speak with me… So I think we should talk about location first is that okay?” Looking up at Pinkie he could see her take a moment then nod and wait for him to continue to speak, taking another deep breath Anon entered the usual state of concentration he get when he’s working which made him voice lose its uncertainty and sound like a professional doing their job.

“So I was able to send out some letters to some of my usual locations to get some options on where we could host the meeting and I also mailed a few letters to some of my more trustworthy caterers who could help cook the food we plan to set out for the summit” When Anon finished speaking he looked over to Pinkie to see her reaction to his preparations and was shocked to see her mouth had fallen down onto the table giving Anon a whole new meaning to jaw dropping before snapping back up to her upper jaw and speaking.

“W-why would we need caterers? I always cook all the food need for my parties” Seeing Pinkie was confused by his actions Anon kept up his professional persona in an attempt to stay calm and focused.

“While you are very adept at cooking and baking I can have you doing that and exhausting yourself when I still need your help planning the whole thing, plus some of the guests are griffins so they might want meat instead of the regular pony fare” Anon thought his logic was sound and reasonable so he quickly moved on so he wouldn't second guess himself. Reaching down into his bag Anon pulled out four pictures and presented them to Pinkie.

”Here are the four locations I reached out to, first we have an open conference room thats in Manehatten which is pretty nice but is very strict when it come to their cleaning and security deposit so there is a bit of risk to choosing this one but it's a good fallback location, second is actually an open garden that´s in Hollow Shades that was recommended to me by one of my clients so I looked into it, third is a presentation hall in Baltimare that has complementary helping staff but they don't really care about your stuff because I came back with a few broken glass bowls from when they were helping me clean up so some caution is advised, and lastly we have the ballroom of Canterlot Castle that was offered to us to use when Spike told the Princess about his day and what he heard about our job, given the chance I would usually choose the castle but once we put tables and chairs and everything it still leaves a lot of open space that doesn't look right so we might be better off with one of the other choices” Finishing his spiel Anon glanced up at Pinkie to see her face stuck in a stunned expression and was about to try and snap her out of it but was interrupted by the server returning with their food which Anon realized he was starving for as he had forgotten to eat breakfast. The unicorn server sat Pinkie's smoothie down first then my grilled cheese and fries next and a few condiments before turning and trotting away while wishing us a good meal, Pinkie was gazing at her smoothie and was licking her lips in anticipation while Anon had taken his first bit of the sandwich which was just as melty and delicious as always but the fries had enough salt but not enough pepper so he grabbed the pepper shaker the server left and started shaking out a good bit to get my fries how he liked them then a small breeze blew by catching the small cloud of pepper and carrying it into Pinkie´s face just as she was gonna take her first lick of the whipped cream. Both Anon and Pinkie froze then Pinkie gave a small sniff which quickly escalated to a deep breath then froze then sighed in relief as the sneeze passed which make Anon sigh to.

”ACHOO!” With power equivalent to Rainbow Dash crashing headfirst into the ground Pinkie sneezed down into her smoothie launching it up at Anon and in a moment of pure panic Anon closed his eyes and ducked under the table as if this was Spike’s fire all over again. Anon felt the feeling of wind blowing over him and assumed it was the smoothing flying past him as terminal velocity and when the wind died down Anon peeked over the lip of the table and only saw Pinkie blowing her nose into a napkin and a empty cup with no spilled smoothie in sight. Anon was baffled, bewildered, and beguiled and was looking around and searching for the launched drink but was having no luck in finding it. Anon turned his attention back to Pinkie and deflated slightly when he saw the annoyed look she was giving her cup and by association him so Anon simply looked back down at his cooled sandwich at picked at some fries while Pinkie flagged down a server from inside who responded pretty quickly despite the sizable pile of dishes balancing perfectly on the earth pony’s back.

“Can I have another strawberry smoothie with extra whipped cream please?” The server winced at her request and seemed a bit hesitant to reply before take a quick breath and speaking.

“I’m very sorry but all the ingredients we use for the smoothies have run out regretfully… again I apologize” Anon looked incredulously at the server along with Pinkie and was about to ask where the rest of the ingredients went so early in the day but Pinkie beat him to it.

“How? It’s still early?” It was quite a sight for the famous nonsensical and logic breaking Pinkie Pie to look completely bewildered at the server until the server nodded their head towards the window, in sync both Anon and Pinkie turned and looked through the window into the cafe where they could see what looks like a grown stallion swimming in a giant glass cup full of strawberry smoothie and laughing all the while. Anon just took a deep breath and shook his head already used to the randomness of the world while Pinkie just huffed and waved the server away and turned her attention back to the pictures on the table then pointed to one with a hoof.

“Let’s just do this one, I have some plans later with my friends so I need to wrap this up” Anon deflated a bit at the news but nodded his head and collected the photos after marking the picture of Hollow Shades with a pencil then putting it back in his bag. Both rising from their seats Pinkie nodded goodbye to Anon while channeling her inner maud then turned and left leaving Anon behind to pay the bill, leaving the correct amount of bits plus a tip Anon took a deep breath in an attempt to release some of the disappointment in his chest before turning to leave himself. During his walk back home Anon tried to get rid of any disparaging thoughts about himself and focused on his next task which is writing up some letters to the gardeners and land owners of that garden in Hollow Shades.

Author's Note

Sorry for the long hiatus and short chapter but a bunch of stupid stuff is happening in my life plus I’m getting ready for my finals so I’ll try and get some chapters out while I can
Sorry <3

Chapter 6

Pinkie’s Pov:

Pinkie’s first question would have been where was Anon taking them, but realizing she would have to actively speak to Anon she decided to instead look around at her surroundings instead. It was around the time Pinkie would be planning out her next party or be working in the bakery so it was much more lively than usual, to her left was a pair of pegasus… pegasi… pegeese? What’s the plural for pegasus again… she’ll ask Twilight later, anyway Pinkie could see two pegasus arguing on some clouds about something, Pinkie had long ago learned not to nose into other ponies private business… though she does forget sometimes. Pinkie glanced back over to Anon mentally debating with herself the pros and cons of asking where they were heading. Before Pinkie could even begin she felt her tail give off a violent twitch moment before a loud crash louder than her party cannon startled both her and Anon making them turn to look at the two formerly arguing Pegasuseses really nice older couple that give her some of those butterscotch hard candies whenever she comes by to visit… they get lonely sometimes. While the two of them were sitting down a young earth pony rushed to serve them, Pinkie quickly recognized his as the older couples nephew who came to stay with them frequently, which was nice of him. Anon said he would pay for anything I would order so I didn’t hesitate to take advantage of that and ordered a large strawberry smoothie with extra whipped cream while Anon ordered a grilled cheese with a side a fries.

*ahem*”T-thank you again for agreeing to come speak with me… So I think we should talk about location first is that okay?” Wait what… I thought it was going to be at the townhall like all other official ‘parties’ that Pinkie helps with, deciding to keep her question till after Anon finished speaking Pinkie hesitantly nodded silently wondering what Anon has planned to one-up her.

“So I was able to send out some letters to some of my usual locations to get some options on where we could host the meeting and I also mailed a few letters to some of my more trustworthy caterers who could help cook the food we plan to set out for the summit” In mere moments Anon showed more professionalism and preparedness then she had ever seen from him and was momentarily stunned and slightly reminded of her mother when she was speaking to clients about material they had gotten from the farm. Mentally shaking herself out of her stupor she realized what he had said and felt so offended that she actually stuttered when she spoke.

“W-why would we need caterers? I always cook all the food needed for my parties” On the outside she looked calm, but inside Pinkie was ranting. Every party she had planned she had cooked and catered, okay sure there were times where her friends help or made something of their own and brought it but that’s what friends do. Who does he think he is just assuming that she’s not good enough to cater her own event, before Pinkie could unleash the righteous fluorescent pink fury that was raging inside of her, Anon spoke again.

“While you are very adept at cooking and baking I can’t have you doing that and exhausting yourself when I still need your help planning the whole thing, plus some of the guests are griffins so they might want meat instead of the regular pony fare” And just like that, the fire that was Pinkie’s wrath fizzled out and was reduced to glowing pink embers. She thought about it a bit and still disagreed with the notion that she would burn herself out with just baking, but when… meat… is brought into the menu then Pinkie will have to pass on that. Pinkie could barely remember the last time she saw meat let alone cooked it, though she does remember something about cupcakes before feeling sick for a few days.

”Here are the four locations I reached out to, first we have an open conference room that's in Manehatten which is pretty nice but is very strict when it come to their cleaning and security deposit so there is a bit of risk to choosing this one but it's a good fallback location, second is actually an open garden that´s in Hollow Shades that was recommended to me by one of my clients so I looked into it, third is a presentation hall in Baltimare that has complementary helping staff but they don't really care about your stuff because I came back with a few broken glass bowls from when they were helping me clean up so some caution is advised, and lastly we have the ballroom of Canterlot Castle that was offered to us to use when Spike told the Princess about his day and what he heard about our job, given the chance I would usually choose the castle but once we put tables and chairs and everything it still leaves a lot of open space that doesn't look right so we might be better off with one of the other choices” For a moment Pinkie was reminded of one of Twilight’s loooong speeches about science and could feel her attention waning, Pinkie was still slightly stunned when Anon finished speaking but shook it off when their waiter reappeared with their orders on a platter on his back. Pinkie started licking her lips when the large strawberry smoothie was sat in front of her and was ready to dive right into it literally and metaphorically. Right when she was going to take her first lick of the whip cream she glanced up and barely saw something fly from Anon’s side of the table and over to her then her snoot started to tickle which was her first warning, but before she could turn away from her drink a doozy of a sneeze wracked her body making her close her eyes.

“ACHOO!” when Pinkie opened her eyes again what she saw frustrated her to no end, her perfectly pink drink had been launched away by her sneeze. Looking up at Anon just showed him looking around confused which only intensified her mounting frustration along with something else. Looking around for the server and flagging him down took a moment as he had just finished helping another customer.

“Can I have another strawberry smoothie with extra whipped cream please?” The server winced at her request and seemed a bit hesitant to reply before take a quick breath and speaking.

“I’m very sorry but all the ingredients we use for the smoothies have run out regretfully… again I apologize” For once Pinkie was the confused one so her reply was immediate.

“How? It’s still early?” Yes, for once Pinkie the pink perplexing party pony was the confused one as the waiter gestured slightly through the window, in sync both Anon and Pinkie turned and looked through the window into the café where they could see what looks like a grown stallion swimming in a giant glass cup full of strawberry smoothie and laughing all the while. It was at this point that Pinkie just couldn’t deal with all of this anymore and spoke while getting up.

“Let’s just do this one, I have some plans later with my friends so I need to wrap this up” Pinkie idly noted she pointed at Hallow Shades before getting and nodding goodbye while trying to keep a straight face, Pinkie thought back to all of the preparation and planning Anon had shown her along with the fact that he had been able to keep that level of professionalism while all she ever does is party. She wasn’t lying when she said she had plans with her friends or more specifically Fluttershy who volunteered to speak to her after her ‘meeting’ was done so she could talk about how it went and how she was feeling, though it would take a talk with her friend for Pinkie to know what she was feeling after everything, she felt pretty… incompetent.

Author's Note

H-hello again... i'm so sorry for disappearing for so long but life got in the way so much...
I'm in college now so its gonna be a bit hard for me to get chapters out but they are going to come now so you can bet on that.
Also over 70 likes i'm gonna cry :fluttercry:

Chapter 7

Fluttershy PoV:

“That couldn’t have gone WORSE!” Fluttershy sat quietly in the corner and just watched her friend pace about the room which was filled with the other members of Rarity’s little group, while she wasn’t part of their little club she was happy to help two of her friends be happy. The sound of a door opening brought her attention to the bathroom where Vinyl had exited with a now clean suit of royal guard armor floated behind her, after setting it down by Spike she joined her friend Octavia on Rarity’s fainting couch listening to her music as usual.

“Not only did the café run out of proper ingredients, I'm pretty sure the stallion that ordered the horrifyingly large smoothie was supposed to be banned from that café and don’t even get me started on that whole pepper incident!” Rarity’s incredulity reached new heights at this point which prompted Fluttershy to step away from her nice safe corner and speak to Rarity with concern in her voice.

“How about I go make everyone some tea while you go get cleaned up Rarity… if that’s okay with you?” Pausing and levitating over a hoof mirror, Rarity took in her frazzled and slightly singed appearance and sighed before turning to her friend and nodding then turning to trot into the vacant bathroom. Seeing that her friend had taken her suggestion Fluttershy started on her may to the kitchen while wondering if Rarity was able to restock her stash of that earl hay that she loves so much, on her way to the kitchen she was stopped by Vinyl who indicated that she and Octavia had to go so Fluttershy simply smiled and nodded as she knew Vinyl couldn’t hear her anyways and they let themselves out. Rarity’s kitchen was as orderly as always which made it easy to find the small nicely wrapped box where she kept her tea packets, retrieving a kettle from a cabinet and filling it with water was quickly done and set onto the now lit stove to heat until it’s boiling. The sound of claws tapping on tile brought Fluttershy’s attention around to see Spike entering the kitchen looking slightly disappointed which broke Fluttershy’s gentle little heart to see so she went to remedy his problem immediately.

“Oh Spike what’s the matter?” The small dragon seemed to hesitate for a moment before moving over to a chair nearby and sitting down before speaking.

“I’m worried that… I’m gonna fail at being there for Anon like how he was for me back when I… ya know” Oh… dear, it didn’t take Fluttershy long to figure out what he meant, she didn’t have the exact details but all she knows is that some mean pony from around ponyville wanted Rarity as his trophy mare and was immediately rejected so as revenge he tried to get rid of Spike and destroying his crush on Rarity by playing off his worst fears which hurt Spike immensely. He shut himself away in the library but after that all Fluttershy knows is that Anon was able to talk him back outside and to not let his fear control him… though she could tell it was still a sore spot for him.

“Spike… you really care for Anon don’t you?” The solemn dragon nodded his head in response and waited for Fluttershy to give him some advice, Fluttershy turned to check the water quickly before trotting over and pulling up a chair next to Spike so he could know he had her whole hearted attention then spoke.

“Spike… If I’ve seen anything from the friendship between both you and Anon is that just being there for each other means the world to the other so if the mere presence of the other is enough then even if Anon and Pinkie don’t get together he will appreciate your help immensely” Slowly a smile grew on Spike’s face as he thought about her words for a moment before nodding victoriously and jumping off his chair and landing with a bright smile on his face.

“Your right Fluttershy… if just doing this much will make him happy then imagine how happy he’s going to be if he and Pinkie do get together, thanks for the talk Fluttershy!” after a quick hug around her barrel that warmed her heart he let go and re-enter the living room where the Rarity was just leaving the bathroom. Fluttershy watched fondly as the two spoke and planned their next move at matchmaking but her mind couldn’t help but wonder about what really happened when Spike locked himself away… well at least for a moment as the kettle’s whistle sounded startling her onto the roof.
______________________________________________________________________________

“Bye Rarity, I hope you have some luck with your… problem” It was getting late and Fluttershy (with her animals in mind) decided that she should get home and feed her precious little angel, normally she would fly home and arrive within minutes but after talking with Rarity and everyone for so long she felt drained so it wasn’t a hard choice to walk home. It was around the time where many ponies would start getting ready to head home after a long day of work so it was nice and quiet… just how she liked it, she took a moment to just savor this nice… peaceful … moment.

“Hiya Fluttershy!” Fluttershy’s heart nearly stopped at the sudden loud voice of Pinkie pie in her ear making her jump away from the pink source of the sound, after a moment Fluttershy notice that she never landed back on the ground and was pretty sure she wasn’t flapping her wings. Peeking out from under her mane she saw that she was being held in the air by the surprisingly strong arms of Pinkie pie and now that she was closer Fluttershy could tell that the smile was slightly forced looking.

“Sorry about that Fluttershy… can I talk to you about something?” Pinkie gently sat Fluttershy back down onto her hooves and waited for Fluttershy to compose herself, after a few breaths Fluttershy smiled at her friend as responded in a soft slightly out of breath tone.

“Of course Pinkie” The two took a detour to Sugarcube Corner so they could have somewhere private to speak, the two entered the dark bakery and started straight upstairs to begin their talk. Fluttershy was slightly concerned by how silent Pinkie had been during their walk, the silence wasn’t the same as the kind she was enjoying earlier and was much more… tense. Pinkie Pie’s room was still the same as when she saw it last covered in pink decorations and multiple boxes of party supplies and files that contain many delicious recipes.

“So… uh I wanted to ask you something pretty important and I want you to be completely honest with me about this… do you think I'm… professional?” Fluttershy was honestly caught off guard by Pinkie’s question and had to think about it while Pinkie waited for her to answer with baited breath, whenever Fluttershy thinks about Pinkie and her job at the bakery and as a party planner she always comes up with she’s fun or that she’s a hard worker but she’s never stuck professional to her description. Knowing how fragile Pinkie is sometimes made Fluttershy slight afraid to answer even though she hasn’t known Pinkie as long as the others which isn’t fair to her. Bringing herself out of her thoughts Fluttershy glanced up the see a now slightly impatient Pinkie gazing at her, a small, quiet part of herself wanted to shy away and hide from her gaze but a louder more assertive part of her was saying she needed everyone’s help for this.

“Pinkie… I don’t know you as well as some of our friends do so I can’t really make any judgements about you, maybe you can ask everyone tomorrow when Twilight reveals what she’s been working on for so long… is that okay?” For just a moment Pinkie seemed to grow agitated before taking a deep breath and nodding in agreement driving away the growing anxiety in Fluttershy’s chest.

“Sorry about springing all of that on you like that and keeping you here to long, you want some cupcakes for the road?” Not able to shake the feeling of a pit ever so slowly growing in her stomach Fluttershy smiled and politely shook her head no then walked back downstairs to the bakery with Pinkie. Exiting the home of the baker Fluttershy turned to wave goodbye to a slightly disappointed looking but still smiling Pinkie Pie and turned to continue her way home, but with a slowly growing pit in her stomach she had a feeling that tomorrow isn’t going to go over well.

Author's Note

Yaaaay new chapter!
We're getting to the good stuff now!
I hope you enjoy and I'm sorry if you think the characters are slightly... out of character but I think it makes the story a bit more enjoyable no?
I have actually been wondering how I was going to get this far and I surprised myself and I actually like it a lot more than how it originally was going to happen so I hope you like it to. :twilightblush:

Chapter 8

Spike PoV:

“ RRRiiinggg!” The shrill sound of Spike’s alarm clock jolted him out of a particularly weird dream he was having about the crystal empire and brought his consciousness back into the reality that was his warm and dark room which was absolutely filled with comics and posters that he worked long and hard to obtain over the years… he needs some more comics. Sitting up in his bed and stretching Spike turned his head to the side before taking a deep breath a spitting out a small ball of green fire that flew across the room briefly illuminating the area in a green glow before landing on the wick of a candle sat on the desk by the door, the green flame changed from green to a warm orange and in seconds started lighting up the room even more. Sliding out of his delightfully warm bed Spike made his way out his door and walked down the hall to the bathroom, it only took a few minutes to do his business and morning hygiene before exiting the bathroom and walking across the hall where Twilight’s room was. Bringing his ear close to the door he was only greeted with silence and not the sound of soft snoring he usually heard from inside so Spike turned to quietly step down the stairs, the library was almost completely silent except for the soft breathing of his sister still swaddled up in a blanket on the couch where he and Anon had left her yesterday. A quick glance at the clock hanging over the front door showed he had around an hour before the time Twi usually woke up which gave him plenty of time to make both of them some breakfast, the kitchen was exactly the same as he left it and he would be surprised if anything was even slightly different as he was the only one to ever cook here besides from Anon that one time.

“Sigh” Just thinking about Anon filled Spike’s stomach with worry slowly driving away his appetite which he didn’t want so with a quick shake of his head he focused on making breakfast for the two of them and maybe some tea for everyone later but that could wait, deciding to just make an easy breakfast of hay bacon and eggs for Twi to get her ready for today and topaz and oatmeal for him to hold him over until lunch when his sister is going to reveal her newest creation to her friends. Sadly unlike actual bacon, hay bacon cooks by putting it in the toaster like bread so it always tasted more like over cooked waffles to Spike who’s had the real thing but if he ever cooked bacon in their house he fears Twilight’s gonna have to move out until the smell dissipates… like last time. Quickly putting together the needed ingredients for his oatmeal and topaz while Twi’s eggs and hay bacon cooked didn’t take long and soon enough Spike had breakfast ready for two and a drowsy unicorn stumbling over to the kitchen table, wordlessly Spike removed her now cooked hay bacon and sunny side up eggs and placed them on a nice plate in front of his sister then took a seat across from her at the table. Twilight’s still bleary eyes slowly went from Spike’s face to the plate in front of her before smiling softly… then collapsing headfirst into the food.

“Uh Twi…?” A frankly concerned and slightly amused Spike reached over the table and grabbed his sister by the horn and slowly raised up the head of the apparently comatose unicorn only to suddenly take a deep breath to stop himself from laughing out loud from the sight of the two sunny side up eggs that replaced her eyes and the sticky piece of hay bacon that gave her a unibrow right under her bangs, he could hear the sounds of soft snores coming from her which only increased his struggle to keep his laughter down. With a jerk Twilight awoke and pulled herself out of Spike’s grip to wipe the food off of her face with a few napkins though she was still quite sticky at least she could see.

*Yaawwnn* “Sorry Spike, what time is it anyway?” Twilight kept rubbing at the sticky residue left from her breakfast face mask and started to look around for a clock only for Spike to happily chime in.

“It’s almost almost 8:30 now, you got up a little later than usual but at least you actually slept for once” Spike watched Twilight’s expression slowly change from groggy confusion to frantic urgency in a matter of moments and it didn’t take Spike half as long to realize why as he sighed and hurried up in finishing his oatmeal.

“That means we only have an hour and a half to clean up and get ready for my presentation!” In a burst of panicked energy Twilight grabbed her fork in her magic shoveled her whole plate of food into her mouth along with a small stream of water from the faucet to wash it down in a large gulp that would have made Pinkie proud before standing back up and grabbing Spike who had just finished his food in her telekinetic grip and sprinting out of the front door before skidding to a halt and running back to lock her door then resuming her sprint to the office supplies store nearby. Spike sighed while he leisurely floated next to the sprinting figure of Twilight Sparkle not at all surprised by her actions as it was common practice for his sister to over prepared for everything.

“Spike, should I use color coded note cards or labeled… you’re right labeled hasn’t failed me before” Twilight didn’t even see the powerful facepalm Spike had performed when she had asked her question and simply continued on as if he had responded, rubbing the sore spot on his head Spike felt that today was going to be just as long and tedious as usual and resigned himself to his fate.
~Later~

“..ke… pike… Spike!” Spike was jerked back into reality by his sister’s voice almost making him drop the various bags he was holding all over the hardwood flooring of the library which he didn’t even realize they had entered after an hours worth of frantic shopping. Reminding himself that he was still standing in the middle of the library Spike quickly waddled over to the kitchen table to set down the actually quite cumbersome bags. Taking a quick glance around showed that Twilight hasn’t wasted any time on reorganizing the furniture in the library as she currently has two sofas held afloat in her magic while she moved a table and white board into place by the stairs. Spike just shrugged and went to work taking everything out of the bags and putting it on the table waiting for his sister to finish, besides the aforementioned color coded note cards they had bought some lightly salted potato chips and popcorn for the audience to munch on while they listened to the presentation.

“Spike can you bring out a big bowl and the refreshments please?” Peeking out of the kitchen showed a recently cleaned and refurbished library common room, wordlessly Spike lifted the two bags of junk food and in a few moments a large plastic bowl was used to transport the delicious looking snacks over to the table sitting between the couches and the white board, Spike barely got the chance to set the bowl down when the bags almost exploded open leaving their edible insides in the bowl while the wrappers floated away and into a nearby trash bag, knowing that she’s going to be like this for a while Spike started his way upstairs to take a shower quickly before the presentation started.

~Later~

Spike had just finished drying off when he heard the sound of animated conversation below him prompting him to hurry up and join his friends, jogging down the stairs revealed the voices to simply be the sound of Rarity and Fluttershy speaking to Twi about what sounds to be their day so far. It didn’t take Rarity long to notice Spike coming down the stairs and happily beckoned him over to join the conversation.

“Good morning Spike dear, how has the morning been treating you so far?” Spike smiled but didn’t respond immediately and gazed over at his sister figure for a scant moment before looking back at Rarity and responding.

“You know how it is” Rarity immediately knew what Spike meant and nodded along understandingly and tapped the couch next to her so he could finally rest his claws, the four continue to partake in their conversations for a time while refraining from eating to much of the refreshments so their would be enough for the other coming guests. After a good while a knock sounded from the front door which was quickly opened by the magic of Twilight showing two more of her friends Applejack and Rainbow Dash, the former carrying a sweet smelling basket on her back and the latter looking like she just woke up.

‘I’m so glad you two could make it, especially you Rainbow” Spike remembered that apparently Rainbow had left to cloudsdale for a meeting of some kind and came back late at night much to the suffering of her sleep schedule, which is quite flexible now that he really thinks about it. Spike rose to take the basket from Applejack’s back while the five friends engaged in a rather fast paced conversation… except for Rainbow who sat down next to Fluttershy and quickly went to sleep. Spike sat out the now revealed to be apple fritters on the table and went to the kitchen to fetch a pitcher of milk for those who want it, while Spike was in the kitchen he heard the door open once more and the surprisingly soft but still happy voice of Pinkie Pie filled the room while the others voices quieted in response much to Spike’s confusion. Exiting the kitchen with the pitcher in claw, Spike turned towards the door to see what the problem was and almost dropped the pitcher onto the floor from what he saw. Pinkie’s eyes were bloodshot and had dark bags under them, her mane was frazzled and slightly droopy in some places which brought him back to her birthday incident, lethargically Pinkie made her way over to her friends who had lapsed into a sort of concerned silence.

“Oh I haven’t had any of Applejack’s fritters in a while” Not even acknowledging her friends concerned expressions Pinkie continued past them and grabbed one of the warm fritters off of the plate, the group had seen Pinkie this tired before but nothing to this extent where she had to force a smile inorder to seem normal which was alarming to anyone who could see it. Spike took a deep breath and slapped an easygoing smile onto his face as he approached the table Pinkie was at and went to offer her some milk to go with her fritter… or he would have if Twilight hadn’t shot him a look that stopped him cold in his tracks, but by then it was too late and Spike was in speaking distance of Pinkie and was still trying to piece back together his composure in silence as she looked at him waiting for him to speak. After a few moments Pinkie dropped her stare and sighed deeply losing her fake smile and turning to her friends who had started to approach concerned for their friend, with a small frown on her face Pinkie finished off her half eaten fritter quickly and spoke to everyone.

“Can I ask you girls something?” Pinkie seemed to take a few deep breaths while she waited for her friends to answer which wasn’t long as all of them nodded wanting to help their obviously troubled friend.

“ Do any of you take me seriously?” The depth of the question caught most of the room of guard except for Fluttershy who seemed to flinch slightly when the question was presented and slowly started to curl into herself in preparation of what was to come. Spike personally thought Pinkie could be serious when she needed to be but his opinion wasn’t the one she needed to hear so he took a few steps back and simply watched as the silence stretched on.

“If you had to choose somepony to depend on… would you choose me?” Pinkie continued on after a moment of silence from her friends and slowly her expression changed from quiet sadness to slight irritation at the continued guilty silence of her friends, for a moment it looked like Rainbow was going to speak up but stopped herself after a moment and continued to look anywhere else but at Pinkie.

“I bet I can think of someone all of you would and have chosen, just because I like parties and to smile I can’t be trusted with anything huh?! ‘She’s just a airheaded party pony, she can’t do anything productive!” Over time Pinkie’s voice slowly rose until she was yelling at her friends who seemed to be getting offended by her rising tone until it dawned on Twilight just what this was about making her speak up about it.

“Pinkie, talking about Anon like that isn’t fair or right and you know it!” finally hearing one of her friends speak and in defence of the source of her strife only strengthened the fire that was Pinkie’s fury making her take a loud step towards Twilight bringing her voice up to drown hers out.

“The moment he came to town my life as gotten worse and worse day after day and its all because of him, first it was my other friends who started to side with him more and more, then work where everypony wants him to plan their parties and not me, and now my best friends who are family to me defend him! Everything was better when he didn’t exist here, I wish it would all go back to that! I wish he would just go away forever, I hate him!” Pinkie was huffing for air by the time she had finished her hateful triad and looked upon the horrified and sad faces of her friends and would have continued if the sound of glass hitting the ground from behind them made everyone turn towards the door only for their collective hearts to drop at the sight of a heart broken Anon standing in the doorway with what used to be a plate full of cookies at his feet, Spike was the first to recover and tried to speak to his hurting friend

“Anon-” Spike didn’t get far as mere seconds after speaking Anon turned around and ran back out of the house, the sound of glass crunching into the ground signaling his exit. Spike and the rest of the girls even Pinkie frantically tried to follow behind Anon as they rocket out of the library and see him sprinting around the house, as fast as his little legs could carry him Spike follow behind Anon but by the time they reached the backyard all they saw was a flash of blue before Anon disappeared from sight. The fear that this would be the last time Spike would see his best friend drove him to move faster towards the teleporter in some vacant hope that it would bring him to his hurt friend only for the floating stones around the contraption to fall to the ground powerless and inert bringing Spike’s fears to life. Coming to a stop in front of the teleporter with the girls behind him Spike could feel a different kind of fire rise in him, an inferno called rage all pointed towards Pinkie Pie.

“What is wrong with you!” Whipping around towards the focus of his fury was a shocked Pinkie Pie who wasn’t ready for an angry dragon to confront her, feeling a hoof touch Spike’s shoulder he turned to see Fluttershy pointing to something on the ground near the center of the teleporter, picking up what seems to be a pamphlet Spike heard the sound of hooves coming around the corner of the library… it was Princess Celestia.

“Sorry I'm late I got caught up in… what happened?”

Author's Note

That took a while to write but I hope you enjoy the unfolding drama of the situation.
I have some stuff in college coming up so I might not be able to make any chapters but if I get a chance I’ll try.

I hope the wait was worth it :twilightsmile:

Chapter 9

What Celestia was feeling felt more akin to disappointment then anger as she stared down at the continually wilting form of Pinkamena Diane Pie or Pinkie Pie as she is known to her friends, currently her prized pupil Twilight was explaining what had happened before she had arrived while going over the notes on her creation. Twilight had finally reached the point where Pinkie had begun her rant against Anon’s existence which only deepened Celestia’s disappointed leer until a small mumble from Pinkie interrupted the story and made Celestia question if she heard correctly or her age was finally catching up to her.

“I’m sorry,What did you just say?” The quiet emphasis on the “what” in Celestia’s sentence made everyone flinch as they all turned to look at Pinkie who started to school her features into a neutral look as she gazed up to one of her matriarchs and spoke.

“He deserved it” Pinkie’s neutral expression didn’t last long as a sharp *Slap* rang out and Pinkie’s head swung to the right, still in shock at the sudden slap Pinkie brought a hoof up to her cheek and could feel a small line of warmth start its way down. Turning to look down at her offender she met the angry tear filled gaze of Spike the dragon who had jumped up onto the couch to confront her shocking everypony in the room.

“I’ll say it again… Just what is wrong with you” Spike’s voice had lowered to quiet shaking tone that told of a dragon on the edge of losing what self-control he had left, curling his claws into fists Spike glared into the stunned blue eyes of Pinkie Pie and spoke as calmly as possible.

“Ever since Anon met you… all he wanted to do was to get to know you… to get closer to you, and whenever someone mentioned the name Pinkie Pie he would light up brighter than any star. He loved you and you hated him simply for the reason that he got more business than you in some aspects and made the same friends as you… what happened to the Pinkie Pie that was nice and was everyone’s friend I want that Pinkie back not this bitter and jealous copy!” Spike was huffing for breath after his impromptu speech and looked into the now tear filled eyes of his so called friend, turning away first Spike hopped back off the couch back back over to the notes next to his sister who simply patted his back comfortingly as Spike wiped the tears from his eyes.

“I-I’m Sorry” From behind her tears a quiet whimper sounded from Pinkie as she openly sobbed while she held her injured cheek, her slightly curly mane finally going completely straight. Sighing to herself Celestia rose and sat back down next to Pinkie draping a wing over her for comfort as she cried remorseful tears. Seeing their friend in pain Fluttershy and Applejack joined their princess in helping to calm down Pinkie, Fluttershy grabbing a napkin from the table and gently wiping the blood from Pinkie’s face and hoof much to Pinkie’s confusion.

“W-why are you still nice to me?” The desperate question seemed to make the whole room stopped as they thought of the answer to that question, the quiet was stifling to Pinkie and slowly she started to droop at the lack of response until the most unlikely pony or dragon spoke up much to everyponies surprise.

“Just because you did one awful thing doesn’t change the fact that you have done countless kind and thoughtful things in the past for each and every single one of us, one bad deed no matter how bad can’t get rid of your best friends that easily… Do you really think so little of us” Pinkie could still see the flickering embers of anger in Spike’s eyes but the emotion was being smothered out but a steely determination that stemmed purely from his concern for his missing friend. Feeling moved by Spike’s words Pinkie quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and shook her head hard at his question, taking a deep breath to calm herself Pinkie extracted herself from the wing of her princess who was preoccupied with gazing at the small dragon with pride.

“Where do you think he went?” Now all business Pinkie approached the table that was flanked by Twilight and Spike looking over the various readings and equations taken from the teleporter. Everyone perked up at Pinkie’s sudden change in demeanor and go right back to work in figuring out where Anon was sent, Twilight read over a few documents before answering in a slightly confused tone.

“I can’t accurately answer that question due to Anon’s inherent magical nullification field disrupting the teleporter like that, the most I can narrow it down to is somewhere in the eastern part of Equestria which doesn’t really help us but it's the best I can do on such short notice” unrolling a map of Equestria Twilight started to draw marks where Anon would have most likely have landed. “Since there aren’t any waystones activated anywhere yet it might have gone off of the largest concentration of magic in the desired area of choice, but where would Anon go?” The room went quiet as everyone stopped to think of possible places Anon would go that is until Spike remembered something and went to retrieve the piece of paper Anon left behind when he teleported, returning with the paper and reading it over Spike looked back up at his friends and family with a bit more hope in his eyes.

“I think I know where he is” In his claws was a slightly singed brochure for small village that goes by the name Hallow Shades.

Anon’s consciousness slowly returned after its sudden but brief vacation from reality and the first thing he felt was the feeling of warmth and comfort engulfing him from neck to toe and in the back of his mind he wondered if he should just go back to sleep, but after a moment he started to consider it until what happened an hour ago came blasting back to the forefront of his mind and a wave of cold, painful sadness seemed to slowly seep into him. Anon’s wallowing was interrupted by the sound of a door opening and the now familiar sound of hooves trotting on the hard ground, though there was something strange about the sound that he couldn’t place.

“I can tell you’re awake, you’re frowning pretty hard there” Pushing his sadness down Anon opened his eyes finally and looked up to see a warmly lit bedroom and there standing in the doorway was much to Anon’s surprise a grey maned Thestral carrying what looked to be a platter with a bowl on her back.

“Before you start talking eat this, you took a nasty spill earlier so you might be a bit dizzy” Trotting over to Anon’s bedside she waited for him to pull himself up to a sitting position and took the bowl and platter from her back, looking down into the bowl Anon was again surprised to see freshly made chicken noodle soup in the bowl and recalled that thestrals were slightly carnivorous so without hesitation Anon started to sip at the broth

“You were out cold and in a sorry state when I found you… who are you and what happened to you, I know there’s a human staying in our world but that's about all I know about that” Anon vaguely remembers the princesses giving a press conference about his appearance but excluded anything about him personally. Anon swallowed the last of the soup in what felt like a trance not even remembering what it tasted like and cleared his throat.

“My name is Anon and it looks much worse than it is, what’s your name?” Now that his throat was feeling a bit better Anon tried to pass off a convincing smile at his concerned host who, judging by the raising of her brow did not believe him for even a second. Taking back the bowl and placing it on her back she turned back towards the door and replied as she left.

“If your well enough to lie then come and help me with the dishes and if your going to call me anything then call me Ivy like everyone else” Rising to his feet with a groan Anon went to follow after Ivy, the coldness is his chest had started to fade with this distraction and busied himself with his new surroundings. Ivy’s home was similar to Fluttershy’s in size and shape but it’s decor seemed more focused on practicality and functionality then comfort, the living area had a smallish couch that didn’t look like it got much use outside of a single well worn cushion on the right side and the coffee table in front of it.

“Well?... are you going to help me or not” Snapping back to attention Anon followed Ivy’s voice to a small kitchenette nestled into the corner of the house where she was lathering soap onto the bowl he just ate out of, wordlessly Anon approached the sink and picked up a smudged plate and looked at Ivy in silent inquiry until she pointed to a wooden drawer to his right which he opened and retrieved a sponge and a bottle of dish soap. In silence to two cleaned and for a moment Anon could almost pretend he felt okay, like everything was right with the world and he could look forward to going to work. Then that moment was gone and he was back in a stranger’s house with a coldness slowly spreading in him and a numbness in his heart, setting another clean plate to the side Anon grabbed a red sauce covered wooden ladle and started to scrub at it.

“So… are you ready to tell me what’s hurting you so much?” Anon’s scrubbing stopped for a second before resuming with a bit more intensity than before not even looking at the thestral that was eyeing him with a flat look that had the barest hints of concern

“Nothing is hurting me, just got a bit of a headache” Anon let out a grunt of annoyance at the sauce stains persistence and strengthened his scrubbing once again, Ivy let out a small laugh at his response and actions then turned away from the sink to fetch a drying towel”

“Looks more like heartache then a headache” The comment made Anon tense up for a moment before releasing a deep sigh that seemed to run through his whole body, resuming his cleaning Anon started to describe the events leading up to his accident starting with how he met the target of his affection and ending with how in the end he was scorned and hated by her.

“ And after over a year of politeness, of compliments and my friendship all I got in return was hatred and scorn! What did I do to DESERVE-” before Anon could finish his sentence a loud snap resounded interrupting him, looking down at his hands Anon saw the two broken halves of the stained wooden ladle he had been gripping while telling his story. Ivy didn’t even flinch at the sound of her ladle snapping and simply trotted away to one of the drawers and pulled it open revealing a drawer full of replacement wooden utensils just like the one Anon had just broken, retrieving a new ladle and placing it by the sink with the rest of now clean dishes to the still slightly hurt Anon’s confusion. Ivy let out a sigh then gestured to follow her to the couch then trotting off leaving Anon to quickly dry his hands and follow.

“Alright… here’s the honest truth about what I think you should do, give up on her” The flat toned sentence caught Anon off guard just as he was reaching the couch and while he was distracted his foot caught the edge of the coffee table making him trip and fall onto the couch. The two open cushions that Anon landed on felt as if they were slightly soft bricks instead of couch cushions, after a moment to collect himself after his pratfall Anon remembered what Ivy had said and quickly picked himself up to confront her about it.

“You really think I should give up?” Again not even batting an eye at his apparent clumsiness, Ivy took a seat on the last open cushion and actually seemed to sink into the fabric unlike the brick imitations Anon was lying on. Turning to look at Anon fully and like she was speaking to a foal slowed her tone.

“She… Doesn’t… Like… You. I’m surprised she didn’t let you down earlier the heartless clod” The fact that Ivy actually insulted Pinkie actually caught Anon off guard more so then the actual disdain behind it, you would be hard pressed to find any ponies that would willingly insult someone outside of tense situations. Anon was about to speak up and say calling Pinkie heartless is the furthest from the truth but was cut off by Ivy continuing to speak.

“I mean what kind of self-centered, cold, and mean spirited mare would willingly let somepony pine after them for so long and do nothing about it… though from what I hear about the element of laughter she might have been too dim-witted and scatterbrained to even have noticed haha-” During Ivy’s spiel Anon had slowly begun to bring himself up to his full height and was trying to suppress the boiling outrage that was bubbling to the surface and just when Anon thought he had a handle on his emotions Ivy’s insult about Pinkie’s intelligence broke the dam, Anon heard what he did before he felt it. The loud SLAP that echoed through the now dead silent house could have woken an Ursa major and the following scolding was filled with so much heat it could have thawed the frozen north itself. Anon wasn’t completely sure what he was yelling about other than it was in the defense of the pony of his affections, he yelled about her kindness and her heart, her smile and how its very presence fills the room with warmth and happiness, how she wouldn’t stop for anything in order to make someone smile in the hopes that it would brighten their day. Anon would have continued but was rendered silent by the sight of Ivy holding her cheek and smiling happily at him, showing the most emotion he’s seen out of her since meeting her and when she spoke… it was like she was on the verge of yelling through sheer excitement

“That feeling, that righteous anger and drive to assert your reality. If you really want to be with the element of laughter then don’t just roll over at the first sign of confrontation, Fight for what you want! Give your all, 100% and nothing less! I have seen too many things fail due to lack of courage so if you really want a chance to change everything then make one, grab opportunity by both hooves and say it belongs to you!” Now both of them were standing yelling at each other on a couch that didn’t seem the most stable and Anon couldn’t care in the least he was feeling too driven no… Determined to notice. Anon was about to ask… no demand for the fastest way back to his home but it seemed that once again Ivy was way ahead of him and with a quick flap of her wings she was up off the couch and over by the front door.

“Don’t worry about waiting long, your friends should be here soon” Anon’s confusion must have been visible on his face but this was soon changed as the front door opened to show the almost pitch black surroundings of Hollow Shades “After all, you were planning on coming here beforehoof”

Author's Note

I'm Alive!!!!
and so the show must go on

...sorry for disappearing

Chapter 10

Anon stepped out after Ivy into the dark and gazed up at the dark daytime sky, the sun was visible through the trees but was reduced to a glowing ring above the town as if Anon was staring at the sky through sunglasses. Even though the darkness covered the whole town, its denizens still went about their day untroubled by the darkness. Some ponies were holding lanterns to light their way while others were completely fine with their own night vision, which brought to question how Anon’s own eyesight was unobstructed by the darkness. Looking down at his hands Anon could still see them perfectly as if it was as bright as day which surprised and confused him, a chuckle brought his attention back to Ivy who had moved a few steps down the road and waited for him to finish inspecting his surroundings and himself.

“Yeah, I didn’t have a lantern you could borrow and lately the moon stone prices have been rising so I just slipped you a night light potion in your soup. You should be good for a few hours and by then your friends should be here with their own lights” Understanding quickly Anon hurried over to Ivy’s side and wondered which question he should ask first and decided he might as well cover all his bases.

“How did you know I was going to come here?” Ivy actually seemed surprised by his choice of question and quickly answered with a grin chocked full of amusement.

“Well you did send me a letter to reserve my garden” Suddenly it all made sense, how she knew who he was and why she took care of him when he was injured… speaking of that.

“Not that i’m ungrateful, I really appreciate your help but, why did you help me in the first place?” We had just rounded a corner and all of my attention was on Ivy as I waited for her to answer me and all I got was her suddenly stopping then pointing ahead of us. Down the road past a few shops and market stands there was a large sprawling park that looked less like an area of relaxation and more like a living art exhibit. Bioluminescent flowers of every color of the spectrum grew freely giving the garden the feeling of being unreal, the glowing trees themselves actually resembled a type of tree from earth called Wisteria Trees making a perfect pathway into the garden. Though Ivy’s hoof wasn’t pointing at the garden itself but the memorial statue standing before it, the two of us approached the statue and now that he was closer Anon could see that the statue was actually of two ponies curled around each other… both ponies look very familiar.

“It that… YOU and CELESTIA?” Anon almost gave himself whiplash from how fast he was looking back and forth from Ivy and the statue, taking a look at the placard didn’t really ease his confusion as there were no words… only a date 125 AS - 0 ANM. The current year was 1021 ANM which meant that this statue was over a THOUSAND years old so that couldn’t be Ivy but judging from the solemn look on her face he was right on the money with his first question.

“I know what it’s like to lose the chance to tell the one you love how you feel and I don’t want to see that happen again” For a just a moment Anon could see a deep sadness flash over Ivy’s features before she schooled her expression back and proceeded past the statue and into the garden not explaining her pain. Storing that mystery in the back of his mind Anon continued following Ivy deeper into the beautiful botanical garden, the silent walk brought Anon’s most pressing problem to the forefront of his mind. What is he going to say to Pinkie once he sees her, she was most likely told how he feel by his friends, but that won’t magically change how she feels about him so he can’t just walk up and wax lyrical about how much he’s infatuated with her and suddenly she’ll stop hating him and fall in love. In this situation all he can do is to try his best and not give up too easily, Anon was pulled out of his thoughts by Ivy’s hoof tapping his side to get his attention.

“Your friends should show up here soon if the way you appeared was any indication” Anon barely heard her words and was instead mesmerized by the scenery, in the middle of a large luminescent blue field was a large dark wood twisted tree and sprouting from the branches was a rainbow of glowing leaves and flowers. At the base of the tree was actually a medium sized crater in the ground which was incredibly out of place, then Anon really focused on what Ivy said and realized that he caused the crater by appearing through the teleporter which in hindsight wasn’t the smartest thing to do in his state.

“Wait, isn’t this the area we reserved for the event?” Ivy simply grinned and nodded before turning away and trotting over to the crater in the ground with Anon following slightly behind wondering what she was doing. It was oddly silent what Ivy stepped into the crater as if the garden itself was holding its breath in anticipation, then it happened. The moment Ivy’s hoof left the glowing blue grass it started to follow her, not like it leaned toward her no… new blades of blue grass grew and followed behind her filling in the barren crater with healthy luminescent grass. It didn’t take long for Ivy and in turn the grass to envelop the barren crater leaving it only a memory, Anon was shocked stiff and his mind worked overtime to rationalize what had just happened. Her sparse show of emotions, the statue, and now that he’s looking for it… her lack of a cutie mark, she wasn’t a pony.

“What… are you?” Of course Ivy seemed to have anticipated this question and simply smiled and gave Anon a completely honest answer to all of the questions he had yet to ask and with only three words.

“I’m a dryad”

Twilight was both exhausted and bustling with energy at the same time and most of it was just emotionally which she thought shouldn’t really impact her efficacy all that much but when it came to what was on the line and where they were heading it made sense, after Spike was able to masterfully deduce where Anon most likely was (she’s so proud of him). Twilight was able to begin calculating the needed energy and coordinates of Hollow Shades and with help of Pinkie who apparently is very well versed in the calculation of non-euclopian geometry and with some talking down from her friends Twilight didn’t question how she knew any of this.

“Hey Twi, how much longer should this take?” The voice of an impatient Rainbow Dash almost broke her concentration on the two Waystones before her, taking a moment to stabilize the two stones before answering and instead of speaking only to Rainbow to this moment to address everypony on the room.

“Due to there being no corresponding Waystones in Hollow Shades besides the magical signature that Anon locked onto the safest way to transport would be to sock onto Anon’s magical signature or should I say his lack of one, Anon leaves a trail of Anti-magic wherever he goes and while its not strong enough to really affect anypony it does make it hard to use magic on him directly so I need to pinpoint the magical void he’s creating and lock onto the magic that's nearby” After finishing her pseudo magic lesson the sound of hooves clopping rapidly brought Twilight’s attention to the Princess who was still sitting on the couch and was staring at her proudly while happily clapping her hooves together. Trying to ignore the burning in her cheeks Twilight turned back to the almost finished Waystones and tried to stop the embarrassed smile from spreading across her muzzle. Feeling a tap on her right wither distracted Twilight from her embarrassment and brought her attention to Applejack and Rarity who were holding the basket and tea set they had brought respectively.

“Sorry to skip out so suddenly darling especially on such a important event but we need to go grab our sisters from school, we’ll be back quickly so don’t worry now” the quick explanation from Rarity and the corresponding nod from Applejack was all Twilight needed so she smiled and quickly told the two what time to be back so all of them could leave on time and thanked the two for taking so much time out of their day to help. Returning to the waystones Twilight continued to slowly and carefully sync the two up while thinking about what had happened today, the day she was supposed to unveil her biggest project that would change the way anyone would travel and bring the world together in a way never thought possible before, but now one of her best friends is hurting from something her other best friend said leaving her scrambling to fix the problems… but the more she thinks about it the more and more it seems like Twilight Sparkle couldn’t do anything about this. This wasn’t a friendship problem, it was a problem of the heart and this wasn’t anything she had any experience with. All she could do was fix the transporter and let Pinkie and Anon sort this out on their own… She really wished her BBSBFF was here to help, wait… maybe she could.

Author's Note

Apologies for such a short chapter but college has started back up for me but my campus keeps opening and closing so I'm just kinda stuck driving home and back over and over, I might just do online classes only... :facehoof:

Tree-

Non-Euclidean Geometry example-

tldr: non euclidean geometry is just 2D shapes places on a 3D plane, like a triangle stretched over a sphere so one side is rounded

Chapter 11

“Hey Twi, how much longer should this take?” The voice of an impatient Rainbow Dash almost broke her concentration on the two Waystones before her, taking a moment to stabilize the two stones before answering and instead speaking only to Rainbow to this moment to address everypony on the room.

After Ivy revealed to Anon her species she had proceeded to sit down under the tree and not elaborate what so ever on her origins, she ignored most of the questions that were fired from the railgun that was Anon’s mouth and offered a coy smile to others like. Does she need to bury herself every once in a while or does she need to eat at all, if she could make other dryads and how does she use photosynthesis in a town of eternal darkness. The only question she responded to was one that drove her to a giggle fit. “What does sunlight taste like?”

“Radiation and Fire” Her answer and laughter made Anon pause for a moment before shrugging and assuming it was an inside joke and returning his focus on what was going to happen and how emotionally draining it was going to be. The determination that was burning low in the background roared back to full strength but was still just as aimless as before, Anon knew what he wanted and was willing to fight tooth and nail for her but being forceful wouldn’t help in this case. Taking a deep calming breath, Anon went and joined Ivy beneath the tree and really thought about his situation. Anon is a previously unknown creature that has only just been completely accepted by a magical pony society, the pony of his affections apparently hates his guts and has for quite a while now but kept it hidden when around Anon. Now that Pinkie has made her feelings known and probably got a dressing down by their shared friends, all of them are now trying to find and get to me as fast as possible so Pinkie can apologize most likely.

“That sounds like it's going to be dramatic” The still slightly amused voice of Ivy cut through Anon’s thoughts brought him back to looking around the frankly beautiful garden he was in. Anon simply rolled his eyes at her and stood back up absorbed in his thoughts once again, it seemed to please Ivy somewhat to see that Anon was thinking this through and wasn’t just trying to bull rush through. Anon was stuck, on one hand he wasn’t to simply forgive Pinkie and move on so he could try and improve their relationship but on the other hand… he wanted his feelings to be known. What she had said hurt and Anon wanted her to know that words have power, but purposely hurting anyone simply because they wronged you in the past isn’t the way to go. At this point Anon had begun pacing back and forth in front of the tree so absorbed in his thoughts he didn’t even notice the sudden appearance of a rapidly growing azure blue sphere, turning away from the sphere Anon walked a good twenty feet away before turning around and actually seeing the now human sized sphere and wisely decided not to get any closer to it.

“At least this time they didn’t carve a hole in my garden”

Spike was 100% sure that teleportation sickness wouldn’t have affected him because he was so used to it with Twi but here he was with his stomach feeling like he just burped up Twilight’s whole library, bracing himself against the leg of the princess Spike first notice the glowing blue grass he and everyone else was standing on. Now distracted from his nausea Spike turned his gaze upwards and was rendered speechless by his new surroundings, they had appeared before a massive glowing rainbow tree surrounded by a giant luminescent park or something. A soft gasp from above him made Spike turn his attention away from the amazing scenery and up the leg he was still leaning against, it was a rare sight to see Princess Celestia lose her composure in any situation but right now her face held the deepest sorrow Spike had ever perceived and it was all aimed not at Anon who Spike was happy to see before them but a thestrial who was sitting beneath the luminescent tree with the slightest smile on her muzzle.

“Anon! You’re okay!” The first to speak was surprisingly Twilight who immediately teleported over to Anon’s side and started checking over his body with a few magical and medical instruments she brought with her, and the whole time she was apologizing for taking so long and his most likely ‘rough’ landing. Though the whole time Anon hasn’t spoken a word and that worried Spike in more ways than one, it wasn’t until Twi asked Anon a question that he did anything. With one hand Anon gently pushed Twilight to the side and stepped past her towards the rest of us, stunned Twilight didn’t stop him and her expression slowly turned from elated to worried. Everypony quickly realized who Anon was approaching and got out of his way leaving only two ponies or pony and dragon respectively, Spike and surprisingly Princess Mi amore Cadenza. The princess of love only lingering for a moment before letting out a deep sigh and wrapping a wing around Spike and guiding him aside with the others leaving a drooping Pinkie Pie on her own. For a while neither said anything, Anon’s expression was blank with not a shred of emotion on his face while Pinkie’s face was a veritable hurricane of emotions ranging from dread, to sadness, to worry and confusion, then settling on an odd mix of indignation and panic before Pinkie loudly broke the stalemate with her voice taking on a frantic tone.

“Well! Say something already, yell at me, insult me, I can take it! Don’t just stand there like a… d-doll or something, I get what I said was horrible but we can get past it right? I-I just don’t want to lose any of my friends… “ Near the end of her spiel Pinkie’s voice petered out letting the previously broken silence reform as we all gazed at Anon’s still unmoved expression. Almost a minute later Anon opened his mouth and spoke, his voice was calm and measure giving nothing away resembling the princess’s tone when she spoke to politicians or council members.

“ … I was waiting for an apology” At his response everyone’s eyes widened when they realized that yes, during pinkie’s outburst she did not apologize once for her words. Simultaneously everyone turned their gazes towards Pinkie who seemed to be coming to the same conclusion about her mistake and before she could amend her mistake Anon let out a soft chuckle and started to pace back around the tree before speaking again.

“ Heh, Something about my job must be pretty distasteful if I don’t even warrant an apology or maybe… it just me you find so distasteful, is it my species, my personality, my sense of humor? Haha well… I’m just your problem” Then ever so softly a melody started to grow from the background and much to the surprise of everyone Anon started to… sing.

Sorry I don't treat you like a goddess

Is that what you want me to do?

Sorry I don't treat you like you're perfect

Like all your little loyal friends do

Sorry I'm not made of sugar

Am I not sweet enough for you?

Is that why you always avoid me?

That must be such an inconvenience to you

Well, I'm just your problem

I'm just your problem

I feel like I'm not even a person, am I?

I'm just your problem

Well, I shouldn't have to justify what I do

I shouldn't have to prove anything to you

I'm sorry that I exist

Forgot what landed me on your black list

But I shouldn't have to be the one that makes up with you

Well, I'm just your problem

I'm just your problem

I feel like I'm not even a person, am I?

I'm just your problem

I'm sorry that I exist

I forget what landed me on your blacklist

I shouldn't have to be the one

Who makes up with you, so

Why do I want to?

Author's Note

Cliff hanger!
Sorry for the long wait, and please tell me if the video is working for everyone.
I've been going through some horrible writers block and I'm trying to get my own book published at the same time so it's a lot of back and forth.
Also I felt that this song from good old adventure time fit the vibe perfectly and i'm glade I executed it how I wanted :twilightblush:

Chapter 12

Pinkie’s POV:

The sudden song shocked everyone, Anon doesn’t sing of his own volition. This might actually be the first time he has initiated a heart song on his own. It really drove home the fact that the whole point of the song was about Anon’s hurt feelings toward Pinkie. It filled Pinkie with a deep sadness and at the same time a hope that Anon might just forgive her, before Pinkie could say anything to the heaving Anon another pink pony stepped between the two of them.

“A conversation like this shouldn’t be had in the cold night, our new friend Ivy here as invited all of us to speak in her home out of the cold'' The princess’ redirection brought everyone’s attention to Ivy who was currently standing with as many ponies as possible between her and Princess Celestia. Sending an affirming nod in the princess of love’s direction Ivy started a steady trot back to her home with the rest of Pinkie’s friends following her, Anon hesitated for a moment before turning to follow as well. Leaving The princess and Pinkie to bring up the rear, Pinkie’s normally puffed mane hung low, weighed down by the guilt of her own actions.

The soft feeling of feathers being draped across Pinkie’s back brought her eyes up from the ground up to the concerned gaze of Candace. The small smile she gave Pinkie was both encouraging and apologetic, it wasn’t hard for Pinkie to puzzle out why her smile felt that way to her. She may be the princess of love but relationships need work from both sides for it to work, it isn’t something she can force. Taking a deep breath Pinkie emboldened her steps and held her head higher, slapping a stony expression that would fit more on her sister Maud onto her face. Pinkie was determined to make this right between her and Anon, before giving any affection for Anon any thought they would need to be friends first… and making friends is Pinkie’s special talent (aside from parties).

The walk back to Ivy’s home was a quiet one, usually a quiet atmosphere like this would be quickly broken by Pinkie but this is one of the few times where Pinkie welcomed the quiet so she could think about what to say to Anon. She didn’t expect this to be an easy talk, but she was going to try her best either way. Pinkie’s determined gait carried her past a frowning Fluttershy who seemed just as deep in thought as everypony in their group, blue met cyan as Fluttershy sent Pinkie a small encouraging smile which helped return some curl to Pinkie’s mane.

It wasn’t long after did everypony approached a nice cottage a few blocks away, a quick flash of panic bloomed into Pinkie’s chest. She didn’t think she was ready for this, she didn’t know what she was gonna say?! She knew she wanted to apologize for everything ,but what should she say afterwards. Pinkie remained where she stood stewing in her thoughts while everypony started to enter the home. Before all this Pinkie’s feelings for Anon seemed so cut and dry but now… She didn’t know what to feel, The feeling of a familiar claw on her barrel snapped Pinkie out of her spiraling thoughts and made her eyes dart down to meet the reptilian gaze of Spike.

“ Take a deep breath Pinkie… “ Filling her own lungs with air was startlingly relaxing as another layer of tension she wasn’t aware of dissipated for a moment. Sending Spike a thankful smile Pinkie turned and followed her friends into the house. The interior of the house seemed normal as far as usual homes go but something about it felt cold to Pinkie… unlived in. Pinkie’s gazing about the room stopped on the couch where most of her friends had sat down waiting for her. Though it was weird how everypony had decided to sit around the couch instead of sitting on it, at any other time Pinkie would have giggled at how silly it looked but now wasn’t a time for laughter *Screech* Did she just hear a record scratch somewhere?

“Please take a load off Pinkie, we have a lot to talk about” Anon’s flat tone brought Pinkie back to the present making her realize she had been standing in the middle of the room staring at all of them. Keeping her composure Pinkie trotted over to the couch and took a seat next to the host… and quickly found out why everypony chose to sit our stand on the floor instead of the couch. Pushing past her discomfort, Pinkie turned her gaze to Anon who had gone and brought over a chair from the kitchen so he could sit in front of her. The two of them had been waiting for this moment for a while and now that it was actually here… neither of them knew how to start. Silence dominated the room as the two stared deeply into each other's eyes thinking to themselves ‘What do I say?’ until the obvious answer came to Pinkie’s mind.

“Anon… I’m sorry” An apology, that’s what he wanted when they first spoke and that’s exactly what he deserved. Being the first one to speak had brought all of the attention onto Pinkie in a way she wasn’t used to, everypony was taking her extremely seriously… just like she wanted.

“ I’m sorry for always treating you so awful, I’m sorry for always ignoring you, and I’m sorry I hurt you… You’ve only ever been polite and super nice to me and I… I just threw that back into your face!” Pinkie took a moment to breathe and bring her voice back down, lifting a hoof to wipe a few errant tears from her eyes and keep a steady tone.

“You didn’t deserve any of that. This all started because I was jealous that everypony was going to you for parties and it just spiraled from there. I just searched for any reason to dislike, even when there was no reason I still tried. After I … blew up at my friends, I was told why you were so nice to me. Now I don’t know what to feel about you… But I do know that I want to start over with you. If you still want the two of us to get closer then… I have an idea!” Pinkie suddenly sprung to her hooves surprising every creature around her, her mane suddenly reflating as all of her previously lost exuberance shot through her once again. Throughout her speech Anon had slowly lost his stony expression as his fondness for the pink pony slowly won out over his previous anger. Though any fond emotion was wiped from his face as surprise overtook his features at Pinkie’s declaration. Caught off guard Anon didn’t realize he nodded to Pinkie’s question giving her clearance to continue.

“Will you go on a Friend-Date with me!” And just like that any sound that was being made after Pinkie’s… offer disappeared. Every creature stared at Pinkie in a stunned silence that seemed to stretch on for almost an eternity, usually by this point Pinkie would have started to wonder if she said something wrong again but this time she was positive this was the right thing to do! The eternity of silence was suddenly broken by the sound of two simultaneous face-palm/hooves. Princess Cadence was self conscious enough to smother the groan that threatened to roll out of her throat, but Spike had no problems letting his fly as he buried his face in his claws. Though another sound started to rise over Spike’s groan, a rumbling sound that slowly started to get louder. All eyes started to pan over to Anon who had leaned forward and planted a hand firmly on his face and was slowly starting to tremble. For a moment Pinkie was scared she had made him angry with her… until the rumbling sound started to become something she recognized.

“... phfft-HahaHAHAhaAHahA-” Pure unfiltered laughter, Anon held his stomach in almost pain as he laughed the hardest in his whole life. Anon had to forcefully take deep breaths to calm himself and not run out of air mid laugh, Everypony (Even princess Celestia) didn’t know how to react to Anon’s laughter and didn’t know if they should be watching or not… except for Pinkie. She was enraptured by Anon’s laugh, for a moment she was taken back to the moment she first made her family laugh back on the rock farm. For a moment Pinkie’s heart seemed to beat harder than her party cannon could fire.

“-Hahaha-hah… *whew* Sure Pinkie, I’ll go on a Friend-Date with you. First though, let’s finish our job here” Pinkie’s iconic smile burst though the moment the word ‘sure’ came from Anon’s mouth. Springing up from the rock in the shape of a couch, Pinkie launched herself at Anon for a hug… which he quickly caught and stopped. He gently sat Pinkie back on the floor then offered a hand to shake, with a sheepish smile Pinkie reciprocated with a hoof.

“Oh s-sorry… We got a lot of work ahead of us” Anon gave a small smirk at Pinkie’s words and walked away to go speak to Ivy who had stepped away to speak to Princess Celestia. Pinkie’s happy gaze turned determined once again as she thought about her words. She definitely had a lot of work ahead of her and she refuses to fail, she will make this right. Pinkie felt the soft feathers of Princess Cadance drape over her once again as all her friends began talking to each other.

“ I’m very proud of you Pinkie, all relationships take time and effort. You need to be able to trust each other as friends before you can trust everything to each other… of course I wasn’t expecting it to go like this. I guess I still have a lot to learn as the Princess of Love, there are countless kinds of love and all of them grow in their own way. Don’t lose hope Pinkie, this will take time” Pinkie giggled with the Princess as they thought about her methods and with a seriousness that’s unusually uncharacteristic of Pinkie she said a few words.

“You’re right Princess, This is only the beginning”

Author's Note

OMG I actually finished this... First book done!

This took me years to write for the stupidest reasons but I got there in the end.

First comes Friendship then comes Relationship... that's gonna be fun to write... Maybe

Hope you enjoy! Rate and Review :heart: :pinkiesmile: