New and Old friends (and roommates)*
New and Old friends (and roommates)*
Leaf groggily cracked his eyes open as an incessantly loud tapping on his window tore him away from his dreams. He sluggishly threw off the sheets and headed to the window. To his surprise there was a pink mare perched atop a ladder who simply smiled.
"Hey you." She happily chirped. Her blue eyes staring intently at him, as if she was trying to see if she recognized him. “I haven’t seen you before, the names Pinkie Pie. What’s yours?”
Leaf started for a moment. Wait, did she just ask me my name? He thought as he mentally rewound what she had just said. Quickly realizing that was exactly what she just asked he put his hoof up and mouthed out ‘one moment.’ Before darting over to his desk.
Where is it? It should be around here. He thought as rummaged through his desk like his life depended on it. He caught a glimpse of his prize a sticker he had with his name on it. He triumphantly snatched it and stuck it on his chest, before happily cantering over to his window.
"Hello my names is..... Mustard stain?" The mare read aloud, raising a curious eyebrow. Leaf looked down at his chest to see his that his sticker did indeed have a huge solidified yellow blob right where his name should have been ."Well anyways,” She continued “ I'm throwing a party at Sugarcube corner at four you should come." Pinkie said as she placed an invitation in front of Leaf. “There’s gonna be cake and dancing and… Whoa, whoa ahh.” She slipped of the ladder. Leaf opened his window and looked down the the bushes just underneath his windows.
Oh no, Is she okay please let her be okay? He panicked a little, as the bushes didn’t seem to show any sign of movement. Just then Pinkie poked her head out the bush, save for a few twigs and leaves in her mane she looked okay.
“I’m okay,“ She happily waved at him, as she hopped out of the bush. “Don’t forget the party is at four.” She said as if nothing had happened, she then turned and happily skipped away into town.
******************
Stupid stupid stupid. Leaf thought as he banged his head against the kitchen table.
"Hey, whoa man calm down." his roommate trotted in looking at him with concern. "We can’t have you, getting hurt dude, you pay the rent in this place remember."
Thats the only thing I do. Leaf thought as he rolled his eyes.
"Write it out, you know I can’t read your mind.” Quake said as he used his magic to toss Leaf a notepad that was sitting on the kitchen counter. The note had its own idea of where it wanted to land however and plopped into Leafs bowl of oatmeal.
Both of them looked at the oatmeal, Leaf angrily glancing up to his roommate, who in turn was giving him a nervous grin. Leaf reached out and picked up the now oatmeal sopped pad and pulled out the pencil inside.
'I don’t get it. Why is it that when I try to talk to mares I always grab a sticker that’s messed up?' He wrote doing his best to make sure the oatmeal dripped back into his bowl.
"Bad luck, no that’s not it…" Quake put his hoof to his chin in mock contemplation. “Got it, you’re just awkward around mares.”
Really Quake you’re going to go there? Leaf knew that in the next few seconds Quake was get on his metaphorical soapbox and start blabbing about how he hasn’t had a marefriend and how he should get one. Leaf
'Tell me Quake when was your last relationship?' Leaf wrote on the pad.
"Three years ago..... Wait that’s not important, my point is that you need to go out there. and find somepony who likes you for you." Quake said as he looked out into the distance.
'Why are you looking at the wall?' Leaf wrote.
"Because the wall is the 'distance' you dolt." Quake snapped back.
************************************
Okay this wont be to difficult I just need to stop by this party, Eat a little have fun all that.Leaf thought as he looked down at his clothing.Why did I believe Quake? This tuxedo is going to make me stand out. Leaf flexed his wings as he psyched himself up. An image of the purple unicorn laughing hysterically in the living room crossed Leaf's mind.
I'll get him for this.Leaf though of all the devious things he could do to prank his roommate. Engrossed now in the thought of where he was going to find three chickens and a duck; he failed to notice that somepony who was likewise not paying attention they were going. As soon as Leaf realized he and the butter yellow mare were already tumbling over each other.
As both of them got back to their hooves, he reached for his notepad only to pause as he looked up to the mare he bumped into, her long beautiful pink mane, and her gentle caring blue eyes. Leaf could only think of one pony he ever met with those eyes, but that was so long ago.
Fluttershy?! Leafs face apparently talking for him as her eyes grew a bit in surprise as well.
“Leaf?” she said in disbelief. All he could do was numbly nod his head at his own name.
"Leaf it has been forever since I’ve seen you!” She excitedly sprang forward and gave him a big hug, which lasted only a few seconds as she nervously stepped back and started digging at the ground with her hoof. “ Did they ever get to fix your voice?" She all but whispered, Leaf shook his head. "Oh well, it’s good to see you. Did you move here from Flapstaff?"
Leaf nodded before producing a pad of paper and a pencil. ‘It is good to see you again Shy. Are you going to the party too?' he presented the pad to Fluttershy.
"Oh yes I’m going, are you going?" A small shred of excitement crossed the mares face as Leaf nodded.
"Really, you can get to meet my friends," She started to flap her wings in sheer joy. “That is, if you want to..” She trailed off into silence.
'You want to fly there?’he smiled as he wrote on the pad.
"Uhhh.... Sure why not." Fluttershy smiled nervously as Leaf rose beside her. He gently nudged her in the side. The mare looked at her old friend, a smile across his face. "Let’s go." She said softly as she started to flap her wings and lift herself off the ground.
**********
Sugarcube Corner was packed with ponies as Leaf and Fluttershy landed just outside. Something flew in the side of Leaf making him tumble over once again .
"Sorry about that." A mare with rainbow colored mane stood over him. “Wait a second,” She glared at him for a second. “You look vaguely familiar…”
Leaf look at her to, something did look familiar about her as well, though he couldn’t quite put his hoof on it either.
“Rainbow Dash, this is Leaf I met him in flight camp wh-“
“That’s it,” Rainbow blurted out, as she pointed her hoof at him in triumph. “You were the colt who’s record I beat in the speed trials, and the one who….” She trailed off every bit of her pride dulling itself down. “Had the accident.”
Leaf nodded, as he grabbed his pad. ‘Yeah that’s me.’
“Well, good on ya then,” She softly punched him in the shoulder. “Any friend of Fluttershy’s is a friend of mine.” She trotted past the two of them. “We should hang out some time and catch up.” She called back to him just before she went inside.
Leaf looked over to Fluttershy who in turn gave him a curt smile. Both of them slowly approached the door, Leaf more timidly than usual seeing as of the first three ponies he has run into in Ponyville two knew him. He started to wonder if he would run anypony else.
It was a decently prepared party. Almost as if the host had spent weeks on it. "Hey there Mustard stain." Saw Pinkies head pop up over the crowd.
Leaf placed his hoof to his face in humiliation as the pink mare approached.Not her please why did it have to be her, and why does she think that’s my name?.
"Pinkie this is..." Fluttershy started as the pink mare happily cantered to them.
"Mustard you know you don’t really look like mustard to me more like a Coal. Oh can I call you Coal stain instead?" she said energetically.
'Actually my name is Leaf.'
"Wait so your name is Mustard Leaf Stain?" Pinkie said a confused look on her face.
"No Pinkie his name is Leaf." Fluttershy interjected.
"Oh that totally makes more sense." Pinkie said as a smile crossed her face. “Well Leaf this is a party have fun and mingle." Pinkie said gesturing to the entire party.
Just then Leaf's stomach rumbled.Well I know where I'm headed. Leaf though as he slipped away from the two of them so they could chat.
As Leaf approached the snack table another mare wearing a stetson called out. "Y'all mind If take the last apple fritter?"
Leaf stepped behind her assuming that there was a line for the table that had a decent array of sweets and snacks. Leaf looked over the mare, her orange body seeming to help her cutie mark blend in surprisingly well.
Three apples, I wonder what that means? He was snapped by his thoughts when he noticed that she had turned around and was staring him in the eye.
"You see what you were lookin for?" The mare glanced angrily at Leaf.
'Wait I can explain. I was trying to figure out what your cutie mark was that’s all.' He wrote down hastily on his pad.
A look of anger and confusion now on her face.
"It means I'm part of the bunch.” She offered her hoof “My names Applejack, what’s yours partner?"
Leaf flipped through his pad to see 'Actually my name is Leaf.' He scribbled out 'Actually' then he presented the pad to the mare a smile on his face as he shook her hoof.
"Well uh Leaf. Nice makin your acquaintance, but I have to go this way for somethin" the orange mare cantered off to where Fluttershy and Pinkie had decided to sit down.
***
Well that's one mare that thinks I'm odd. Leaf though as he looked out to the dance floor. He entered with the intention of cutting loose. A few ponies looked at him with a bit of confusion.
Why did I wear the tuxedo? Leaf though as he suddenly found himself in the middle on a of a circle of ponies all staring at him.
Oh clop.. Wait I got it. Leaf sprang into motion using his wings to help balance his first spin. He landed on his head still spinning he kept going and going, He heard some cheers from the crowd as he sped up.
Here comes the hard part. Leaf placed one hoof on the ground as he lifted his still spinning body up. He opened his eyes to see a dizzying blur that was standing outside of the circle.
He used his wings to slow his spin as he sprang out of the circle. Looking around dizziness causing his vision to become a liability and utterly useless. He tried to take a bow but fell on his face.
"You okay?" Leaf cracked his eyes to see purple.
Wait what is Quake doing here, no wait that was a girls voice.He looked up to see a mare staring down at him. Her mane was a deeper purple with a streak of pink in it. Leaf nodded.
"Well you should be a little more careful." The mare said as she picked up Leaf with her magic and gently placed him on his feet. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. What’s your name?"
Leaf looked for his pad. A small sense of panic flooded him. He raised his hoof to the mare as he sped back to the dance floor.
Gotcha. He grabbed his pad with his mouth. It had been trampled a little by some other ponies who were happily dancing.
'My name is Leaf' he presented the pad to her.
"Hello Leaf. Are you new in town?" Twilight asked. A smile on her face. Leaf produced a pencil from under his wing.
‘Yes I moved in about two days ago.' Leaf wrote on the pad.
"So I take it you can’t talk?" The mare asked a little intrigued.
'That’s right I took your cookies' Leaf showed her.
"What I don’t have any cookies.” Twilight looked at him confusion starting to cross her face.
Leaf looked at his pad and frantically scribbling out. ‘I took your cookies.' a nervous smile on his face when he presented his pad again to Twilight.
“So have you met anypony you know here?" she asked a nice smile on her face.
She Is a bit too talkative if you ask me. He thought as he nodded.
'Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, I knew them from where we were younger, but that's really everypony I know.' Leaf wrote down on his pad.
"Oh Fluttershy.... Wait you grew up with Fluttershy?" she said as she looked at the table where Fluttershy was sitting.
“Always nice to meet a friend of a friend." Twilight said extending a hoof. Leaf reached out and shook it. "You should come by the library sometime you look like a pony that enjoys reading." She said as she cantered of to the table with Fluttershy and her friends.
Well that could have gone worse. Leaf thought as he trotted back over to the food table. He was delighted to see a few cupcakes left but nothing else. He filled his plate and headed for a table in the corner.
As Leaf sat down he looked over the party, then at the table were Fluttershy and her friends were sitting a white unicorn now joining them. He smiled.
Well Nopony can say I was being antisocial now. Met three new ponies and on my second day in town. He bit into the cupcake. It crunched loudly in his mouth, as his tastbuds quickly told him that it was burnt to a crisp.Ahh... This is worse than Quakes cooking. He thought as he tried to spit out the burnt flaky mess that was now in his mouth.
"You like the cupcakes?" a voice came from behind Leaf startling him. Pinkie pie looked him square in the eye hopping for Leaf to like her cupcakes.
They are too dry and you should try to bake them with a pitch of water, and try not to burn them, that’s important.Leaf's inner baker commented.
'They’re delicious.' He wrote on the pad faking a satisfied smile.
"Okie dokie lokie." She said with a smile as she sprang away.
Leaf turned his head back to his plate only to see the orange mare sitting across from him.
Oh no what did I do? Leaf thought a twitch of concern crossed his face.
"So tell me what does your cutie mark mean?" A look of annoyance as if somepony had put her up to this was plastered on her face. Leaf looked at his flank a large green leaf was there.
'It means, and this will sound kinda sappy but. I like to go where the wind takes me.' Leaf wrote on his pad knowing there would be a follow up question.
"Oh. So does that mean you travel a lot?" the white unicorn asked as she sat down next to Applejack.
'No, not really it’s more of a philosophical thing. Like the whole life gives you lemons thing. ' Leaf wrote down as more of Fluttershy's friends seemed to be surrounding him.
“Oh, where are my manners.” She cleared her throat. “My name is Rarity, and yours is?”
Leaf, flipped through the pad of paper trying to find a page he had written his name on. To no avail, he started to reach for his pencil, when he saw Rainbow Dash trotting up to them.
“Oh hey Leaf,” she waved to him. “Smooth moves out there.” She toasted to him with the cup of punch she had in her hoof.
“Leaf is it?” Rarity asked as he nodded. “Then it a pleasure to meet you.”
****************************************************
Leaf opened the door to the apartment. It wasn’t much two bedrooms, two baths and one of the cheaper places he could find in town. He looked over to where he guessed Quake was siting seeing as bags of chips and manega scattered everywhere around the living room couch.
“How did it go?" Quake asked as he sat up from the couch.
'It went good.' Leaf tossed the pad on the coffee table as he plopped onto the recliner next to him.
"You sure you didn’t just sit in the corner and mope like all the parties I seen you at?" The unicorn nudged Leaf with his hoof. He really got annoyed when Quake would bring that up, and he knew of one way to stop him from bringing that fiasco up again.
'We know how to settle this don't we?' Leaf flipped to the page on the pad as he stared at Quake.Determination in his eye.
"Brony scrap." Leaf nodded. "Bring it you remember last time I beat you."
Quake got up and started to circle around the room. Leaf shot forward tackling his roommate. They wrestled for a solid twenty minutes knocking over a pile of CD's and manega. Then a knock sounded on the door.
"Just a second." Quake called out from his headlock. As his horn lifted the pegisi off of him. He cantered over to the door, While leaf was still angrily shaking his hoof at him.
"Helllllllooooooooo." He said as he opened the door.
"Umm... does Leaf live here?" Leaf perked his ears. "Because I got a job he could do for me if he's up to it."
Applejack? Leaf rushed to the door bumping his roommate out of the way.
"Oh so you do live here." Applejack smiled. She let out a heavy sigh."So Big Mac my older brother kinda got hurt Yesterday. He uhhh tripped over a bad apple you see and Applebuck season's comin up and well, me and the girls need a little help. Would you be willin to help out on my farm?"
Applejack smiled as if sompony had pressured her into asking Leaf to help. Leaf nodded his head.
"Count me in too." Quake bumped Leaf out of the door as he flexed his foreleg. “After all, the more the merrier.”
"Uhh.. okay. We'll need ya tomorrow mornin." Applejack said as she backed away from the door.
'Smooth moves' Leaf wrote on his pad.
"Whatever , this is a new town with new mares to date." Quake said a smile on his face.
'Like what happened in lower Flapstaff?' Leaf smiled at the memories of seeing Quake run out of town for the tenth time for asking out the mayor's, and sheriff's daughters to the same date at the same time no less.
"And thank you for paying bail. I thought we were over that stick in the mud town." Quake said as he levitated his garbage to the kitchen.
'So did you eat all the chips?' Leaf asked.
"No… Well most of them." The purple stallion said a nervous smile on his face. Leaf walked away from Quake to the nearest wall. Leaf reared his head back and knocked it against the wall.
'This is why we can’t have nice things. You always eat it and when we want it we don’t have it. Come on.' Over the past two years with his roommate, Leaf flipped to this page numerous time's that he eventually started drawing frowny faces on it to get his point across. Quake only shrugged and headed upstairs to his room.
Leaf suddenly felt tired from his long day of partying and decided he should get some sleep for the even longer day of work he knew was going to come.
"Goodnight, see you in the morning." Leaf heard Quake call out as his door closed. Leafs bed looked so comfortable right then. He flopped into his soft comfy bed eventually falling to sleep.