Author's Note

Attention:

You may ask me to improve this story, but you may not get a reply, if you do, it may not be very nice because I don’t like being told that I need to improve something because I think I don’t.

This is my story if you do not like scroll away, but I do hope that some of you will enjoy it, I know that you do really enjoy my stories, but for those of you who do not.

I recommend instead of leaving hateful and hurtful comments. You take a good long look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself before you comment. “Will this hurt her?”

I suspect a number of you don’t even look in the mirror before you comment.

10 months later

Pinkie Pie sat on the floor of Sugar Cube Corner in front of a mountain of presents for her baby.

“Wow, thank you guys,” The pink earth pony cried, as she looked around at all the smiling faces of her friends.

“No need to thank us, ya did all the work,” Applejack said, coming over and sitting next to her friend.

“Cheese, we’re ready for you,” Pinkie called.

As if out of thin air, her husband and a little colt came into the room, Cheese gestured to his son and the colt’s face lit up, as he ran to his mother and hugged her.

“These are for you, Bubble,” Pinkie said as she made some gestures.

Bubble’s face lit up when he saw the presents, he jumped and dove into them, he was a blue earth pony with a wild red mane and yellow eyes.

“Well, Pinkie, I must say your son is very energetic,” Rarity said to her pink friend.

The pink pony just nodded, “well, he’s learning from the best.”

Twilight, who had been watching her nephew unwrap presents, noticed Melody sitting in a corner by herself, she got up and walked over to her niece.

“Melody, it’s Aunt Twilight, Do you mind telling me what is bothering you?” Twilight asked as she sat beside her niece.

After a long silence, Melody let out a heavy sigh.

“Why can’t Ah be normal like everyone else, it ain’t fair!” She complained, taking off her glasses for emphasis.

Twilight smiled and shook her head. “You are normal, don’t let any pony tell you otherwise, sweetie.”

“Yes, Ah understand, Aunt Twilight,” Melody nodded.

“Ok, good, I think I see your cousin Sky getting some cake after it is your cousin Bubble’s birthday, let’s go see what they’re doing, alright?” Twilight guided Melody over to the cake stand.

Sugar Cube Corner was decorated with streamers and a banner that read “Happy Birthday Bubble.”

In one corner of the room, there stood a large three-layer cake, decorated with frosting and fondant in the colors blue, yellow, and red. At the very top of the cake, there stood a figure made out of fondant holding a birthday banner.

“Auntie Twilight, why can’t Bubble have cake?” Melody asked.

“He’s still too little to eat cake, too much sugar,” Twilight answered.

The CMC were sitting at a table drinking apple cider and chatting. Apple Bloom must have been telling a funny story because Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were both laughing hysterically.

Out of the corner of her eye, Apple Bloom noticed Melody talking with Twilight, excusing herself she got up and walked over to them.

“Howdy, Twilight, Ah couldn’t help but notice that Melody was lookin’ a little bit upset, mind tellin’ me why?” She asked.

“Ah don’t wanna talk about it, it ain’t right that I do,” Melody said.

“Well, whatever it is, I’ll be sure that it will blow over soon. How is Cozy Glow by the way?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Well, that’s just it, Ah haven’t spoken to her ever since she got her Cutie Mark, it ain’t fair, why does she have a cutie mark and I don’t!” Melody complained.

Apple Bloom just shook her head as the other two came over to see what was going on.

“Well, let me tell you a story, when I was your age I also wanted my cutie mark so desperately that I did somethin’ that I regretted, but I learned from my mistake that you can’t rush your cutie mark, It will come when it comes,” Apple Bloom chuckled good-naturedly.

Sweetie Belle nodded. “Yeah, we were all pretty desperate for our cutie marks, but then when they finally came, we figured out that we’re good at helping others.”

“All you need is a little patience, we understand it is difficult to wait for something to happen, but don’t worry I’m sure you’ll find your special talent eventually,” Scootaloo added.

“Auntie Apple Bloom, does Sky have his cutie mark yet?” Melody asked.

“Well, Ah don’t know, ya gotta ask Rainbow, she’s just over there yonder by the snack table,” Apple Bloom answered.

“Thanks, Auntie Apple Bloom,” Melody said, walking away to go find Rainbow.

Somewhere in the Everfree Forest, Stevie and Smokey were walking in the direction of Zecora’s hut, they walked in silence for a bit until they reached her hut, and Smoky knocked on the door. Shuffling could be heard from inside.

“What is it that you need, I am quite busy indeed,” Zecora’s voice came from inside.

“You must help us, Stevie wants to get Applejack back but does not know how,” Smoky explained from outside of the door.

After a bit more shuffling around, the zebra shaman finally opened the door.

“Come in, and sit down now tell me why the frown?” She asked, pointing at Stevie who was looking extremely sad and distraught.

“Well, I was on tour for a very, very long time and did not send one single letter, 10 months ago Applejack did not want anything to do with me, what can I do to get her back?” Stevie asked.

The zebra simply shook her head letting out a sigh.

“Oh Stevie, don’t you know that getting her back won’t be easy?” She asked.

“Yes, I know that,” He answered.

Zecora took Stevie’s teacup and peered inside, then she took Smoky’s teacup and also looked inside.

“Hmm, I can tell you what you want to know, but you will not like the answer, I know so,” Zecora replied.

“What do you mean?” Stevie asked.

Zecora chuckled and smiled. “I see many things in your future, but love that is not one.”

“I don’t understand,” Stevie said, starting to look annoyed.

“Yeah, can’t you ever give a straight answer?” Smoky asked.

The zebra shrugged and went back to mixing her cauldron.

“Oh, come on, we came all this way for nothing,” Stevie growled.

Zecora looked at him with a grim look in her eyes as she turned back to the two ponies standing in front of her.

“I thought I told you already, Applejack is not the one, you must find another to be your lover,” she explained.

“Great, and how do you expect me to find another?” Stevie asked.

“That is something only you can do, but maybe someone can help you!” The zebra answered.

“How?” Smoky inquired.

The zebra gestured to her cauldron, Smoky came up and looked inside, and what he saw shocked him.

“Stevie, come look into the cauldron, and the truth will be revealed to you,” Zecora said.

“You know, that I cannot do that,” Stevie responded with a roll of his eyes.

“No, no, that is not what I mean to look does not mean always to see, it can also mean to just be,” Zecora spoke gently.

“Come again?” Smoky asked, puzzled.

“However, you have something that only you have, my friend, come here and tell me what you can see,” Zecora chuckled, as she turned to Stevie.

“Say again?” Stevie asked.

Zecora took him by the hoof and took him over to her cauldron, where she had been mixing a potion.

“Now, do tell what you can see when you look within, it seems you have been blind to your power,” Zecora said.

“What power? I have no power, Ray is the one with the superpowers, not me.” Stevie explained.

“How did you come here for love advice, and all she can give us is that you may have superpowers. I’m not certain I understand,” Smoky admonished.

“Ah, you must have patience, my dear friend, some things take time to mend,” Zecora said, as she looked at Stevie, who was looking into the cauldron, once his head popped back up.

“I cannot see anything within the cauldron, there is nothing there, why am I doing this?” He asked.

“Yeah, I thought we were here because Stevie wants to win Applejack back,” Smoky added, looking annoyed at the zebra.

Zecora simply shrugged and went back to sterling, whatever it was in that cauldron of hers.

“You come here for one bit of advice and I give you another and now you tell me that it’s not what you want, that is only if you want to win her back brother, for one who can see love might be here, but not for you I fear,” Zecora said.

“Let’s go, we have wasted enough time here!” Smoky said as he and his companion left the zebra’s hut.

Zecora simply smiled.

“Oh and Stevie, I must tell you before you go there is one more bit of advice you need to know, your power will come when you find yourself, wherever that might be but please come back and tell me,” Zecora called over her shoulder.

But the door was already shut.

“What was that about?” Smoky asked once they were walking back to Ponyville.

“I think I understand what she meant, I need to find myself and then tell Applejack that I want her back and how I feel,” Stevie explained.

Smoky let out a sigh and shook his head.

“Let’s go drinkin’, there ain’t nothing I’d rather do,” Stevie said as they made their way to the Ponyville Café.

“You really wanna go drinking, Stevie, that’s so not like you, you never wanted to go drinking before, Ray always had to drag you out of the house to go drinking with him. Why now, is it because Applejack left you?” Smoky asked.

“Yeah, so what, there ain’t nothin’ you can do to stop me,” Stevie said, making his way into the café with Smoky following him.

“You’re right, but don’t you think heavily drinking in the daytime is not good for you, I mean, we do have a show scheduled later this evening,” Smoky tried to reason with his friend to no avail.

Sitting down at a table, Stevie and Smoky ordered a hey burger each and an apple cider to share.

Back at the party, Twilight and the rest of the main six were helping clean up.

“That was a hoot’s nanny and a half, it was fun,” Applejack said, as she looked around at the party decorations that were still up.

“Yeah, Bubble might not remember this when he grows up but, I sure will,” Pinkie beamed.

“I’m sure he will remember that you told him about the day all his aunts and uncles came to see him,” Twilight spoke gently.

“But you will come to visit us from time to time in Fillydelphia,” Cheese said, coming up to the group.

“You’re moving?” Twilight asked.

“No we already have, Cheese has a new job in Fillydelphia,” Pinkie replied.

The room fell into silence for only a moment, then Applejack cleared her throat.

“And when were you gonna tell us?” She asked.

“I thought you knew, honestly,” The pink pony replied.

“Well, we didn’t, we didn’t know, why do you have to leave too? First, it was Rainbow, and then Stevie, and now you, how could you do this to us?” Applejack growled, leveling her angry gaze at the pink pony.

“Well, I didn’t think that you would be mad if we moved, I’m sorry you feel that way about it, but Bubble needs specialist care that Ponyville can’t give him,” Cheese tried to calm her down.

Applejack looked like she could kick down a barn door, as she glared daggers at Pinkie and Cheese before running out of the bakery and slamming the door shut behind her.

“What is wrong with her?” Cheese asked, looking at the door.

“I don’t know,” Twilight replied with concern written on her face.

Sky came up to stand beside Twilight as he fidgeted nervously, Twilight noticed this.

“Sky, what’s wrong?” Twilight asked.

Sky didn’t look at his aunt, instead, he just continued to fidget with his hooves.

Twilight let out a heavy sigh, knowing that bombarding him with questions would only agitate him further.

“Hey, Sky, you wanna go outside for a bit where it is quieter?” The lavender alicorn asked.

Sky looked up at his aunt and nodded.

Twilight smiled at that took him by the hoof and led him outside of the bakery where it was much quieter.

He looked around his surroundings, sitting down on the ground.

Twilight sat down next to him as they sat in silence, Sky looked down at his hooves as he fidgeted.

“Sky, you want to tell me what’s bothering you?” Twilight finally asked.

“Bothering you?” Sky repeated.

“Yes, was it because Auntie Applejack slammed the door?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, was too….loud,” Sky answered.

Twilight looked at him with a gentle smile on her face.

“Well, next time that happens you could ask one of us if we can take you to a quiet place, ok?” She reminded him gently.

“Quieter place, ok?” He asked.

His aunt nodded as she got up and started heading back inside of the bakery, she understood that her nephew needed his space.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, Rainbow came out to sit down beside her son.

As mother and son watched the sun disappear, Rainbow couldn’t help but wonder what if her son was just like any other pony in Ponyville, who would he be then?