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“Lily! Stop spacing out!”

I could have sworn I wasn’t spacing. Was I? I was just following Robin and Sunset, trying not to get stampeded like Mufasa. Poor Simba. The second movie was better anyway.

But then somepony calls my name from out of nowhere. I turned to see who. Where? And then I felt Robin leave my side. Fear down my spine. Noise. Commotion. Was that Twinkleshine? Big Mac? Caramel? More ponies I didn’t know. Bright colors. Expressions. Passions. Dreams. Wants. Expectations. I’m in the way. I have to get away.

“It was hazelnut, not banana nut! We don’t even have banana nut? Where’d you get that from?”

Was that the same voice? Hard to tell. A pony bumped into my barrel.

An exaggerated sigh.

I’m in the way.

“Nine bits!”

“I heard Trixie’s putting on ano–

“Eight fifty!”

“–show. Wanna–”

“Nine bits.”

“But mom!”

“Eight sixty!”

“–ice cream is good!”

“Nine bits.”

“What flavor did you–”

“You’re bartering wrong. I’m going up, see–”

Where was Robin? Where was Sunset? Fluttershy. The schedule. I’ll be late. I’m always late.

“HURRY UP WE’RE GOING TO BE LATE.”

I try.

“WHY DO YOU ALWAYS DO THIS?”

I don’t know.

“GET MOVING.”

I was just about to. I swear. I really mean it I just–

“YOU ALWAYS SAY THAT.”

The fear is a lie. Is it worse now? Why is it worse now. Easy fix syndrome. Did I think being a girl would fix this? Did I think being a girl would fix me?

“I’m just afraid I’m going to lose you.”

I’m still me, Robin. Pathetic me.

Antonietta, help me! Big sister, I’m scared.

I’m nothing. I’ll never be able to do anything and–

Just head to the wall. Hug the wall.

Like an animal. A mouse. A cat. I’m a pony.

I gingerly pushed through the herd. No eye contact. My heart has to be closed to you all right now. I can’t care. I’m sorry. I find myself at the side of a striped green tent.

And stupidly, I began leaning on it.

In a moment, the world went sideways, and then it went dark. The tent flap flipped over me and quickly I was on my back with my little hooves bent at the fetlocks. I saw the little cone the tent made at the top, a pole in the center holding it up, but I didn’t linger. Terrified of bothering somepony, I quickly rolled over again and jumped on my hooves.

An orange unicorn with a mane like fire was quickly jotting back and forth. She had… ice cream cones? She was scooping ice cream? There was a little light green scoop right there. Followed by a sprinkling of chocolate chips. She quickly hoofed it over to a red foal.

“Thank you Miss!” he cheered. “You make the best ice cream!”

“Not now Sweet Talker! Way too busy this morning!” said the orange unicorn as she prepared another cone.

“Ma’am, this ice cream’s already melted,” said… wait, I know that pony! Lemon… Lemon something?

“Ugggh!” sighed the orange unicorn. “I hate it when I do that. Sorry! I’ll get another one for you right away! Lily! Where’s the caramel refill?”

I nearly leapt out of my skin.

Am I… is Equestria adapting itself around me?

“Ember, when did you hire a new pony?” asked a spacey voice from behind.

Again, I leapt. This time, however, I also shrieked. I found myself clutching the tent pole.

Once behind me, but now under me at a safe distance, was a greenish pony with a flat blue mane tied into a ponytail and a blank stare.

The orange pony, evidently Ember, stood looking up at me with surprise. Floating next to her was a black cone, and on the floor was a splatted scoop of pink ice cream.

“Who are you?” asked Ember.

“L-Lily,” I spluttered, feeling like a cat slowly peeling down the pole.

“Yes?” asked the other Lily.

Why did the most obvious conclusion not occur to me earlier?

Suddenly, the cone in Ember’s magical gasp caught on fire.

“Not again!” she shouted. “Always when I’m excited about something!”

The cone dropped to the ground and Ember slammed a pot over it. She spun around towards me in a whirl. I found an ice cream scooper pointed into my muzzle. Heat emanated from it.

“You!” she exclaimed. “Who are you and what are you doing in our ice cream shop?!”

“My name is Lily! Lilyheart!” I suddenly felt the ground hit my rump. Oh, I slid back to the ground. “It was an accident! I just fell through the tent!”

The other Lily was sniffing the air. “Ember, I smell something burning. Did you catch the tent on fire again?”

“Uggh!” Ember face hoofed.

I glanced at the other Lily’s cutie mark. Is that a… lilypad? She was sitting, but instead of resting her hindlegs on the ground, she stuck them up as though in a yoga pose.

“Hey, are you still serving ice cream, or should we just go somewhere else?” called a stallion from outside the tent.

“Good luck finding another place open this early…” Ember muttered, her eyes aglow. She turned towards the customers, and her voice became suddenly cheery. “I’m terribly sorry for the delay, we had some minor difficulties in the back! Just a moment, please, and I’ll be right with you!”

I took the moment to slowly unwrap myself from the tent pole. The other Lily was still sitting quietly, now examining a spoon with a joyful contentment. Hopefully, I can just slip right back out and find–

“You! Lily Number Two!” Ember suddenly barked at me. “Have you ever worked in the food industry before?”

“EEP! N-no!” Eeeee! I eeped!

“Well, you do now! You get paid at the end of the day. Benefits include daily free ice cream cones, occasional vacation so long as you inform us–inform me, not Lily Lotus–and also… actually, that’s all the benefits. You listen to what the customer wants, scoop the ice cream with the scooper, put it into the cone, take their bits, and give them the cone. Got it? Good! You’re on point with the customers!”

As she explained this, I found a pink apron pinned on me and a matching hat placed on my head. ‘E&L Cone!’ it read in cursive.

“Oh, here’s your scooper. An ice cream worker’s sacred weapon!”

“Wait, I can’t–” I tried, only to find a scooper in my hoof. “What?”

“Lily Number One! Stop staring at the spoon like it’s Marea Lisa and get the caramel! Now!” barked Ember.

“Okay,” Lily Lotus answered spacefully as she turned away… but kept the spoon with her.

I found myself shoved forward to the ice cream tubs… and a herd of hungry looking ponies. So many staring eyes… WhatdoIdowhatdoIdo.OkayshecantforcemeIlljus–

“Just scoop the ice cream that I tell you, and it will be fine,” said Ember. “Miss, what flavor did you have that melted? Blue bubblegum? Okay! Blue tub to your left.”

I turned, and sure enough, there was a container of cyan ice cream. Hesitantly, I dunked the scooper in, and produced a ball of frozen milk sugar.

“And in the cone!” cheered Ember. “There we go… Here, Miss! Sorry about that. Now, strawberry was next up! Pink, right in front of ya!”

Again, I did as I was told. Shouldn’t I use a different scooper for the different flavors? But I clutched the one I had tightly. At least, I thought I did? If I dropped it, I wasn’t certain I’d be able to pick it up again. And there wasn’t much time to think about how I was holding it to begin with, as the orders from Ember kept coming.

The strawberry cone went to a filly with an incredibly long orange mane and a backpack nearly as big as she was. She leapt away so quickly she left behind a blur effect.

“Lily! Where’s the caramel?!”

“Right here Ember. Have you ever thought about if fish get headaches?”

I eeped again when my name was called, and Lotus calmly placed a jar of what I assumed was caramel in a purple cupholder.

“Lily One, not now. Lily Two! Orange Creamsicle! Orange tub to your–” I was already retrieving it before she finished her sentence. Not many different kinds of orange ice cream, were there? I wanted to tell Ember to lower her voice a little, but the truth was I likely wouldn’t be able to hear her if she did. And I was still reeling from the anxiety attack earlier; there was no way I could stand up to such a fiery pony at the moment. Not unless she crossed the line…

Lily Lotus took a position beside me and began helping with the ice cream orders. Every once in a while, I heard her mumbling something. Each time, the phrase was so nonsensical, I couldn’t be sure if I heard it correctly or not.

“Would you like ketchup with that?” she said to the pony who ordered chocolate.

“Uh… no thank you?”

“Oh. Okay. We don’t have any.”

In another instance, “What if lightning was just electricity, but big?”

This went on for what felt like an hour. My leg gripping the scooper was getting tired, and panic was beginning to slowly build in my heart again.

I’m going to be late.

“Watermelon- light pink on the right!”

Robin’s going to be mad at me.

“Vanilla!”

Sunset’s going to be disappointed in me.

“Strawberry! You should know where it is by now!”

I need to leave.

“Peanut butter Chocolate? Lily! I mean–Lily Lotus! We need more Peanut butter Chocolate! Please wait a moment, Miss!”

The fear is a lie.

“Hey… Lily… Lily Number Two… sorry for roping you into things.” I looked up to find Ember talking to me in a much calmer voice. “Truth be told,” she continued. “You kind of saved us there. We weren’t expecting so many ponies this morning. If we didn’t have your help, we would’ve gotten a little overwhelmed. Right Lily?”

“Dogs can shed more than seventy pounds of fur a year,” answered Lily Lotus, who was closing ice cream bins.

“You shared that one yesterday,” said Ember.

“Lily Number Two didn’t hear it.” Lily Lotus froze for a moment, as though something profound occurred to her. She turned to me. “Unless you were here yesterday still hiding!”

“Uh, no. I just got lost in the crowd…” I answered. Somehow… I found myself calming. These were ponies. This was Equestria. I could trust ponies. I felt then like a lost child found by helpful and friendly grown-ups.

Friendship is magic. Maybe not everyone had prickly points out and ready to hurt me more. Maybe instead, everyone was a potential friend in the making. So childish. So optimistic. And yet, I was staring at talking cartoon horses who seemed, despite their quirks, to be genuinely friendly.

“I have no clue why it was so busy this morning…” wondered Ember.

“There’s a new attraction from Las Pegasus in town. They were pitching up their tent yesterday as I was feeding the fish,” said Lotus, who had returned to taking care of the ice cream tubs.

“Seriously? How did you–” started Ember. “Wait, fish? What fish?”

“The ones in the fountain.”

“Lily… there are no fish in the fountain.”

“But I always see ponies feeding them bits!” said Lily Lotus. “I figured the fish could use something more substantial. I don’t think too much metal is good for their headaches. So I gave them bread crumbs.”

Ember facehoofed.

“I wonder if mushrooms have headaches. Since, they do have brains and all. Even though they’re called headaches, not brainaches. I don’t think mushrooms have heads. So, I guess they can’t have headaches. Just brainaches, then,” Lily Lotus continued to mumble.

“I, um…” I started.

“In anycase, Lily Two… here I can take that now,” said Ember. I felt a warmth over my hoof and a sudden tug at my hoof. Ember used her magic to detach it from my hoof.

And I felt it. Just for a moment… I felt something I had never felt before. A freedom. A bit like feet having socks and shoes removed after a particularly long day of walking. Or removing mittens from your hands after being outside in the snow and holding them by the fire.

There weren’t any fingers or toes to wiggle. But there was something there, something which was now freed to relax.

“Sorry about the heat,” said Ember. “My magic’s like that. Always has been. It’s my talent, actually. Ever need a campfire, I’m your pony! Now keeping things cool, on the other hoof… not so much. But anyway, here!” A bag was placed on my hoof. I could tell what it was immediately.

“Your pay! Again, thanks for the help!” said Ember. “Oh, you can have a free ice cream cone, too. What would you like?”

“Thank you, but…” I began. “I could use help finding my friends. Sunset Shimmer and Robinwind. Have you heard of Sunset? We were going to Fluttershy’s cottage when I got lost. You calling for Lily Lotus distracted me and then… they were gone.”

“Wait,” said Ember, stifling a laugh. “That’s how you ended up in our tent? See Lily One? Your antics caused Lily Two to get lost!”

“Actually, since you were the one shouting at me, this would technically be your fault,” rebuked Lily Lotus, absentmindedly looking up at the clouds.

“I…” Ember started, but trailed off into a grumble.

“Anyway, Sunset went that way,” said Lily Lotus.

“Wait, what? When?” asked Ember.

“About a half hour ago. She was looking at the plushies. You were too busy shouting about caramel to notice.”

Author's Note

NEW Cover Art! NEW Chapter! NEW Lily!

Wow. It's bit a while. We have a new cover art provided by the excellent Starcoder!

As always, I'd like to thank Rainy Skies, PandoraFox, and Ashel, my editors and friends. Also, Heartbreak, without whom I never would have begun writing this story, or gained these friendships in the first place.

We also have more cameos! Ember Blaze and Lily Lotus both belong to QuixoticPirates, who was actually responsible for the old cover. Click that link to see some beautiful and silly artwork of Ember and Lily Lotus. Additionally, if you'd like to see the old cover, you can find it here!