Sky High

“I'm fine, really! Don't worry about it.” He said smiling as he gently set the confused turtle on the floor.

Rainbow Dash had been bothered by Skye's incessant sobbing even since that morning. Practically every night for a week she woke up, somehow hearing Skye's whimpering from two floors down and every night she would venture down to the first floor to try to comfort him. Most of the time she would just wake him up and eat a midnight snack as they talked about his dreams. The last day of the week was the most surprising. Instead of waking up Skye, Dash tried something different, something even she didn't really expect to do. Dash crept onto the couch and quietly snuggled between Skye's hooves. Ever so slowly Skye's cries lowered to whimpers which lowered to periodic sad groans. Soon he was sound asleep, as was Rainbow Dash. It was surprising just how Dash acted when she was alone with Skye, it's almost as if she was a totally different pony. Needless to say, Skye was pleasantly surprised when he woke up in the morning.

It was a sad day for Rainbow Dash when Skye left her house and went to stay with Applejack, the next pony on the list. Dash personally escorted Skye to Sweet Apple Acres as the Apple family graciously welcomed Skye. They showed him around the farm and the guest room which he'd be staying in while he was visiting. They also gave him a list of chores to do everyday while he was there, something that he actually expected from pretty much everypony. They started him off right away.

The chores weren't extremely challenging or complicated, most the time he was just following Big Mac or Applejack as they showed him what to do. Of course after all the chores Skye was free to go where he pleased. It was around midday and it just so happens that he decided to roam around Ponyville for a while, trying to meet and help as many ponies as possible. Unfortunately he ran into Pinkie Pie, sneaking around town trying not to be seen, as she finally stopped behind a tree for a minute. She didn't exactly know he was there as he sneaked up behind her.

“Uhm, Hi Pinkie.”

Pinkie immediately jumped up into the tree from the surprise with a loud 'eeep'. Almost immediately after, she was instantaneous next to Skye, putting her hoof over his mouth. “Shhhhhhhhhhhh.”, she said as she removed her hoof from his mouth.

“So... what are you doing Pinkie? You're acting kinda weird.”

She whispers, “I'm looking for a pegasus, a reliable, fast, sneaky pegasus.” She paused for a moment before she looked at Skye. “Wait!” She practically screamed. “You're a reliable, fast, sneaky pegasus! Right?” She had finally realized just how loud she was getting as she covered her own mouth. “Oops.”

“Well, I'd like to think so, what do a ya need?

“Nothing! I don't need anything!” She said as she very blatantly dropped a piece of paper on the ground, pointing her hoof at it repeatedly. She then jumped into the tree again, this time disappearing from sight. Skye bent down to pick up the paper, reading it to himself.

Dear Reliable, Fast, Sneaky Pegasus,

Meet me at the big hill behind Sweet Apple Acres at RIGHT NOW. It's super, duper, flooper, kachuuper important!

P.S. DON'T TELL ANYONE

-Pinkie Pie

'Hmmmmm, I wonder what kachuuper and flooper mean... maybe I should go ask Twilight Spearkle.' Skye thought to himself as he started walking toward the library. Suddenly a little light came on in his head. 'She said to meet her right now! That means... I'm late! Oh no... she's gonna hate me.' He started running toward Sweet Apple Acres, hoping that Pinkie wouldn't be too disappointed in him. Unfortunately he passed by Cheerilee, who appeared to be struggling with a few boxes, well, tons of boxes. Skye decided it would be a good idea to stop for a few moments to see if she needed help, after all he was already late.

“Hello, Miss Cheerilee. Do you need some help?”

“Oh my, well, I would hate to burden you Skye, you seem like you really need to be somewhere.”

Skye chuckled. “You're no burden to me Miss Cheerilee, where do you need all these boxes to be?”

“Well... if you really don't mind, these are all of the new school supplies, they came a little late so I don't have anypony to help me.” She frowned, looking towards the stack of boxes on the side of the road.

“Well don't worry Miss Cheerilee, I'll get all of these boxes to the schoolhouse within an hour! I promise.” He ran over to one of the cardboard boxes and grabbed the string on the packaging with his teeth. “See you there!” He zoomed towards the schoolhouse quickly and dropped of the box before he flew back to the stack of boxes to grab another. Each time he passed Cheerilee, walking with a box to the schoolhouse. He repeated this process many times before he grabbed the last box and met Cheerilee, who had finally arrived at the schoolhouse.

“Oh my, thank you so much Skye, it would have taken me forever to move all of those.”

“It was my pleasure Miss Cheerilee, is there anything else you need me to do?”

“I think I can handle most things right now, thanks again. Also Skye, weren’t you rushing somewhere when you first stopped?”

“Huh?” He questioned before he finally remembered that he was going to help Pinkie Pie and now he was even more late than ever! “Oh, yeah. I should probably get going! See you some other time!” He said as he started running back toward town, why he never flew was a mystery. He was a few hours late now and had to hurry.

Unfortunately he couldn't help but run by a white unicorn with two-toned blue hair, who sported a pair of purple glasses, carrying a large, heavy speaker. Now, Skye had never seen this pony before and couldn't help but stop by her to see if she needed help. He walked up next to her and tried to lend her a wing to help support the speaker.

“Do you need some help?”

“HUH?! YEAH MAN, THAT'D BE COOL” She screamed at him, practically causing a mini-wind storm in his\ face. She let Skye take the speaker onto his back, which didn't seem to encumber him at all. The unicorn chuckled a little, noticing how she screamed at this strange pegasus. “Hey, sorry man. I guess I'm still used to noise at the parties, you all good?”

“Ummm... I guess...” Skye wasn't exactly sure how he should talk to this new, strange unicorn. He'd never seen anypony quite as peculiar as this unicorn, but he wanted to be as polite as possible. “My name's Skye by the way, it's good to meet you.”

“Yeah, you too. You new around here? I've never seen you before.”

“Yep, I just came here about a week ago. I really like it around here, so I decided to stay. Actually, I'm looking for somepony... but I don't think they're anywhere around here.”

“Aww, that's a real shame man, I hope you find them, or they find you. Name's Vinyl by the way. I DJ a lot, was just at Canterlot to see my friend Octavia perform. It was pretty wicked, ya know, for a Cello player. Then I went to the Manehatten for my own concert. Now, I'd don't wanna brag or anything but what I did was so much more fun, ya'know? Like, it's cool sitting down listening to music, but it's even better dancing to it, ya'know?”

“Uhmm... I think? I'm sorry, I haven't really ever listened to music that much.”

“Wow, that's lame. How bout' you stop around my place some time. I'm sure I'll find some music you'll like.”

“Sounds good, but uhm... where do you live?”

“Right here...” She stopped in front of a small little house near the center of town. It was pretty quaint, aside from the large treble and Bass clef above the door. She unlocked the door and welcomed Skye inside, the door barely fitting the speaker.

“Sweet man, you can just put it somewhere against that wall.” She said, pointing toward a side of the house layered with electronic equipment. “So I've got a few more pieces of a equipment near the entrance of town, care to help?”

“Sure! I'd be happy to.”

“Cool, I really like you Skye. I think we're going to be some cool friends.”

“Cool!” Skye said, not understanding exactly how temperature was a way of saying how happy someone was. The two ponies traveled to and fro from Vinyl's house and one of the entrances of Ponyville for a few hours. It was actually starting to get dark by the time Skye unloaded the last piece of equipment.

“Sweet man, so who are you looking for? Is it a pretty mare? I bet she's waiting for you to find her.” Vinyl joked with her new friend.

Sky laughed, “Maybe... but why would a mare... ever... wait for...” He didn't even finish his sentence before he was out the door, running toward Sweet Apple Acres. He was hoping, praying that Pinkie Pie wasn't still there or that she had found some other pegasus to help her. But sadly Pinkie was still there, lying by a few trees. She looked a little different than normal. Her hair was completely straight and she looked extremely depressed. Skye ran up to her as she continued to look off in the distance.

“Pinkie! Pinkie, I'm so sorry. I just got so distracted and started helping other ponies then I forgot that I promised to help you and...” Pinkie cut him off as she pointed up a tall tree to a large balloon.

“Just fly up and bring that to me.”

He quickly followed Pinkie's orders and flew up to grab the balloon. He couldn't help but notice a giant 'Happy Birthday' printed on the side of the balloon. As he flew back down to Pinkie he tried to think of something that would cheer her up, but couldn't think of anything. He gave the balloon to Pinkie, who took it forcefully and started to walk away. He followed next to her.

“Pinkie... why didn't you get another pony to help you?”

“Because you're supposed to be reliable... and a friend.”

This hurt Skye extremely and it was made worse because he knew he made a mistake. He neglected something that he should have valued the most. To him, he broke an important promise to a friend and it was something so simple. He wasn't sure exactly what he was supposed to do.

“So... whose birthday is it?”

Pinkie spoke in a very depressing tone.“No one's... by the time I get there.”

“What?! Well, I can get you wherever you need to go, fast! I promise this time, please trust me.”

She looked at him for a good solid minute before she whispered, “Okay...”

He lowered his wing and sat down to get Pinkie Pie on him as fast as possible. She stepped on his wing and practically jumped on him, trying to make it as uncomfortable for Skye as possible.

“So. Where are we going Pinkie?”

She pointed away from Ponyville as Skye rocketed toward the direction she pointed out. Not too long after Skye stopped at a field full of rocks as he lowered to the ground and let Pinkie down.

“So Pinkie? Whose birthday is it anyway?”

Finally bursting out Skye she turned around and started yelling at him, “Fine! You really wanna know? HUH!? It's my father's birthday. Okay?”

“Oh... I'm really sorry Pinkie... I hope he enjoys his birthday...”

Getting louder and more angry, Pinkie spoke. “No! You don't understand! He's... MY FATHER DIED A MONTH AGO!” Now Pinkie started tearing up, sobbing and breathing heavily. “I... I wanted to surprise me family... so... so I made this balloon... so that they would cheer up... and now, now they're probably sleeping and...and ITS ALL YOUR FAULT. I HATE YOU SKYE, I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN.”

Pinkie turned around and started walking toward the old house, which now had light streaming through an upper story window.

“I'm... I'm really sorry Pinkie.” Skye whimpered, his words falling on deaf ears. As he heard the sounds of a party come from inside the house as he slowly, solemnly flew away from the rock field.