Just Blink

Just BlinkDigital_HexChapter Three

        I woke up to Twilight shaking me awake.

        “What- oh, hey,” I groaned, rubbing my head. It felt as though I'd taken a club straight to the noggin. Wouldn't have been the first time.

        “You were screaming,” Twilight said, concern apparent on her face.

        “Was I?” I asked, now rubbing my eyes. They were wet. “What time is it, anyhow?”

        “It's a little bit before seven,” she informed me.

        “Oh-” My eyes shot wide open. “I didn't wake you, did I?”

        “No,” she said her face still serious. “I was already up, but...”

        She gave me a pleading look.

        “You were screaming for somepony to leave her alone.”

        I sighed, one of my hooves subconsciously rubbing my horn.

        “Who is she? What... what happened?”

        “N-nothing,” I mumbled, throwing my back hooves out of the bed. I landed on the floor stiffly, legs sore and tight.

        “Are you-” Twilight began, but I cut her off.

        “I'm fine, honest,” I said, now giving her my best pleading face. “Can we just... forget about it?”

        “But-”

        “Please?” I was trying my hardest not to be rude, but I really didn't want to talk to her about it.

        Twilight locked eyes with me. I could see she had good intentions; she wanted to help me. We might have only met each other once before, but we were still family. Family helps family.

        After a few minutes (yes, she was that stubborn) she sighed, dropping her eyes.

        “Alright,” she said, taking a step backwards.

        I decided to ruffle her mane with my hoof, garnering a small smile from her. I must have reminded her of her brother, doing that to her when she was younger.

        “So, seven o'clock, eh?”

        “Oh!” Twilight said before flashing out. I heard her hoofs click against the floor upstairs, Rolling my eyes, I blinked out, appearing right next to her in the main room. She was browsing one of the many bookshelves that spanned the walls of the room.

        “If we're going to go look around Ponyville, and you really are interested in moving here, then you should really get to know the area,” she explained as she levitated a purple book down from the bookshelf.

        “We have Ponyville History,” she said as she placed the book on the floor next to her.

        “Twilight...”

        “Oh, there's Creatures of Equestria, too- there are so many odd animals that live around here, it's a good guide-”

        The book went atop the other, beginning a stack I knew wasn't going to stop growing any time soon.

        “Twilight-”

        “Maybe Flora and Weeds, it's useful!”

        “Twilight-”

        “There's always Unexpected Survival Spells, you wouldn't realize how often I use them.”

        “What the-”

        “Fruits of Labor is also a good one!”

        “Twilight!”

        There was no stopping her.

        “Incredible Facts is a must, as well as Myths of Old. Although, they really aren't that old, as we run into them every-other weekend-”

        “TWILIGHT!” I barked, causing her to jump.

        “Oh? What-”

        I pointed at the mountain of books beside her. It was taller than her.

        “What?”

        I raised an eyebrow, then looked bside me, pretending I was looking up at a giant, horrifying creature. She got the message.

        “I do suppose it is a tad too many books for now...” she mumbled, slowly browsing the covers as she levitated back a few of the books.

        I shook my head at the remaining stack. It still stood flank-height!

        A few more books returned. Now four stacks of five books each. Uh-uh.

        Twilight began studying the covers intently, trying to decide which books were the most important at the moment. I saw one of them titled Potent Probabilities. What that book was supposed to do to help me around town, I had no idea.

        “Twilight, I really don't need to read any books, actually,” I told her. No response.

        “Plus, Shining Armor already gave me the general run-down of the town, so I probably know all of the important facts about this place.”

        She looked up, looking doubtful.

        “Okay, some of the important facts!”

        She narrowed her eyes.

        “A few?” I reached.

        She sighed, a slight smile coming to her lips.

        “It's no use,” she said, throwing her hoofs in the air in a mock tantrum. “You are hopeless!”

        I suddenly heard a rough scraping sound from up the stairs. Looking up, I saw a small purple dragon with green fins and a yellow belly at the top step. He had a round belly, and judging by his side I assumed he couldn't have been even close to reaching maturity. Had to have only been a decade or so in age, still technically a baby by dragon standards.

        “Oh, Spike. Glad to see you're awake!” Twilight greeted the baby dragon, who upon reaching the floor gave a huge yawn, blinking his green eyes.

        “Mornin' Twilight,” he mumbled sleepily.

        “Alright, sleepy head, I have a list of chores for you on the counter, so as soon as you've had a little breakfast I expect you to get right on them. Okay?”

        “Yeah, 'kay,” Spike yawned as he slipped into the kitchen. I doubt he even saw me through his entire trek. Twilight gave a soft laugh.

        “That's Spike. He's still waking up right now, but talk to him later and I bet you'll be friends immediately.”

        “I bet,” I murmured. Twilight didn't catch what I said.

        Twilight, meanwhile, was magically unfurling a map of Ponyville, apparently scratching the route we'd take onto it.

        “Alright, let's go!” she said excitedly.

        Following her out, I closed the door behind us and was immediately assaulted by the morning sun. It got bright out here a lot faster than in the griffon kingdom, what with it's mountainous terrain and northern location.

        And so began our adventure across Ponyville.

        Twilight showed me the town hall, explaining the entire history behind it. Trotting around, offhoofedly introducing me to various townsponies along the way. Going through the marketplace, right as it was beginning to set up. She had a by-the-book description for everything in this town.

        I mean EVERYTHING.

        “And that is why it was called the Everfree Forest,” she said as we returned from the edge of the great woods. To me, it looked like just another forest. Apparently they didn't have a lot of those here, though. Must have been fascinating to the townsponies and such.

        The sun was now high in the sky, getting close to noon. I was feeling a tad bit hungry. I was about to voice my thoughts about getting some food, but Twilight interrupted before I could. Or should I say, her stomach interrupted.

GRRROOOooowwwlllLLL...!!!

        Twilight jumped suddenly at the sound her stomach made, looking sheepish as a tinge of red came to her face.

        “I suppose it's about time to get some food, yes?” she asked.

        “Sure thing,” I said. “What's a good place here for some chow?”

        “Chow?” Twilight asked, cocking her head.

        I facehoofed.

        “Food,” I explained.

        “Ah,” understanding washing through her face. “There's always Sugar Cube Corner! Oh, Pinkie Pie might even be working!”

        I cocked an eyebrow. That name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place a color palette to the name.

        “Oh, Pinkie Pie- she's one of my good friends. You know about the elements of Harmony, right?”

        Oh, so that's who Pinkie Pie was. Shining Armor had given me a rough overview of the elements of Harmony, Twilight representing the element of Magic. Figures. I believed that Pinkie Pie was... Fun? Happiness? Parties? He used a lot of single words to describe Pinkie Pie, I had them confused a little.

        “Oh, right. You guys only saved Equestria, like, a bajillion times by yourselves.”

        “Not a bajillion,” she said, looking rather humble. “But, it was a few...”

        We shared a laugh as Twilight stopped in front of me. In front of us was a rather odd building. It resembled a gingerbread house, but it was... well, a freaking house/cafe monstrosity. I didn't know if we were supposed to go in or simply eat the building. Twilight walked straight in, so I decided to follow suit. The smell of baked goodness wafted out the door, and suddenly I was in a sugar-induced paradise.

        “Ah, Twilight! How good to see you!” a rather chunky (but not fat) blue pony from behind the counter said, organizing the display treats. Atop the counter was a rack of bagels and cupcakes, and there were a few tables inside the store.

        “Hello, Mrs. Cake!” Twilight said with a smile, approaching the baker lady. She then turned to me.

        “Blink, this is Mrs. Cake, she runs Sugar Cube Corner with her husband.”

        “Mr. Cake?” I guessed.

        “You've met?” Mrs. Cake asked me, face almost dead serious. Almost.

        “Anyways,” Twilight said, interrupting the horrible joke that was about to occur, “is Pinkie Pie here?”

        “I'm sorry dear, but she isn't. She insisted on taking the twins to the park, and dashed out before I could say anything! At least she finished all of her chores before she left,” Mrs. Cake said, a somewhat distant look in her eyes.

        “Ah,” Twilight commented, “I suppose that's okay. This is Blink, my cousin from Anville,” Twilight said, setting a hoof on my side. “I was showing him around, and we thought we'd pick up something for lunch. What do you have?”

        “Well, Princess,” Mrs. Cake said with a giggle, “We just pulled out some fresh muffins-”

        “MUFFINS!!!”

        We turned to see a gray pegasus entering the shop, a small bag of bits clenched in her jaw. How she managed to shout and not drop the bits amazed me.

        “Ah, hello Ditzy!” Mrs. Cake said, suddenly looking a little nervous. “I'll help you in just a moment.”

        “O-kay!” Ditzy said happily. I noticed her gold eyes were slightly cocked, one pupil aiming a bit further up and more centered than the other.

        “We'll take two,” Twilight said rather quickly, passing over four shiny bits. I hadn't even seen her pull them out.

        “Oh, we can't charge royalty!” Mrs. Cake insisted, pushing the bits back.

        “No no, I couldn't,” Twilight said, levitating the bits over and dropping them directly in front of Mrs. Cake.

        “I might be a princess, but that doesn't mean I'm any different than anypony else here!” Twilight said. Her voice was soft and sincere, making Mrs. Cake sigh in defeat.

        “If you're not going to give up on this,” Mrs. Cake said as she pulled out a bag, two muffins sitting warmly inside. I have no idea how she already had those prepared, being an earth pony and all. Did she have a unicorn in the back pre-wrapping everything?

        “Nope!” Twilight said with a grin, making Mrs. Cake smile.

        “Well here you go, sweetie! Hope you two enjoy!”

        “We will,” Twilight said as we left. “Have a nice day!”

        I waved to Mrs. Cake as I left. She returned it, but then started cowering as the gray mare approached her. I was out the door before I saw any more.

        “So, what's it like being a princess anyhow?” I asked Twilight. That was something I was rather curious about; she didn't seem to be doing anything particularly regal.

        “It isn't really any different than when I was Princess Celestia's student here. I suppose that's because I'm still a new princess, so there isn't really too much for me to do right now, but until then I'm looking over Ponyville just as I used to.”

        “Interesting,” I commented as we headed to a table with an umbrella over it.

        Sitting down, I saw that we had a perfect view of the marketplace. The day was starting to pick up, with a healthy stream of ponies browsing the goods spread throughout the stalls.

        I had just bit into my wonderful golden muffin when Twilight started waving frantically, trying to get somepony's attention.

        “Howdy!”

        An orange mare, well built and wearing a stetson, trotted over casually, bumping hooves with Twilight before looking me up and down. Twilight took a small bite of her own muffin as Applejack grew a smug look on her face.

        “Who's this, your coltfriend?”

        I spat my muffin out at the same time that Twilight did. We ended up covering the orange mare with half-chewed muffin. Such a shame, it was a good muffin.

        “A-Applejack!” Twilight sputtered.

        “Ah'm right, ain't ah!” Applejack announced, a victorious look on her face.

        “Applejack, you-”

        “Ah am right! Ha! Shoot, why didn'tcha tell me, Twi?” Applejack asked, wrapping a leg around me while laughing loudly. “I bet you two have even been bumpin'-”

        “APPLEJACK!” Twilight shouted.

        “Wha?” Applejack asked, her words grinding to a halt. She didn't realize it, but I was suffocating in her legs; her leg was literally wrapped around my neck, strangling me. My legs were flailing madly in the air, and I was unable to break from her grip. She had a lot denser legs than griffons.

        “This is my cousin,” Twilight barked, face redder than a Zebraik Lava Skipper.

        “This is yer-”

        I gasped for breath as her leg unraveled from around my neck. Screw ten years of military training, that bitch was strong!

        “Didn't see that comin',” Applejack said rather feebly, pawing at the ground with a hoof. I could sense her embarrassment; she wanted to up and disappear.

        “Neither did I,” I choked out, rubbing my neck to get blood flowing back to my brain.

        As soon as the last star faded from my vision, I lifted a hoof to Applejack, who bashfully bumped it with her own.

        “Aural Blink.”

        “Sorry 'bout that,” she said. “Ah'm Applejack, one o' Twilight's friends.”

        “Element of Honesty, right?” I asked.

        “Yeah, how'd you guess?” she asked. I rolled my eyes.

        “The six of you are on the visitor pamphlets for flights into the country,” I joked. Applejack laughed. Good.

        “Out of country, huh? So what brings ya here?”

        “I'm looking to move into the area,” I said coolly, having committed my excuse to memory.

        “Well shoot, that's great! We could always use more... toned, stallions around own,” she said, looking me up and down again. I cocked an eyebrow towards Twilight. She facehoofed.

        “So Applejack, how are the preparations for the Great Apple Ball coming along?”

        “We're a tad behind, honestly,” Applejack sighed. “We just don't have the bodies to finish anything on time-”

        A sonic boom cracked above our heads.

        “LOOK OUT!” screamed a rather feminine voice.

        Twilight and Applejack immediately dropped to the ground. I looked around like a moron, trying to find out what made the noise.

        Suddenly, it hit me.