Littlepip in Ponyville

Chapters

Rise from black
The past.
More "friends".
More memories from the past-present
A new home... and a party.
Beneath a pointy sky

Rise from black

Everything was dark.

I can't tell the exact moment when I passed out, but right after that, I felt I like floating in the complete dark. There was nothing, just me.... and my thoughts.

I saw my entire life showed through images, like some sort of movie. They weren't really there, but with everything black, it was like having them right in front of my face. All the places I visited, all the thing I've done, all the ponies i met, all the things I've taken.... Calamity, Velvet, Homage, Xenith, Steelhooves, Gawdina, Monterey Jack, Red Eye, The Goddess, Arbu, Spike, Celestia.... all their images were projected in front of me. At the end, my last moment appeared: me saying goodbye to all my friends and telling Celestia to activate the Single Pegasus Project.

Suddenly, another thought crossed my mind; was I dead? Was this what death is like? Floating in an eternal limbo while having your entire life splatted in front of your face? I hoped and prayed that the afterlife wasn't really an eternal torture like this one. Beside, I couldn't die already; I made a promise to Princess Celestia: that I will stay with her, watching Equestria and controlling the weather together with her. So that she will never be alone, ever again.

Desperation started to take on me - I promised to myself that nopony else would've suffered because of me: I could see Celestia's projection weeping because my body was now lifeless. Because I couldn't maintain my promise, because I died trying to keeping it.

I felt tears climbing down my cheeks. This couldn't be happening; it couldn't end like this! Please Princess Luna, please Ministry Mares, if you can hear me right now, please, make this stop. Please wake me up!

Please....

"Oh dear, she's crying now. Poor filly, she must be having sad dreams right now...."

That voice. It was distant, and still.... it sounded familiar.

"Here Fluttershy dear, I brought this tissues in my bag."

Fluttershy? That Fluttershy?! How did she recover from the metamorphosis trauma so fast?!" And.... that other voice. It sounded kind of familiar too, like.... something lost in the realm of memories that suddenly frees itself.

"So, this is the filly Flutteshy founded fainted in front of her house." spoke yet another voice; it too sounded familiar. Meanwhile, I felt something like a tissue gently rubbing my eyes and cheeks. "Are you sure you never saw this mare before?"

"Twilight, darling," the voice similar to Rarity’s spoke again; "you have to trust when I say that me and Fluttershy knows everypony here in Ponyville. If this little lady was a resident of this fine little town, you really think we wouldn't have recognized her already?"

Ok, now things started becoming really weird: Twilight Sparkle and Rarity died two centuries ago, so.... if I could hear them, this was definitely a proof that I was dead (and Fluttershy too, apparently).

So that was it then. If I was really dead, then there was nothing else I could do but accept it. At least I wasn't going to be alone.... wait, why did they mention Ponyville?

"Sorry Rarity, it's not that I don't to believe you." Twilight's voice said. "But.... it doesn't make any sense. There are no other towns near Ponyville, only from the other side of the Everfree forest. Which means she galloped all the way into that place all alone?! Not to mention, Fluttershy's animals not noticing her arrival over here."

Finally, I found the force to open my eyes. "Oh look," Fluttershy said; "she's waking up!"

A strong (and hurtful) light was appearing as I slowly opened my eyes. At the same time, three vague figures were slowly materializing into more clear ones; I instantly recognized three of the Ministry Mares, they were Twilight Sparkle, Rarity and Fluttershy. Well, I definitely wasn't going to be alone while dead. Sure, if I wanted too, I would've spent all eternity screaming my anger and disdain to all of them, for all the things they have done and for what they lead to, that is Equestria reduced to a contaminated wasteland. But then again, they were here giving me company, and perhaps they were all already regretful about everything. So I would've contained myself.

"Why hello there dear." Rarity welcomed my awakening by giving me the most sensual (well, for me at least) eyes I ever saw in a mare; "I'm so glad to see that you're okay; you slept for quite a while."

My head felt numb, but I still reorganized my thoughts to find the right words to answer back. With a little exertion, I said: "It's an honor to meet you, Ministry Mares."

Instead of the smile of content I was expecting, what I got was a look of confusion from all three of them.

"Who?" Rarity questioned back.

....And there's when I noticed something was wrong. Sure now that my sight was clear, they looked way younger than how they appeared in the posters or memory orbs (or in Fluttershy case, how I saw her after being cured by the killing joke), but it was definitely them. Besides, you can probably decide to look younger or older, in the afterworld.

I spoke again, this time more clearly; "You're the Ministry Mares, right?"

They looked to themselves even more confused than before, with Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy raising their shoulders; " I-I'm sorry dear, I'm afraid your confusing us with somepony else." Rarity concluded.

Right, that was it; either they were mocking me with a very not funny joke, or something was definitely wrong. I tried to get up, but my bones were crackling painfully, and my muscles were as stiff as iron, like if I slept for at least a month.

"Whoa, careful there." Twilight Sparkle said while trotting to me; "Here, let me help you." She placed her head against head and pushed me up. My bones were crackling all over, but I still managed to stand up straight. "Thanks." I said.

Finally I could see where I was. I was sitting on a red couch in the center of a pretty big restroom. It was made by wood, which made me realize I was in a cottage of some sort of it. What really surprised me was that everything looked so.... clean. I never saw a place so clean since I left Stable 2.

Suddenly, a purple hoof appeared in front of my eyes. "My name is Twilight Sparkle. Pleased to meet you."

The past.

I brought my right hoof to Twilight's, and shoock both altogether. "Ehm... pleased to meet you. My name is Littlepip."

"Nice to meet you, Littlepip," she said with a big smile; "This two ponies here are my friend. They're the ones that took care of you before my arrival."

Rarity trotted near me and brought her right hoof in front of my face. "My name is Rarity. Pleased to meet you, darling." I shook it with my right one without saying anything; my head was still busy trying to understand what the hell was happening.

I noticed however that Fluttershy still didn't come to present herself. She was sitting on the ground looking to the other side while blushing, forcing Twilight to literally pushing her in front of me.

"Uhm... h-hello," she slowly said while still watching the ground. "My, uhm... my name... is... *meep*."

Knowing already what kind of pony she was, I expected this. Feeling sorry for her, I decided to give her a hoof. "...Fluttershy, I know." I then made a face of horror, realizing the mistake I just made.

"How did you know her name?" Twilight asked confused.

Celestia impales me with her horn from the butt hole to the mouth, what did I just done?! I needed to fix this, I had to find an excuse! Think Littlepip, think fast, think fast....

"Well, Twilight dear," Rarity answered the question at my place, "she probably heard me saying Fluttershy's name, when she was regaining consciousness." Sweet Luna's titties, my luck stroke again at the right time.

"Ehm, yeah yeah, it's... just like that." I said while grinning as wide ad possible.

"Oookay then, sorry I asked." Twilight said while blushing a little.

"No problem." I said. At this point, however, my mind gaved up on finding out what the heck was happening by it's own. The explanation that this was the afterworld was the most credible, as my body itself was showing me; I only recently noticed, in fact, that all my clothes were all gone, and so were all the scars and bullet holes and...my pipbuck too; it made a strange impression, the fact that I wasn't wearing it anymore after all this years. Even my half-burned cutie mark had now returned to normal.

All these things would've been enough to prove me that I was now a soul making a projection of my old body. And yet... why the three ministry mares were still acting like they didn't who I was? The theory of them playing a joke was not beleivable anymore. The situation, as it was now, wasn't giving any other choice but to asking them some explenation. "Ehm, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?" Twilight asked while almost chirping.

"Well... ehm... where am I exactly?"

Twilight looked at rarity with confusion, and she raised her shoulders. "You mean came all the way here without knowing were you were going?"

"No no, it's not that... it's, because..." --Think fast, Littlepip, think fast-- "I... don't remember why I came here in the first place."

Suddenly, Rarity gasped loudly and came closer to me with a pitying face. "Oh, poor darling." She said with quite a dramatic voice. "You must have hit your head very hard and now you have lost all of your memories." Amnesia, uh? Why that didn't sound new to me?

"Uhm... yeah, yeah, that... must be it. I think," I said while smiling as widely as possible... again.

"Oh, I see. Sorry I asked," Twilight said. She then came closer to me and put her right hoof on my shoulder, as to reassure me. "Don't worry, an amnesia is something that cures itself. You just need to wait some time and your memory will be gradually restored. I know 'cause I read it in many medicine books". Oh right, Twilight Sparkle loved books very much. I forgot about that. "Come with me, I'll show where we are from that window".

I followed Twilight to the window at the side of the entrance door, and... I couldn't believe what I just saw. Not very far from the cottage was the town of Ponyville. I recongised it from the kind of buildings that formed it, but mind you, these weren't the ruins of two centuries I saw back when I left the Stable; all the contrary, these buildings were intact and numerous, just... just how I saw them in the ruined photos of how Equestria was during two centuries ago.

"That is the town of Ponyville," Twilight continued. "Is where me and my friends lives. It's not very big or special, compared with most famous cities like Manehattan or Fillydelphia, but it's a very nice place and the ponies there are very friendly."

I was hardly listening to Twilight explaining me the town and the ponies living there, since at that moment, I finally realized what was going on: something impossible happened to me, something I could hardly believe it, let alone explaining how it happened... and yet, it still did.

"I'm in the past..." I whispered to myself.

"Uhm, what?" Twilight asked.

Oh Princesses' raining marehoods, why I can never shut up?! "Oh, uhm... did I said something, I don't know 'cause I can't remember!"

Twilight face remain puzzled for a bunch of seconds, then it looked like she had a sudden enlightenment. "Oh right, it's what happens to me when I have a lot of thoughts in my brain. Anyway, as I was saying..." Phew, my luck once again rescued me from my dumbness. Let's hope it will do it again if I will make something stupid once more.

Twilight's presentation of the little town was finally interrupted by Rarity. "Ehm, ehm. Twilight dear, not to make in doubt your skills as a guidepony, but maybe it's better for our guest to see Ponyville with her own eyes, don't you think? Besides, Fluttershy and I have already agree that's better to make a visit to Mayor Mare; she will find for her a place to stay for the time being, without any doubt." Oh goody, let's make the entire town know about the new pony. Well, it would've still happened sooner or later.

Twilight looked away and blushed. "Y-yeah, you're right Rarity," She then looked to me with an embarassed face. "Sorry for having bothered you with my talking. I got a little too excited about having a newcomer here, beside me."

"Oh, I wasn't bothered really. I'm actually interested in Ponyville now, thanks to you." The strategy here was 'try to be as pleasant as possible'. I already had a big problem to take care of, making a bad impression to the ponies you'll see for the time being was one I preferred to avoid.

"Really?!" a suddenly very enthusiastic Twilight asked. "That means that you would also like to have a little tour with me in Ponyville? You know, after your visit to the Mayor..."

Ehm... sure, why not!"

Right after my response, Twilight started jumping around while chanting "YES, YES, YES, YES...". I would lie if I say that it didn't creeped me out a little bit. Honestly, I didn't remeber to ever seen this side of Twilight before, back in the memory orbs.

A the end she finally noticed all the attention her show was having, both from me and her two friends, so she suddenly stopped and stayed as motionless as a statue while blushing hard at the same time.

"Uhm... maybe it's time to visit the Mayor Mare already," Fluttershy spoke, as to interrupt the silence created.

"Yes Fluttershy, you're absolutely right." Rarity agreed; "However there's no need for you to come as well, you have already done a lot and you still have your beloved animals to take care of. Twilight and I are enough to accompany our guest through Ponyville."

"Uhm, okay."

We waited a couple of minutes (the time necessary for me to regain complete control of my hooves) before leaving the cottage. There was still one thing I need to do, though. I trotted close to Fluttershy and raised my right hoof in front of her.

"Thank you," i said while giving a smile that was as sincere as possible; "Thanks for rescuing me when I lost senses. i really don't know what would've happened without you." Plus, she also kinda rescued me from that dark empty space with her voice. I honestly couldn't hope for a more angelic sound to take me out from that pit of nothingness.

...Well, maybe Velvet or Homage's, but that was still okay.

"N-no!" Fluttershy suddenly yelled. "I mean... I... wasn't alone... there was also Rarity, and then Twilight... y-you should thank them as well." Did I ever said how could Fluttershy was when embarrassed.

"Darling, I was mostly away to going looking for Twilight," Rarity intervened. "You're still the one who took care of her the most."

"She's right, Fluttershy," Twilight said. "Don't be too modest with yourself."

"Uhm, okay. If you say so." Finally, she raised her right hoof as to touch mine and shook the both of them. "The pleasure was mine, uhm... Littlepip."

Author's Note

This chapter was done without any editing work, so if there are grammar errors or mistakes please let me noticed them. I'll then fix them in a matter of seconds ;).

More "friends".

We left Fluttershy's cottage two minutes ago, by now. The distance between the cottage and Ponyville was much shorter then how it seemed while looking through that window, and the bridge built on top of the town river was a few kilometres away.

Twilight Sparkle and Rarity were walking side by side, talking to eachother. if the talk was about me or something else I couldn't tell, since I wasn't pay very much attention. In fact, I was walking slowly behind them, with my mind very much occupied thinking about everything that happened by then, and most importantly, how it happened.

How did I travelled back in time?! Was it a side effect happening for those who activates the SPP? If that's so, then why Celestia didn't warned me about it before I could do anything? I mean, she was part of the machine, she surely would've know about that. ...right?

It was useless fooling myself, I didn't have anything to cling onto. The only I could do in that moment, was guessing when I was. Which honestly wasn't very hard: this couldn't be Equestria during the war, since the Ministry Mares I saw in the memory orbs were pretty old, middle age more or less, while the mares I met so far were... very young. Slightly older then me, in fact.

So yeah, it was pretty clear that this was an Equestria where the shadow of the war was still far away: the same good-old Equestria mentioned by Scootaloo, in her recordings. The same Equestria that, according to Scootaloo again, was a paradise before war, rampant progress and corruption ruined it.

So now there was another question: what to do? I just made something that nopony else ever made: travelling back in time, having now the occasion of preventing hell on earth to ever happening. It would've been easy: all I had to do was warning both the future ministry mares and the two princesses about the upcoming war and what lead to it. After all, it was mainly a mixture between the zebras' belief about the return of Nightmare Moon, and Equestria knowing very little about the zebras empire and its culture. Maybe, if both parts could learn more about eachothers, if all the negative myths regarding both cultures could've been demolished by revealing the truth to each one of them... maybe that was all that was needed to prevent a cathastrophe.

But then... it would've been really enough to resolve things for the better? And if would've really worked, then... what would've happened to me? Or Velvet? Or Calamity? Or everypony in the Wasteland, for that matter? If the Wasteland itself would never existed in the first place, would the same thing happen to all the ponies they live in it?

All this questions, all this dilemmas continued to circle around my head over and over again, each one of them creating questions of their own, like a snake that bites his tail and ruotates on himself without ever stopping. I didn't even realized I was walking on the top of bridge, until Twilight took me away from my thoughts.

"Littlepip, are you okay?", Twilight asked, as she stopped walking and looked at me preoccupied. "You stayed silent all this time, and your face was very pale. Is something wrong?"

"Uhm... no, not really. I was just... trying to remember something. Anything, actually."

"Oh, right, the amnesia," she said while blushing. Meanwhile, we returned walking again. "There's no reason to be scared about it. Like I said, it should last a few days, but if you want we can make a visit to nurse Redheart later, to see if its a big one or not."

"NO!" I shouted, realizing only right after that it was a little too dramatic, thus suspectful. "Uhm, I mean... thanks, but there's no need for that, really. It's probably what you said, my memory will return very soon," the game here was trying avoiding any kind of doctor: chances are, they could discover that I had no amnesia at all, thus forcing me to tell the truth. And that's something I had to avoid at any costs. ...should I?

"Are you sure?" Twilight argued. "I mean, it won't take long as a visit. Besides, even though I read about it on a medicine book, I'm still not a doctor, so I can't really tell if yours' a bad case or not. Trust me, it's better for us to..."

"Twilight, darling!" Rarity interrupted her. Once again, my luck stroke. "I think it's better to give our guest the time to think about it, don't you think? In alternative, we can still wait a couple of days to see if her memory improves, then we shall speak about visiting a doctor or not."

"Yeah, you're right Rarity," Twilight said. She then looked at me with a guilty face. "Sorry for bothering you, Littlepip. I tried to be helpful, but looks like I exaggerated. Please don't think of me as a drip pony, I'm not usually like this!" these last words were accompanied by cute puppy eyes.

"Oh, I don't, really," well... maybe a little.

We returned walking and, after a few steps more, we left the bridge and entered the town. My suprise on seeing the buildings intact at the distance was now,like, quintuplicated now that I was seeing them in person. What made my jaw staying dropped wasn't just how "complete" they were, compared to the ruins of the wasteland, but also aldo how colorful they were: each building had a color of its own. Combining that with all the plants and flowers around (and yeah, I noticed only now how pre-war Equestria was so full of plants and green), the result was like a painting. And I don't mean the old paints ruined by time with all their colors lost, I mean the very few ones that were still conserved, thus looks like they were made recently.

At that moment, Twilight said to me, "Oh right, I forgot to tell you that today there's an oper-air market, at the center of Ponyville. Pretty much all the ponies that lives here are gathered there. I hope my other friends are there as well, so I can present them to you as well," I hope too, pre-war Twilight Sparkle. I surely do...

Sweet Celestia's teats, so many ponies! The open-air market had so many ponies around. Never before I saw such a great number, not in Stable 2, nor at New Appleloosa, not even at Tenpony Tower or Phillydelphia. The space between the stands was so much crowded, I almost felt like choking. When Rarity and Twilight stopped the walk to admire some ceramic wares (pretty impressive ones, gotta say), I pleaded them to hurry to the Mayor, since I felt like on the verge of a panic attack.

"Hmph, we were just admiring some fine hooficraft works for a couple of seconds, dear," Rarity said with a kinda snobbish attitude. "It's not very ladylike to interrupt with such a rush.," well, now I knew where Velvet Remedy took her little attitude from.

"I'm sorry, Rarity," I said, trying to sound as humble as possible. "It's just that, uhm... I'm feel very tired right now, and I'd like to find a bed as soon as po-"

Before I could finish, something crushed on me: well, somepony actually. From what I could tell, she was jumping instead of walking, and didn't saw where she was going, thus she landed on me...

"Nngh! Watch where you're jumping, will yah?" I said, while moving her aside from me.

I remained silent, however, when I saw more clearly who she was: it was Pinkie Pie, the future head of the Ministry of Morale. She got up in a flash, and started looking at me with a puzzled face.

"Pinki Pie, that could have gotten both of you hurt," Rarity started scolding her. " You have to look better where you're jumpi- "

She couldn't even finish, hoever, as Pinkie was now right in front, muzzle against muzzle: she loooked to me with a suspicious face for some instants, then she started, like... inspecting me, checking every part of my body. And yes, I mean every part, even... you know what part. After that, she made a thinking pose for some seconds, and finally... she jumped high while making a deep "GASP". She then run away fast, making her way through the crowd in the market.

"What... just happened?" I asked to the two future Ministry Mares, confused like I've rarely been before. I mean, I knew about Pinkie's randomness already, but that was still... too weird.

Twilight came near me and started explaining to me, while we returned walking: "Sorry for the randomness of my friend Pinkie Pie, that's just how she works sometimes. She usually spend the day while baking at Mr. and Mrs. Cake bakery shop, or by throwing parties to... well, pretty much everything she has in mind. I think she just took a while realizing if she had in front of her a pony she saw before, or a newcomer," well, given that her future-self knew, that I was watching her through the memory orbs, I wouldn't have been suprised by that. Then again none of the memory orbs I checked showed me this Equestria. " At the end, however she must have recognized that you're a new pony, so she fled away in a hurry probably to start the preparations for the party dedicated to you ".

Wait... a party for me?! Sweet, let's make the entire town knowing about the new, stanger pony. If you didn't know already, I wasn't very fond of having all the attention one me... especially when knowing my presence could screw up the entire space-time continuum, or whatever it's called.

" D-did you said party? " I asked Twilight. " But, there's no need to troubling herself for that, really. I mean, it's not like I'll stay in Ponyville forever, you know. "

" Sorry, but when Pinkie have an idea for a party in mind, there's no way to change it. Knowing her, she already begun working on it. "

Well, Luna's horny period, wasn't that great? At this point, all I could do was hoping for my luck to strike again at the right time. It's not very pleasant to let your luck dealing with your problems all the time: you're never sure if it will be effective or not.

Suddenly, Twilight put her hoof on my back as to consoling me. " I know that feeling, you know? This is the same situation that happened to me the first time I came here. Tell you what, I'll be there too checking that nopony will bother you too much. "

" Thanks, " I said with a little smile. Well, speaking of the devil...

The square at the center of the town was much more open-air and with fewer stands, thus less crowded: finally, I could return breathing normally. The Mayor's office was a few feet away, passed the fountain at the center. I started to gleefuly trotting near Twilight and Rarity, when suddenly...

"LOOK OUT BELOW!!!!"

Another pony crashed on me, this time coming from the air, and the hit was so strong that made rolled over until the stone wall around the fountain stopped me. It took me a good bunch of seconds to see clearly again, but when I finally did, I saw that the pony crashed on the wall as well... and it was Rainbow Dash. At this point I started asking myself, 'Did I just become a magnet for future dead ponies?'.

" Oww... that was a big failure," Dash said, while massaging her head on the point where it hit the wall. Finally she noticed that I was at her side looking to her, with a not amused expression. " Oh... eh eh, sorry for that. I wasn't very much in control of myself, you know. "

" My goodness, are you two alright? " Rarity said dramatically, while she and Twilight finally reached us.

" Of course we are! " Dash said while putting her hoof on my right shoulder. " I stopped her before she could crash on this wall. "

Again, not amused.

Twilight, of course, didn't fell for it. "Sure, why not. Anyway, since you showed up, allow me to present you our guest, Littlepip. Littlepip, my friend Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow Dash proceeded to make... a cool pose, I guess. " Yep, the best and the only. But of course, being the only pony in existence who performed a Sonic Rainboom and who's the Wonderbolts' best cadet, you probably heard about me already, right? "

" Uhm... " oh I did hear about you alright... just for others, completely unrelated things. " No, sorry, never heard of you. "

My response was followed by a jawdrop coming from Dash's face. Thankfully, Twilight aided me once again, "She is just recovering right now from a case of amnesia, Rainbow Dash. Right now, she don't remember where she comes from." Dash's face proceeded returning self-confident in one second flat.

Now it was time for me to ask some questions, "Speaking of which, what was the thing you were doing that ended up with you crushing on me?"

"Oh, that one. Well, I was just trying one of my new super air-acrobatics, with my biggest fan Scootalo checking if I was missing some move or not. Too bad she won't be able to tell me that, since I somehow ended up going a little too far then predicted."

And speaking of the devil, "Rainbow Dash, there you are!" guess I did just become a magnet for future dead ponies... "Sorry I couldn't see all of your moves, you went so far so fast I wasn't able to follow. I knew I should've brought my scooter from home too. Anyway, how was the final landing of awesomness?"

"Perfect, kid! It was so precise and awesome, all the ponies here dropped their jaws right away!" What followed those words was an unimpressed glare from both Twilight and Rarity.

I should've give mine as well, but... I was too concentrated looking the little orange filly. That was Scootaloo. Scootaloo, the future vice-president of Stable-Tec Corporation... and she was just a child, right now. A little pegasus filly with such a cheerful and happy face, I never saw it before in any other pony in the wasteland. To think that she will grow up being the pony that will lock up the inhabitants of Stable 1 forever... a pony full of sorrow and anger toward a corrupted and decaying Equestria... I don't lie when saying that I felt the urge of bursting into tears. Luckly, I still had the strenght to repress it.

Still, I didn't notice that Scootalo started just now looking at me: well, at my flank to be precise.

"Wow, what a cool cutie mark!" she shouted, drawing my attention at her once again. "What does it represent, Mrs.? Is it some kind of super high-tech watch? Or bracelet?"

Scootalo, it's not nice asking about others cutie marks without the permission of their owners!" Twilight scolded the little filly.

"Oh no, it's fine," I intervened. Then I said to Scootalo, "You're right, actually. It's a watch. A, uhm, Pipbuck watch. Very famous in my town, eheh."

"Wait," Twilight intervened, "how did you know that if you don't remember the town you live into?"

Oh Princesses raping me right now, my goddamned mouth again! " U-uhm... good question, you know. I don't even know how myself!" I feel me starting to sweat. A lot.

"Oh, right, silly me! It must be a sign that your memory is starting to come back already," phew, my luck still didn't forget about me.

"See, Twilight? I knew it wasn't something to worry about too much," Rarity said. Twilight nodded.

"Oh well, I guess me and Scootalo here we'll let you taking care of your guest: we still have lots of acrobatics to test, you know," Dash said while taking flight, with Scootalo on her back. "Call me if you need help, 'kay?" She then started flying away fast, leaving a rainbow colored contrail.

"Goodbye Twilight! Goodbye Rarity! Goodbye Mrs. guest!" Scootalo shouted.

"Oh well, let's go to the Mayor already," Rarity said. "It's already awfully late."

So we returned walking again. Still, my mind couldn't still leave Scootalo. The words of her future-self were true, she and Rainbow Dash were really like best pals. Thinking about that, and what was going to happen to both in a not so distant future... it wasn't pleasant, to say the least.

"Littlepip, is something wrong?" Twilight asked. She really couldn't snatch her eyes from me, could she.

"Oh, nothing, just thinking."

"Oh right, poor darling, that crush on the head must still awfully hurt!" Rarity said, while carefully massaging my head. "Here, Rarity will now make the pain go away faster," she then... kissed my scalp. Luna in heat like a horse, that was so hot I was blushing like crazy! Twilight giggled like a foal, at that scene.

Mayor Mare's office was right in front of us, by now. ...And the day was still pretty long.

More memories from the past-present

"I'm truly sorry, my dears," Mayor Mare told the three of us, "but I'm afraid there are no empty houses left for renting, at the moment."

"Really?" Twilight asked. "Not a single one?"

"Try to understand, Twilight, Ponyville is not very known for being a place for vacation. It has been 10 years already since somepony rented a house, and even more so when we built the last one. I wish I could help, I really do. But right now I'm afraid it will be very difficult for our guest to find a temporary house to stay while curing recovering."

"There's no need for an actual house, for me," I intervened. "An attic or basement would be just fine!"

"My gosh,darling!" Rarity shouted. "You're not being serious, are you? Living in such dusty places..."

"Oh, I can take that," besides, I used to sleep in much worse places," I noted.

"I protest, darling! You're our guest now, and I would never let anypony in such an awfully dirty place!" she countered.

'Yeah, well, when you've slept in a certain boutique that has been abandoned for two centuries, who's walls are caked in vulgar graffiti and with dead cats hanging from the ceiling, then we'll talk about awful places,' I thought to myself. Thankfully, I kept my mouth shut, or somepony there would've had an heart attack...

"Actually," Twilight intervened, "an attic wouldn't be that bad. All we would need to do is making a space big enough for a pony to move around, cleaning it a little from the dust, bring in a bed and a night table with a lamp, and I think it would be enough. Right, Littlepip?"

"Oh, sure. That would be perfect, thank you," hell yeah, it would: couldn't remember the last a time I had a real bed.

"Great. Now the problem would be finding a pony that will let us sort his attic a little bit."

"Uhm, uhm," Mayor Mare called our attention to herself. "If I can give you an advice, I still remember the time when your friend Pinkie Pie came to me asking for a home to stay, and since the problem was pretty much the same you have now, I asked my good friend Cup Cake and her husband if they could host her in their house by turning the attic intoan actual bedroom. What I want to say is that, perhaps, you can ask one of your friends for help..."

I saw Twilight gasping like she just had a moment of enlightment. "That's right! Thank you Mayor, you were a great help," she then looked at both Rarity and me with an excited face. "I know who's the right pony we can ask."

"Oh!" Rarity exclaimed. "Oh I'm sorry darling, but I'm afraid that's impossible for me. My attic is very tiny, and it's full of things I would need in the future for the new dresses I'm working on, and I don't have any other place where..."

"Don't worry, Rarity, I wasn't thinking of you," Twilight said interrupting her friend, Rarity sighing in relief. "I was thinking of a pony with a much bigger attic..."

So at the end, I was returning at Sweet Apple Acres, uh? Returning back when I started my journey, the place where Stable 2 was built... except that, in this case, it wasn't even going to be design until some decades later. Somehow, I felt like somepony above was laughing at me.

We were back in the market again, though this time less ponies were around; enough for me to not feeling out of breath again. Twilight and Rarity were once again a couple of meters away from me, discussing with eachothers about the situation.

"Twilight, darling, are you really sure really that's a good idea? I mean, not to have prejudices about Applejack and her family, but they're not quite the cleanest ponies around, you know?"

"Nonsense, Rarity," Twilight protested. "I visited their farm more than once, and I can assure you that, while they deal with soil and mud all the day, they're as clean as anypony else in town when they're not working. Not just that, but they're also some of the most hospitable ponies you can find around. Trust me, Littlepip will feel like home!"

The two mares continued discussing about the matter, but I could hardly listen to them at the moment. My eyes were staring at a strange creature: a bipedal purple lizard, with light-green spikes that run from the top of its head along the center of its back, stopping only at the tip of the tail, was buying at one of the market stands. It was also pretty little, not bigger than a little filly or colt, and with a pretty chubby built. None of the ponies there were looking at it when it passed them, which meant that it probably was another inhabitant of the place. But the strangest thing of al was that I was pretty sure I had seen those green spikes somewhere else...

A the end, it was Twilight who noticed it as well;

"Oh look, it's Spike. I was wondering if he returned home or not."

Wait! How did she called him?!

The two mares changed direction and went toward him. "Ooh, Spikie!" Rarity called with a very girlish tone, "What are you doing here in the market all alone?"

Spike? She called that lizard creature... Spike?!

"Oh, uhm..." he mumbled while blushing, "Nothing special, really. Just buying some fruits and daffodils for dinner tonight. Daffodils are Twilight's favourites, you know!"

It couldn't be! This couldn't be the same Spike I knew; a huge, scary dragon with wings on his back and teeth sharper than blades. This Spike didn't even have wngs!

"Ooh, you're such a gentleman, Spikey-wikey!" Rarity said while caressing his spikes, "Always caring about Twilight's needs firsts."

And yet... the colors of its scales and spikes... and his relationship with the two future Ministry Mares... it all fit altogether!

"Well, yeah, uhm... someone has to buy things to eat, you know." Spike face became even more red. Twilight, in the mean time, was looking around, as to find something to change the topic. Eventually, her eyes pointed at me.

"Oh, by the way Spike, there's somepony here we'd love to present to you", Twilight said while grabbing Spike with her magic and putting him right in front of me. He looked at me with curiosity. "Spike, this is Littlepip. She will stay here for a little while, so we're searching a temporary home for her. Littlepip, this is Spike. He's a baby dragon, and my personal assistant."

"Ehm, hi. Nice to meet you", he said a little shily.

There was no more doubt, now. This was the same Spike I met before. This was Spike... as a child.

I felt the same need to cry I had when seeing Scootaloo, but this time it was even stronger. Right in front of me, there was the one who would've become one of my greatest allies and friends. The dragon who will survive the war, who will see all his friends dying and will only blame himself for it, who will spend two centuries guarding the last hope for Equestria, The Gardens, and who will help me survive the wasteland the first time I will face it. And here he was now standing in front of me, except now he's just a little, innocent child who can't even imagine what kind of tragedy he will face in a not so distant future.

"Uhm... Miss?" Spike called me. I was too deep into my sad thoughts to even paying attention to his voice.

"Littlepip, are you okay?!" Twilight shouted, with a clearly preoccupied tone in her voice.

"Uh... w-what?" I asked while trying my best to look confused.

"You stood still staring at Spike for like ten seconds, is something wro... wait, are you crying?"

I checked my chhecks with my right hoof and noticed that some tears drop out from my eyes. Great, how was I going to explain that?

"Uhmm... well... y-you see, uh..." I stuttered while panic started built inside, when at the last minute I decided for a pretty risky answer, "I loves dragons very much!"

"Oh, really?" Twillight asked interested.

"Yeah, and... well, I never saw baby dragon, not even in books, and seeing how little and cute they look like, uhm... I was moved by it."

Gee, nice played Littlepip. Not even a kid is so naive to fall into that.

"Oh boy, eheh. I'm not so special really," said Spike while blushing and smiling widly. Uh... apparently a child did fell for it.

"Wait, you knew that you love dragons already, or you just remeberd it now?" asked Twilight.

"Uhm... to think about it, it just came into my mind only now."

"Great!" twilight said with joy, "That's another piece of your memory that just came back! Piece by piece, you're regaining all of it."

"Uh?" Spike exclaimed, "Wait, what's the deal with her memory?"

"Oh right, I didn't tell you. We found her unconscious in front of Fluttershy's cottage, and right now she's an amnesiac; she doesn't remeber where she comes from nor why she came here."

"Oh. Boy, i'm sorry about that," he said while looking away with a guilty face.

"Ehm ehm!" Rarity suddenly called the attention to herself, "Sorry to interrupt you all darlings, even you Spikey-Wikey, but I think we should hurry to Sweet Apple Acres already. It's almost late afternoon, and I have orders from very important ponies to work on."

Yeah, you're right Rarity," Twilight apologised. "Spike, you can go back to the library now. I'll accompany Littlepip to Applejack and her family, then I'll head back home."

Spike nodded, but before moving on there was something I felt the urge to do. "W-wait, Twilight! Before we go, I... uhm, well..." The request was pretty weird, but it was something I wanted so badly, even without really knowing the reason. "Can I... can I hug Spike, please?"

The was silence for a couple of seconds, I think, and I felt all three of them looking at me like a weirdo. The hay was I thinking again?!

"Uhm... sure, no problem with that!" answered Twilight. "Just... can you please explaine why?"

"Well, it's... uhm..." Come on, Littlepip, think of something! "It's because I love dragons! Yeah, I... saw many pictures of them, but never actually met one in person... let alone a baby one."

"Oh, I see now! Guess I'm nopony to deny you this privilege, then. Spike, let her hug you please."

"Uhm... okay," he said while blushing a little. He came closer to me with his arms open; I made him come against my tummy and wrapped my fore legs around him. For the firs time in my life, I was feeling the scales of a dragon against my body. They were surprisingly softer nd warmer then I expected them to be. His big head was right next to my neck, and the paws wrapped around my back. I never hugged someone this little before; it was... nice.

Why was I doing this? It's... hard to explain. I really don't have a straight answer myself. Perhaps it was a way to thank him for all the help he gave me, despite right now it was something that still needed to happen, two centuries from now. Or maybe... it was like a way to comfort his future self. To tell the baby dragon of the past that no matter how bad the future was going to be, everything was going to settle down in the end. Perhaps a hug from someone from his future would be carried as a pleasant memory for him; didn't know how that was going to work, I just hoped so.

Dunno how long me and little Spike hugged eachothers, but eventually a familiar voice broke that long moment. "Uhm, Littlepip..." said the voice of Twilight Sparkle in my hear, almost whispering, "I know by experience that Spike gives the best hugs, but you two have been hugging for quite a while right now. He needs to go back home to clean it a little bit before I'll be back, you know."

I looked at little Spike with subtle expression of sadness; I kinda felt happy in that moment, like hugging a friend I hadn't seen in a very long time. I slowly placed him on the ground again.

"Sorry," I said while an expression of embarrassment spread across my face. "That must've been very awkward for you".

"Oh, nah, not at all," Spike said blushing, while trying to keep a cool demeanor. How cute. "I'm used to have that from Twilight and her friends. that was, uhm, very nice of you. Anyway, gotta get home now. See yah later, Twilight." He said while taking the grocery bags and moving away from us as fast as possible.

I then heard the two mares giggling behind me. "Uhm, what's so funny?" Apart from the obvious of what just happened.

"Oh, nothing Littlepip," Twilight responded. "It's just that we haven't seen Spike being that shy for a long time."

"Indeed," Rarity added, with one more giggle to follow. "Now come on, darlings, let's go. We have lost an awful lot of time."

As we walked out from the town, we took a road surrounded by little hills, covered in green life, like I never saw before: while Twilight and Rarity were up right ahead, talking about things I didn't bother to listen, my mind was lost into a flow of memories and thoughts; since we left Spike, I kept thinking about all that I saw and learned about Equestria and how it was in the past. Suddenly, memories of me telling Pinkie Pie to tell everyone about the bombs, but Pinkie refusing to because it was "a secret", and yet she still worked out things for me to uncover the past and found a way to heal Equestria... maybe, that was the point; maybe I shouldn't try to change the past, because things will already repair themselves, and any kind of forced intervention would make anything null. But if that's so... then what am i doing here? Is my presence here, in the past, a mistake? What did cause it then? I spent the entire walk trying finding answears, only to returning into the same point everytime, like running in circle with no way out. In the end, no more time remained to find explenations...

"There we are, Littlepip. Look..." Twilight called me back to reality. The part of the road we were now made us standing right above those little hills, and right in front of us, not much in the distance, there was a building I was familiar with... except I didn't realize that immediately; it was the barn of the Apple family's farm, but instead of the ruins I saw before, this time the barn was standing up in all it's massive presence. My jaw was hanging out. I never realize how amazingly built the barn was, in times of peace; the bright lilac of its walls and the violet of its roofs made it standing apart from the green of the hills, creating an hipnotizing effect similar to those of some pre-war paintings I saw that time didn't ruined completely.

"That's Sweet Apple Acres, were our friend Applejack lives," Twilight explained to me; not that I was paying much attention, too occupied being mesmerized by the barn, even when all the other building of the farm were in sight. "Oh... well, i can see you like the place already, eheh."

"W-what?" I asked her, called back to reality. "N-no, it just... uhm... uh..." I babbled while while becoming red on the cheecks.

"It's okay, don't be embarrassed," she said while patting her hoof on my back. "I had the same reaction, when seeing it like this, the first time. My friends, the Apple family, aren't just good at picking apples from trees, they're pretty good at constructing farm buildings."

Hearing those words made my mind going back to the memory orbs that showed me Applebloom and how she projected the Stables, Luna's school, not to mention the entire technology behind the pip-bucks. Yep, they were really gifted into building stuff. "Yeah... I know," I inadvertently said while smiling melanchonically.

"What? You... know??"

"Oh! Uhm, yeah, uh, I mean I know because i just saw it in front of me, eheh..." I swear to Celestia's big rump, I would've smash my head on tree one hundred times in a row, if I could at the moment...

We continued our way by climbing down the little hill, until we were in front of the farm's gate, the house of the Apples staying right in front of it. I sighed inside of me; I was now going to see once again the place where my journey started, but being so much different then how I saw it the first time; different in a form that was too much beautiful to be real.

But hey, maybe everything was going to be just fine. Maybe...

Author's Note

From the deep side of my heart, I am awfully sorry for the long wait for this chapter; some of you might thought thise fic to be dead, with good reason. It wasn't, I just had a block of sort, what with all the things that I was involved during these year, and with just a deep laziness overall. And despite this, many of you still came and liked my incomplete story, despite no updates whatsoever. It means that my story means something for you, and I'm so happy about it :3. I assure you though, no more long waits like this one; I have no intention to just leave this story, like many others did with their fics, and I'll do my best to make the time between chapters to be as brief as possible...

In the meantime, there's another fic I just started... a pretty "hot" one. Will post the first chapter of it soon ;).

And that's all for now, thank you again for your faves and likes...

A new home... and a party.

"Applejack, are you home?!" Twilight shouted while knocking at the door...

"Perhaps she's still harvesting apples," Rarity intervened. "It's almost apple-cider season, after all."

"Yeah, you're right. We should search for her all around, then." We were about to leave the front door of the house, when suddenly it opened up slowly, with a scratching sound. In front of us, a little filly with pale yellow fur, a a pale red mane and a big, big bow of the same color right behind her head, probably to tie up a much bigger chunk of mane the one who was kept loose. I didn't recognize her right away because of the bow, but checking out her colors, she looked familiar...

"Hello, Applebloom." Rarity chirped, "Do you know if your sister is still kicking apple trees?"

"Nah, she's in the attic right now, giving some order to all the stuff up there. I'm gonna call her now..." She said while heading to the stairs. Just like with Scootaloo and Spike before, I felt a big heavy weight inside me. She looked so cute and innocent. her childish voice mixed with country accent was adorable... and she would've die horribly one die. No, Littlepip! Stop thinking this, or you'll end do another show like before. Too much attention is the last thing you want right now. Suddenly, Applebloom stopped in the middle of the room; she looked back, staring right at me wiht a surprised look. No, please not you too.

"Oh, shoot! I'm sorry!" she said while trotting back to us, "I didn't knew we had a new pony in town." Why everypony notices me?! I'm no different from all the others! "Hi, my name's Applebloom, welcome to Sweet Apple Acres!" she cirped while grabbing my mmy hoof with her little ones and shaking it like crazy, "You look like a city pony, are you from Manehattan, or Fillydelphia, *gasp* don't tell me Las Pegasus...?", she stopped as Twilight's magic grabbed her away from me. Thank you!

"Ah, eheh, sorry Applebloom but Littlepip here is... a little shy, you see," she said while making her landing beside her. "She only arrived today in Ponyville and... well, she had apparently lost her memory. She can't remember where she comes from, nor why she came here."

The little filly watched me with surprise, who then turned into a puppy-eyed sorry face. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Lil'pip", she said. Sweet Celestia's humps, those big pupils filled with sorrow made me feel guilty for nothing. "U-uhm, it's nothing, don't worry..." I replied while laughing nervously and looking away.

Right in that moment, we heard the sound of a wooden door opening, then a crashing of something hitting the floor upstair. “Applebloom!” a familar voice shouted from the stairs, “Come an’ help me with this darned box here. It’s a hay of an heavy one.” She sounded so much younger and juvenile, despite the grumpy tone of her voice.

“Eh eh, sorry,” Applebloom said, “me and Aj are givin’ some good ol’ cleaning to the attic, so we’re moving most of the stuff up there to the barn. Hold on here, I’m gonna call her.” She then trotted rapidly to the stairs, up to the first floor.

“Well, that is the most uncanny of luck,” Rarity said. “With Applejack and family emptying the attic, there sure would be enough room for Littlepip to stay."

"They haven't say yes, yet. We shouldn't jump to conclusions...", I said while looking at the floor. Noticing that the two mares where looking at me apprehensively, I blushed and added shyly, "I-I mean... not that I wouldn't like that, you know..."

Before Twilight was going to say something, probably to reassure me, we heard the slow trotting of hooves from the stairs. A blonde maned mare with with light orange fur and a cowboy hat presented herself to us. She had a worried expression on her face, as we interrupted her in something important. I widened my eyes at seeying her, and I think I felt my heart starting to race a little bit. I already knew that mare was Applejack, I knew how she looked like. And yet, having her in front of me, right now, was still exciting, and I couldn't tell why; maybe the fact of having in front of me the progenitor of all Stable 2 ponies, my ancestor. Or maybe because... she was so beautiful. More then I expected...

"Twilight, Rarity, ya'll got me in a hay of a busy moment here," she said while sweating.

"We know Applejack, Applebloom told us just now," Twilight responded. "If we knew before, we would've come and help you."

"That's sweat an all, sugarcube, but before movin' stuff we first gotta decide what to move and what not, and..." she interrupted herself as she suddenly glanced at me. I blushed and look away for a moment. "Hello..." I said awhile smiling shyly.

The country mare trotted toward me, in my surprise. She looked at me sospiciously. My heart raced even more. Why was she interested in me?! Did she saw in me something suspicious? And why were those freckles so damn cute?

"Did ah saw yah before? Yah look kinda familiar..."

How??! We never met before! Well, I saw her in the memory orbes, but she can't know that...right? I was sweating, not knowing how to answer.

Rarity came to my rescue, stepping between me and AJ. "Sorry Applejack, but I doubt she can answer that, right now? The poor thing have lost her memory. She doesn't even remember where she comes from, as of now." I agreed with my head, while looking sad.

Applejack gave a gasped expression, then took of her hat. "Oh my. Ah'm awfully sorry, Mrs. I was jus' wonderin' if yah ahppened to be a member of the Apples too. Yeh'r features looks kinda similar to mah family..."

Did she really deduced that, despite my Apple blood being mixed up for centuries with Sweetie Belle's one? Well, can't say I wasn't impressed.

"Actually, she's the reason why we're here," Twilight explaine to AJ. "You see, we wanted to ask you could make room for her here in your farm, at least until she have regained her memory. But since you and your family have other problems right now, guess it's not the right time for this kind of favor."

"Well shoot, Twilight, yeh'r sure are taking me into an hard spot here," Applejack replied. "Yah know I would hardly say no to a favor from yah girls, 'specially if it's about helpin' another pony, but we're all occupied here already as it is. There's a hay of a lot of things to take from the attic to the barn, and we still need organize what needs to leave and what not..."

"Uhm..." I suddenly interrupted. "If it's about the stuff take out, well, maybe I can give a hoof here. I'm... good enough with telekinesis". I know what I was doing; the more helpful I showed myself to be, the less suspitious I would've been to them. At least, I hoped so.

"Yeah, and I could help with both that, and making a list of the things that leaves and stays," Twilight intervened.

And I can help too," Rarity added. "Especially to give a good cleaning with all the dust that's probably up there."

Applejack took her hat back on her head, probably asa sign of optimism. "Well gals, yeh're help will surely shortened the time necessary for this task. Tell yah what, after emtpying the attic a good bunch and cleaning it up, yeh'r friend here can have it for the time being."

"littlepip." I corrected her. "That's my name, I mean.

"Right, Littlepip..." she said while laying her right arm on my shoulders. "Ah'm curious to see what yah got. Yah look like the kind of mare a pony can rely on, and ah don't say that to everypony in town.

I smiled while blushing. I dunno why, but that compliment made me a lot happier then it should've. Maybe because it came from a famous ancestor of mine, or maybe 'cause her accent and attitude reminded me a lot of certain pegasus I had as a dear friend. Point is, I was feeling myself welcomed like never before. But... was this how I should've felt?

Emptying half the attic took no more then two hours. Organizing the stuff to take out took most of the time. There sure was a crap ton of stuff up there, I don't even wanna imagine how long it would've take to the poor Earth pony family to finish this burden (at least a couple of days, I think) if Twilight and Rarity didn't just happen to come for an unrelated favor and offering to help. They did most of the organisation, with making a list of the most essential things for the Apples, and dividing them from all the trinkets good only for the memories. I offered myself to help with moving the heaviest of stuff, but Rarity reassured me then nothing was to heavy for Twilight's magic. She was right. This was my first time seeing Celestia's prodigious student in action, and she truly lived up to her name. Even with only the telekinesis spell she did extrardinary thing, making massive crates and objects floating like they had no weight whatsoever, organizing them in suspended lines, laying them down graciously and ordinatedly; it honestly felt almost like a dancing number of living, floating objects. I know my telekinesis spell by now was strong enough to all of that flying in and out the attic, but doing all of what I just saw? I'm sure it would've required orgazination and mathematical precision that I was positive I had none of it.

After all that, all we needed to do was moving the stuff to the barn, something made much easier thanks again to Twilight's magic. I gave a hoof too, this time around: I could've use my telekinesis in all it's strenght and taking all the stuff by myself, but I was afraid that by doing that so soon I would've maybe create some suspicion on me, so I followed the other ponies instruction and took only a bunch of crates and trinkets.

Since we started organizing the stuff, I left my mind thinking about what happened before. I knew it was wrong for me to be here, in this time period, and I could've easily screw everything up by staying too long... then why I felt so good until now? Could've be the hair of ospitality and friendlyness I never experienced in the wasteland? The fact that I just met in person the six legendary mares I respected the most? Thinking about the last part made my chest feeling suddenly heavy, when I suddenly remembered the tragic fate that awaited, and all Equestria, in the future. The fact that I was here, somehow, wasn't maybe a chance fate give me to prevent all of that to happen? But even if I was able to prevent it... did that mean I wouldvd've eae to exist? And with me all of the ponies I knew?

Thinking about all that made me loose my mental grip on some of what I was carrying: a crate and few other trinkets fell on the ground. Thankfully, none of them break to the hit. "So-sorry, sorry!" I apologized myself while sweating suddenly. Well done there, Littlepip! Break the stuff of the ponies who wants to help you, they're gonna give you a bed to sleep alright. "I'm just... not very good with heavy stuff, I guess."

Applejack came to give me some pats on the back, while I magically grabbed what fell over. That little accident game me the resolve I needed: I had to stick with my plan to go back to the present, somehow. The more I stayed here, the more confused my thought were going to be. I had to get out of here, as fast as I could!

Finally, the last crates has been moved to the upper floor of the barn. The barn itself was just like I remembered it to be (except, well, in better conditions) but the floor up was was larger then how I remembered it to be. I shunned the thought; it could've just been shortened by the passing of time, one half crumbling down. I could still tell exactly where the underground entrance to the vault door of Stable 2 was going to be; that somehow brought I slight feel of nostalgia, for something that had yet to happen... weird.

"Woah nelly!" Applejack shouted, "Yah girls never stop t' surprise me. This whole work would've take more then a bunch'a days, without yehr help."

"Oho, darling, it was nothing", Rarity assured. "I myself have dealt with much heavier things then these."

"Yah ain't forgetting anypony else, right?" AJ responded with irony, "Twilight and Pip here made all the heavy work with their magic".

"Me?" I responded with surprise, "I... didn't do that much. I only brought a couple of crates and things. Small potato compared to what Twilight did, you know..." Admitedly, I was playing a little with my humbleness card. Again, to not raise some suspition.

Applejack laughed to that, then pat my back again. "Well shoot, yah kinda emind of somepony I knew who was just like you, when she first came to Ponyville", she said while making eye contact to Twilight, who blushed a little. Was Twilight Sparkle really that much humble? Hard to believe a unicorn like her never showed off her big talent. "It ain't the amount of work that counts", AJ continued. "Yah offered t' give a hoof instead of just lookin' at somethin' tha' didn't concerne yah. Anypony who does that, have mah whole respect an' admiration. Yehr welcome in farm this anytime yah want!"

"So, will you make her stay here?" Twilight asked with shining eyes.

"Well, there's a little mo' cleaning to do, but after that, the attic's all hers fo' the time bein'."

The other two ponies shouting of joy, followed by hugs. I limited myself to smiling a fair bit; this was nothing more then a starting point for me. The real deal would've start soon.

"I'm so happy we solved this problem", Twilight said to me. "Trust me, Applejack and her family will make you feel at home. All you need to do is relaxing until your mind will start remembering. I'm so curious to se how the head of a pony functions when rebooting itsellf!" Rebooting? I'm not a freaking computer!. Wait... did computers existed already in this time period? "It will be such an interesting study, oh I'm so excited...!"

"Ahem..." I interrupted, while she was clapping her hooves for excitment. I won't lie, that was both awkward and adorable. "I'm glad to give you something to study upon, but I'd like a little favor in exchange."

"Oh yes yes, of course. Ask whatever you want!"

"Well... is it ok if a borrow some books from your library? I need something to pass time, you know." Hopefully, I would've find some about time travelling spells and such. it was Twilight Sparkle's library, after all.

Twilight's eyes lighted up with excitment, while she gave a big open smile. "Of course! You asked to the perfect pony, I know all about books. Well, I think you expected that, since I live inside a library, eh eh. Just tell me what kind of book you want and I'll give it to you tomorrow."

"Actually, I wanted to find one for myself right now... if I don't bother you, that is."

"Oh, I see," she added with a slightly guilty expression. "Of course you can, I'll just be nearby if you need some help choosing"

"And I will help Applejack cleaning the attic from the dust," Rarity intervened. "After all, she would leave half of it without my help," she added while whispering to us, for Aj to not hear it. Twilight gave her an unimpressed look.

The road back to Ponyville lasted less then when going to the Apple farm, probably because I was more familiar with it. The sun was completely set, and the light of dusk was had almost give all space to the dark of the night. I never saw such spectacle in person, only inside book illustrations and memory orbs, which is way I spent almost the entirety of the road watching that warm light slowly disappearing, like if I was hypnotized by it. Is this what my sacrifice into the SPP gave to the ponies of Wasteland? Thinking yes gave me alittle warmth inside; perhaps ot wasn't all for nothing. Perhaps a bright future was coming for my dark and depressing future. But then I thought if it was really going to last, without me being where I should've been right then, right now. It all made me just being even more preoccupied to get out of here...

Inside Ponyville the stands of the market were almost all dismounted, and the road was mostly empty. Soft lights were facing the windows of the many houses (electrical? Made by candles? Couldn't really tell...), including those from Twilight's library, just right in front of us.

"So, what kind of book are interested in, if I may ask?" suddenly asked Twilight. We were being silent for most of the road, hearing her cheerful voice brought me back to reality. Now, what should I told her?

"Well, uhm... you know, one book is like the other, but I think to remember that I'm fond of science books..."

"Really?!!" she shouted, once again with her eyes full of glee. "That's great! Books and sciance and the study of magic are my speciality. You're gonna find alot of them here." She opened the door ro the library with her magic, when...

"SURPRIIIISE!!!!"

We both jumped in fear, as a pink colored pony I was familiar with jumped at us and greeted us in a loud way, like she's used to. Behind her, a huge line of pony did the same.

SURPRISE! WELCOME TO PONYVILLE!

Multicolored confettis flew in the air, paper trumpets shouted, and the circular hall was filled with cheers and shouts of fun. Behind all this mess, I saw a long piece of white fabric hanging on the ceiling, with the words "WELCOME, NEWCOMER" written on it. Oh, you gotta be kidding me!

"Pinkie, what's all this?" Twilight called. "Don't tell me this is for..."

"Aww, isn't obvious you silly filly?" Pinkie responded with her almost screetching voice. "We all made a welcome party for the new pony in town! At first I wondered where was she gonna live, but then I remembered seeing her with you so of course we organized all of this inside your library 'cause I was sure you were gonna make her be your guest. Just a hint gave by my Pinkie sense, you know?"

"Ok, first of all, you were wrong; Littlepip is staying with Applejack and her family for the time being, and she came her just for some books. Second, who gave you the permission to do all this here anyway?" She ended that phrase while giving an harsh stare to Spike, who just came toward us.

"Hey hey, don't blame me for that," Spike responded to that stare. "She and the others were already in the middle of doing this, when I came back. I tried to reason with Pinkie about the whole permission thing, but she already made me occupied with tables and stuff before I could open my mouth."

"Of course I didn't ask ask for permission, silly," Pinkie intervened. "What kind of surprise would that be if I told about what we were gonna do? Duh!"

While Twilight was getting Pinkie occupied by lecturing her on the imprtnce of asking permission, I slowly moved away, hoping no other pony would've notice me; I couldn't waste more time then I already did, I had to find a book about time travelling fast.

This plan ended up being just an utopia, however, has some ponies already noticed me and came closer. "Hi! You must be Littlepip, right?!" chirped a pale green (of a paleness I don't recall to ever see before) colored pony, with mane and tail of the same color plus some white strips, and and a weird stringed instrument as a cutie mark. I will have later realize who was she, but for now the hurry distracted me on it. "Pinkie Pie told me and Bon Bon about you being new to town, so we decided to help her welcoming you here. If you need anything we're happy to help out, right Bon Bon?"

"Uh uh, sure no problem..." answered the other pony, a pale yellow colored mare with manes colored with dark blue in one said and fuchsia the other. She didn't seem that much interested in my presence.

I tried to subtly move away from them while smiling and nodding, but the green mare striked back. "Uao, your cutie mark looks so cool!" Is it a hoof watch of sort? I've never seen something shaped like that..."

"Uhm, yeah, yeah it is, eheh! Sorry gotta go now...". Finally I got away from those two... but I ended crashing unto another one.

"Oh! Why hello there," a stallion with grayish amber coat and dark brown mane greeted me. His cutie mark was an hourglass. "I was passing by seeing what this ruckus was all about. Happy to see a new face in this tiny town, for once."

I awkawardly shaked hooves with him, when a familiar looking rainbow-colored mare divided us with light speed. "Hold it, pal! Pip here only wants her best friends with her!"

"Excuse me?" I questioned her with a raising eyebrow. Well, technically I did know her, but in that circumstance we were totally stranger to one another.

"Oh, don't sweat it," she responded while hugging my back with one hoof. "Everypony who knows my friends is my friend too. Sorry we didn't have much time to know eachothers today (apart the crashing, eheh), but now I'm here to tell you that an awesome pony like will be the best friend you'll ever have!"

"Y-yeah, sure, thanks for the tip," I answered while getting out from that back-rapping hoof of hers. "Sorry, but now I need to do some..."

"You're well!" a meek but chirping voice shouted while hugging me all of the sudden. I knew that voice was Fluttershy's. "Oh, I'm so happy to see you fine and and healthy. I was so scared when I found you unconscious this morning, but it's all in the past now, I'm not worried anymore."

"Thanks! I appreciate!" I shouted while being crushed by that hug. For being a meek pony, her hooves were pretty strong.

"okay Fluttershy, enough with the hugging," Rainbow Dash said while diving me again from somepony else. "She said she needs to do something important, leave her do whatever she haves to do," she ended with a wink toward me. Dunno if she was doing that to show off how great of a "friend" she was being, btu I was thankful either way. Finally, I was near one of the many bookshelves...

"There you are, you silly!" a shrieking voice stopped me. Oh, Luna's glory hole, please no." Are you making new friends already? Great, you feel already like home!" My eyes searched for Dash, hoping she would've save me again. She was occupied with Fluttershy.

"oh I'm so happy to havea new friend in Ponyville, it's not so often we recieve new friends in this tiny village, you know?" I moved to the bookshelf, trying to forget that she was there." I mean there was Twilight who came here along time ago, followed then by Lyra and by my dear friend Crancky, but aside that and some visit from the Princess we are pretty lonely here..." Finally I reached it. I started to take the first book I saw, then keep loking at them one by one, none of themwas even about science or magic. "AW, BUT THAT'S ONLY THE PAST, now you're here and I'm so excited, I can't wait to show you all Ponyville, to make you know my friends, who knows, maybe you'll find some new friends yourself...!" I checked another line of books, then another one, and another one; nothing. I was growing stressed by the second, note helped by somepony who didn't want to shut up. "There's the bakery where I work at, the Cakes are such nice ponies and they make me sleep there, then Rarity's boutique, she makes the best dresses in all Equestria, let me tell you...!" Shut up. Shut up, for the love of the princesses' rumps. No book I needed in this shelf, I had to move to another one. "And, uhm, oh, there's Fluttershy cottage, it's all full of animals of any kind there, you know, whenever you need a pet to give you company. Oh, and Applejack's farm is not far from there, she and her family are soooo nice, you're feel like their part of th..."

"OH FOR CELESTIA'S BIG ANUS, DID YOU EVER SHUT UP ONCE IN YOUR LIFE!!?"

Silence. That's what followed right away. As if the party was over all of the sudden, and the hall empty...

After calming down, I then gasped and covered my mouth with a hoof. I slowly looked around the hall; everypony was looking at me, with expressions that went from surprised to utterly horryfied. Pinkie herself was now jsut sterring at me, her mouth slightly open and the pupils of her eyes reduced to tiny points. I started to sweating cold, while my heart was pumping faster. Now you've done it, Littlepip. You screwed up big time.

"I... I..." I was trying to say something, anything, but words weren't coming from my mouth; my head was thinking aabout too many things at once, so all I could do was babbling nonsense. In the end, I took a drastic decision."Excuse me!" I said fast without even listening to what word I used, as I sprinted to the exit door as fast as I could.

Outside the library, it was full nighttime. I expected to see the absolute dark in front of him, yet the night was full of light; light coming from the moon, the very first time I was seeying it in person, so beautiful in it's white brightness; light coming from the windows of ponyville's many houses, proof of life inside the now desertic streets; and finally, the subtle light coming from the uncountable numbers of stars in the sky, all of them sorrounding the moon like many ponies carrying broght candles in adoration of one big shining monolith. The night wasn't dark anymore. Not here.
I should've be mesmerized by such spectacle, but I was still cringing for what just happened inside. It was over now; I just made the biggest mistake I could've done in this place and time. Shouting a big profanity to these ponies' most beloved and respected authority, the mare responsable to making the sun shine everyday in her kingdom; no way they were going to forget this. Especially Twilight Sparkle, Celestia's beloved student. She was never going to help me again, after insulting the name of her teacher. Even worse, she would probably tell her friends too, and all the favors I had 'till now will have been taken back from me. And all this because of my damn mouth. You're an idiot Littlepip, you're such an idiot! The six mares you adored most then anypony else were now going to look at you with disgust. Anything you go in contact with, you end up screwing it. Suddenly I could feel tears moving down on my cheecks. From the inside, I could here Pinkie Pie saying something, then laughters followed. Laughing at me, probably...

I heared the door opening up and being closed again.

"Littlepip?"

Twilight! I dunno what automatic process my brain reacted to, but before I noticed it I ran toward her.

"I'm sorry!" I shouted while laying my chest on the ground and colliding my hoof into a preying position. "I didn't mean to, I swear! I was nervous because I couldn't find the book I was searching for. I didn't want to insult your teacher, it was a mistake. Please, forgive me!"

"Hey, it's ok. I'm not angry with you."

"You... you're not?" I honestly didn't know if I should've feel relieved or confused. I looked at her with a puzzled expression. She smiled tenderly to me (golly, what a beautiful smile!).

"Of course not! I know that Pinie can be obnoxious with her chatting, especially for those who are not used to it. Besides, it's not like you insulted the Princess in her presence."

"But... she's your mentor. I mean, aren't you even a little bit disgusted that I named her doing... well, that thing?"

She gave me a cute, mouth-closed laughter in response (ok seriously, stop being so damn gorgeous!). She then looked around, as if checking out if others were near, before coming near me and whispering to my hear. "Actually, I used to swear with Celestia's name a lot, back in Canterlot."

Well, that was something unexptected. So it's true then that anypony have skeletons in their closets. "You... did?" I slowly asked, my face not even trying to hide the surprise.

"Well, it's not much weird, when you think about it." She answered, blushing a little. "Exams in her school, especially in later years, are very hard and professors gives you a lot to study in preparations for them. My old school friends and I used to deprecate a lot because of frustrating studies, and we used her name a few times. You ca't imagine how many times we feared the princess to casually walking near us and hearing the many names and words we gave to her."

She was right, it wasn't that hard to imagine; I was a student myself, after all. It made me feel so stupid to be scared about it, even though looking t it now my fears weren't so unfounded. "Oh, I see. eh eh eh." I quietly laughed myself. It didn't last long though, as I thought of the many other ponies inside. "I don't think though that half Ponyville inside there will see it as nothing special too."

"I wouldn't care too much about that." Twilight replied. "My friend Pinkie is good at playing down a thtings with her humor. And even if somepony else will still remember that, I'm sure they would change your mind after getting to know you better. Trust me, there's nothing to worry about." She ended winking at me.

Gotta say, the way Twilight Sparkle comforted me, telling me things were goona be fine, reminded me a little bit of Homage. Maybe that's why I felt like trusting her, without a single doubt. She somehow cheered me up like as nothing happened before.

"Thank you, Twilight. I needed that." I said while smiling at her.

"Oh, don't sweat it. I did took care of you the whole day, after all"

We both laughed. Then Twilight suddenly interrupted the cheerful moment.

"Wait... now that I think about it," she said while looking puzzled at me. "How did you know Celestia is my mentor? I don't recall telling you that before..."

Aaand preoccupation started raising up again. Thankfully it didn't pass too much time beforean answer was found. "Oh, I... uhm... just heard of it around. You know, many ponies in the market today mentioned it today."

"Oh, really?" she responded while looking shyly away. "Well, I was talking to Rarity back there, so i guess I didn't give it too much attention."

"Yeah, well, how about we go back inside? I bet they're wondering right now oon what happened to the newcomer and Celestia's greatest student. That can get suspicious."

We both laughed at it, as we walked our way back to the library. Something was telling me that maintaining the secret was going to be harder and harder. I had to hurry up before it would've go out of hoof.

Beneath a pointy sky

The rest of the night went pretty straight; most ponies at the party continued enjoying themselves without seemingly even notice that I was there. Very few looked at me badly for before, but still having in mind what Twilight told me outside, I just ignored them. I gave my apologies to Pinkie Pie, though of course she acted as if nothing happened (makes you wonder how some ponies seems unable to feel any kind grudge; I sure as hell would like to learn how to do the same), then I did nothing but chill during the party, hanging mostly with Twilight and her friends. I could do little else after all, with all that crowd of ponies inside the library I would’ve hardly be able to search for any book in particular. Thankfully, it didn’t last too long, two hours circa, then ponies started slowly leaving the place to go back home. Twilight, Pinkie, Dah and Spike remained there to clean up the mess left there. I offered to help, but Twilight assured me there was no need for that, and as for the book, it was better for me to come back tomorrow. I agreed; showing myself too much obsessed for one book would’ve definitely brought up suspicion.

After asking to go alone, I walked down the streets of Ponyville. It was full night now, but not quite dark. The shapes of the buildings were still made clear by a gentle white-ish light; I raised my head to see the origin of it... That's when I discovered the moon. This big, white ball with slightly gray stains of it, illuminated like a light bulb in the sky, something I saw only in the old, illustrated kids' books of my Stable, was above me. Bigger than I ever imagined it. I must've spent several minutes staring at it, exploring of all it stains with my eyes alone. When I finally looked back down, remembering that I shouldn't have make Applejack and family wait too long, it seemed to me that all the buildings were even more clear, almost as in daylight. There was no comparison to the cloudy, pitch-black darkness of the Wasteland nights. To think about what me, and everypony else I knew, had lost for so long... oh Celestia, I had to go back! I had to give the moon back to her place!

I was now walking down the road that held the market; no sign of life, just the empty stalls still standing along the side of the road. The picturesque houses behind the stands were silent, doors and windows closed shut. I didn't like it; memories of me walking down the ruins of the desolated Ponyville of my time returned back into my mind; sure, the houses weren't half-standing and covered by dust and dirt this time, and the ponies inside it were all but psychotic raiders, yet the quietness of it all made me way too wary of my surrounding, as if waiting for something to pop out somewhere. The silence was only interrupted by the noises in my head of guns firing, grenades exploding and...

And the sound of something crashing came from my left, louder than all the others.

In the millisecond that came after, I made a jump to my right and crouched into fight position, as if I was ready for such moment since the beginning. I noticed one of the stands was crushed in half. "Who's there?!" I shouted as aggressively as I was able too. "Come out! Now!!".

I had Little Mac pointing right at the stall... until I realized I didn't have it with me. I didn't have any weapon with me. Not even my PipBuck. Suddenly, I felt naked and defenseless, like I hadn’t felt in a long time. Meanwhile, something was moving out from that pile of broken wood that was once a stall; it had the shape of a pony, but my instinct would've rather been safer than sorry. I levitated some broken pieces of wood, making them pointing close to that figure.

"I warn you," I said not shouting, but still trying to sound menacing, "Show yourself and don't try anything stupid! I'm not the right pony to mess with..."

"Oh please, don't be mad," the figure responded while slowly moving out from that broken pile. "I didn't mean to break it, I'm sorry"

Finally, the pony was close enough that I could clearly. It was a grey colored mare with blond mane and tail. Nothing out of ordinary, except for her left eye looking upward. Wait... where had I seen that before?

"Uhm, that wasn't mine," I said while levitating back down those sharp looking pieces. To think I was almost ready to pierce her neck with those...more nerves of steel, Littlepip. "What were you doing, anyway?!" I sounded condescending now, perhaps to let out some steam from the scare of before. "You could've awoken the whole street like that. How didn't even see where you were going?"

"I... don't see well in the dark." she responded shamefully. Right, because of her funny eye probably. Well played Pip really well played! "Usually I'm not out at this hour, but you see, Mrs. Wooly asked me to deliver a letter to her cousin in Manehattan this morning, but the city is so big, and there are so many ponies with her name, so I spent the whole day searching, and when I found her the sun was setting down, so I flew as fast as I could back to Ponyville, but then I found out it was better to take train, so..."

"Ok, ok. I get it." Yet another motormouth of a pony. As one wasn't enough to make feel dizzy.

"Oh, I don't think I saw you before in Ponyville", she said while looking at me with suddenly sparkly eyes. "Are you new here? What's your name?"

"Uhm, it's Littlepip. And yeah, I... arrived here just today."

"Littlepip. That's such a cute name," she said while smiling at me. That was weird; nopony ever complimented my name like that. It felt pretty nice.

Suddenly, striking me like a bolt from the sky, I remembered why those eyes were familiar. The grey mane... The blond hair... her work as a mailpony at Ponyville... Oh Celestia's big rump, don't tell she is...
"Hey, uhm... what's your name?" I asked her, even if deep down I already knew the answer.

"Ops, sorry! I asked your name and I haven't told you who I am. My name is Dizzy Do, but ponies her call me Derpy, though I don't know what that means. I deliver mails and packages, so I know all the ponies here. Nice to meet you!"

I saw it coming, yet I still remained as immobile as a stone, my heart bumping like crazy. It was Dizzy! Sweet butt of a princess, how wasn't I able to recognize her? That wobbly eye of hers shouldn't have been a damn good clue, but again, seeing her without the decaying skin of a ghoul and with an actual mane made her unrecognizable for me. She was prettier than I could've ever imagined her as a pony to be like.

Inside me, I felt the urge to hug her as strongly as I could; I'd finally found a familiar face, no, an old sweet friend of mine, in this alien place of the past. But the reality of it all blocked myself from doing it; she wasn't the Dizzy I knew... well, not yet that is. For her right now, I was just a pony who never lived here before. My luck once again spat on my eyes.

Some seconds must have passed without me saying a word, lost in my thoughts, as Dizzy spoke again, noticing it. "Uhm... oh, your lost in thought. It happens to me a lot too."

"Wh-what?" I replied, awakening from my daze. "Oh. Sorry..." I blushed shamefully, even though she didn't care.

"It's all right." she said smiling, patting my shoulder. "I do it a lot when I'm confused or trying to remember something..."

"Yeah, that's right." I said trying to cut her short. Staying there with her a few minutes more and I would've start feeling tears on my cheeks. "I remembered I have to go back to the Apple farm. I'm being a guest to the Apples, and I don't want to make them wait too much at this hour, you know?"

"Wow, staying Applejack and family, that must be so cool! Ok then, I should be home too. Nice to meet you, Littlepip, and sleep well."

"Thanks, you too." I forced a smile with those words.

I started walking away down the road, but not even half a minute passed that I felt the urge to tell her one more thing. I turned around and she was flying clumsily in the air, already some meters away from me.

"Hey, Dizzy!" I shouted, then gritted my teeth remembering ponies were sleeping around me. Nevertheless, she turned around looking at me. I looked around hoping no light was turned on in any of the houses, then shouted again. "I'm sorry for scolding you before!"

"It's allriiiight!"

We parted ways for good. I bolted back my way and trotted at almost a running speed, hoping to be far away before somepony opened a window to check who was shouting.

Not long after that, I was past the bridge connecting Ponyville to the main road, heading down the path leading to Sweet Apple Acres. I kept sobbing until that point; the fact of seeing the kind of pony Dizzy was with my own eyes, knowing what l was going to happen to her, seeing her own little world, her family, her friends reduced to dust, being forced to live alone for two centuries without them as a monster... I fought the urge to cry before then, but I just couldn't take it anymore.

I looked at the sky above, to find a distraction from those thoughts. The moon has now moved higher, almost above my head, so the sparkling stars were now more visible to me. I sat down for a few minutes, staring at them; they were much more beautiful and mesmerizing then the faded copies of them found inside the illustrated books of my Stable. Memories from my sad but gleefully ignorant childhood reemerged from the deeps of my mind; I used to steal the fluorescent paint from the janitor's compartment and use it to paint many dots on the ceiling of my bedroom, to make it as less grey as possible and to give me the illusion at night to sleep under a beautiful starry sky at the surface. They always caught me before or after the deed, and I got punished severely all the time, as stealing, and messing up with the Stable structure (it was just the ceiling of my bedroom, for Celestia's sake!) was an extremely punishable crime, and they went softer with me only for being a little filly. Yet, I never learned the lesson and continued trying to paint the ceiling; doing something against the rules was still more exciting than my ordinary, boring life inside the Stable.

Starring at sky didn't do much to improve my mood, so I returned on my way shortly after. It took me less than a mile before I finally reached Apple farm. The lights inside the house were still on, and I feared that the whole family had stayed awake late just to wait for me. In front of the outside door I saw Applejack sitting down, waiting for me; except, judging by the hat half down her face, it seemed she was sleeping...and I was right. When being beside her, I gave a loud "u-uhm" and she slowly raised her head. When she saw it was me, shestood up in a flash, as if she wasn't asleep at all.

"Welcome back, Ms. Pip," Applejack said chirpily, wrapping a foreleg on my neck. "Enjoyed your welcome party? Hope Pinkie wasn't too attached on your back. She does that a lot ta’ newcomers."

"N-no... it was all right," I lied to her. Better not telling her what happened, for now. She was a friend pf Pinkie Pie, after all. "Also, forgive me for being late. It's... hard to follow the time at night."
"Oh shoot, don't be sorry for that," she responded while I followed her inside. "It was for the better too; me an’ Big Macintosh got more time to free some space up there. Hope our bed of fortune would be enough comfy for you."

"Thanks. You really didn't need to bother yourself this much, just for me," I said while smiling with shyness.

"No bother at all, helping ponies in need is second nature to us Apple ponies. Double for me if that pony is a friend of Twilight."

"F-friend?!" I asked with big surprise. I could've count on my four hooves only the number of people who ever wanted to my friend in my whole life since then. Now Twilight Sparkle, of all ponies, being a friend to me too? Unbelievable.

"We’ve... just known each other for a day, and I couldn't tell her much about me because... you know."
"Ooh, don't be modest like that, Ms," she responded smiling, pocking her hoof on me. "I knew Twilight for long enough to know, from her eyes, that she cares a lot for you. She ain't like Pinkie, who does that to anypony she sees, so that means she must've seen a friendly good pony in you."

Good... obviously she didn't know me well enough. I doubt she would've thought the same way, if she knew the things I'd done.
"I... I guess so," I muttered, not knowing how to respond.

"If you want my opinion" she added, "I think ah’ can see that too." She started looking at me an almost inspective way. "Seems to me you got traits of an Apple. Are you sure you ain'ta long distant cousin, or something?"

Sweet sun badongas! How the hay did she figured that out? Did she had secret detective skill I had never read about?! I must've start looking scared and panicked, since right immediately the apple pony guffawed while blushing a little from embarrassment. I followed by emulating as much of her laughter as I could, hopefully while not looking too awkward at it.

"O-oh Nelly!" She said while starting to calm down. "I'm so sorry I scared you, that wasn't my intention. See, my family is so big and so spread out all over Equestria, I have trouble at remembering all the faces and names belonging to it. So, I got this pet peeve of mine where I start seeing Apple-like traits on ponies I never saw before. It rarely works, though."

"It's fine, don't worry. At least we had a good laugh, eheh." Praise the Sun pony, she didn't figure it out. Better to keep it a secret as long as I was here. "Anyway, was nice to talk with you, but I feel tired. Can you, uhm, show me where to sleep?"
"No sweat about that. Follow me."

We started to climb up the stairs slowly, trying to not awaken those sleeping already, while I suddenly stopped in my tracks. "Uhm, Applejack?"

"Yes?"

"Could you do me just one favor?"

"Of course, as away."

"Please... don't call me Ms. Pip. Sounds awkward for me."

"Well, how about if I call you sugarcube then?"

Sugar...cube. For some reason, that sounded awfully nice. "Yeah, I like it," I responded while smiling.

Author's Note

I thank Book_Wyrm for being my editor, grammar checker and story consultant.