//------------------------------//
// Table Time 
// Story: The Telescope 
// by PieDisliker 
//------------------------------//

All of the ponies and Spike gathered around a large table except for Mr. and Mrs. Cake, who were placing several plates of baked goods onto the table. According to prior experiences, sweets tended to get Pinkie Pie in a better mood or at least help her cope with an unfortunate event. She was also surrounded by friends, which also helped.

Aside from Spike and Rainbow Dash, everypony directed their attention at Pinkie Pie. She didn't have her usual happy-go-lucky smile, but instead had a more nervous one. Nopony could blame her for feeling that way, though. After the previous event that took place, they were thankful she was smiling at all.

After topping the rather large table with an enormous amount of cupcakes, pies, cookies, and other goodies, Mr. and Mrs. Cake sat down to allow the discussion to start.

"So," Mrs. Cake started off the conversation. "What are those friends of yours like?"

Everypony had their eyes glued to Pinkie. Even Spike and Rainbow Dash were paying attention to her now. She felt pressure for explaining them to her friends, especially after she was ridiculed for her earlier exposure of them.

"They're really nice," said Pinkie Pie.

"What do these ponies look like?" asked Applejack.

"They aren't ponies," Pinkie Pie corrected.

"Are they dragons?" Spike asked curiously.

"No," Pinkie answered.

"Minotaur? Buffalo?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"They aren't anything like the species around here," Pinkie continued. "Well, they walk on two legs like minotaurs. They're also hairless."

"Hairless? My word, darling, that sounds so uncouth," said Rarity. She held up a hoof in a distressed manor until she noticed most of the ponies at the table were eyeing her angrily. She let out a small laugh to attempted to lighten the mood. "Please, continue."

"Well, they aren't entirely hairless. They both had some sort of mane on top of their heads. Jimmy's was brown and the old lady had white hair."

"'The old lady?' You mean you don't know her name?" questioned Twilight.

"No, I don't. I never knew all that much about her, to be honest. I couldn't hear her either," said Pinkie.

"So how do you know Jimmy's name?" asked Twilight.

"Well that's the weird thing. I found out how to hear Jimmy when I first met him. Apparently there's some sort of communication from his side. I wasn't sure what it was, but I took a chance and wrote down 'press the sound button' on a sign to see if he could talk to me. I don't know how, but it worked! And so did the pink button, which was obvious."

"Pink button?" asked Applejack.

"Well duh," Pinkie continued. "The pink button makes the whoopie cushion noise! Everypony knows that."

Ignoring the question, Twilight pressed on further for answers. "So there's some sort of device that connects you to Jimmy and the old lady?"

"Yeah, I don't know what it is, but I can see and hear them in the sky. Maybe they can see and hear me through the ground! Hmm... I wonder if their ground looks like our sky, and their sky looks like our ground! Would they have clouds on the ground? And I guess that means thunderstorms would be like four times as scary! And-"

Twilight interrupted Pinkie Pie. "Is there any chance we can talk to them now?"

Pinkie Pie frowned at hearing this. Her ears drooped as well. "Well, not really. The old lady is..."

Twilight gasped at Pinkie's remark. She was so intrigued by this discovery that she forgot all about the funeral.

"I'm so sorry, Pinkie," Twilight apologized, putting a hoof on her shoulder.

"Me too," Pinkie sighed. The room was silent. Nopony dared to even breathe loudly. They felt her pain. Applejack even took off her hat and placed it on her chest.

"But I guess it's not all bad," Pinkie broke the silence. "If that never happened, I would've never met Jimmy! He's the old lady's grandson. We can find out her name that way!"

Everypony's frowns turned into relatively small smiles, while Pinkie was beaming. Just the thought of being around Jimmy, one of her newest friends, was really exciting. Then the thought occurred to her. One of my newest friends? Hold the salad!

Pinkie placed both of her hooves on the table in a dramatic fashion. "I haven't thrown him a party yet!"

"What was that, dear?" asked Rarity.