Chapter 5
A brief tour of Ponyville
--Galvanic Spark--
"It's okay mister, you're going to be just fine." The pink haired pegasus cooed, "I've got you all bandaged up."
Spark didn't know who this pony was or why she had helped him, but for some reason he found her voice deeply comforting. "Where am I?" he asked.
"You're in Ponyville. Sorry about my friend Twilight, she's been realy jumpy since the big raider attack last month... it... it was bad." She said as her eyes went to the floor.
Spark tried to sit up, he was a little dizzy but it was nothing he couldn't manage. Surveying the room he noticed a small, white unicorn filly with a pink and purple mane walking in. "Hello, sir!" she said in a kind voice, "How are you feeling?"
"A little dizzy, but that won't be around for very long." he replied "I'm sorry, but I can't remember your names?"
"That's because we didn't tell you yet, silly!" the filly chimed "I'm Sweetiebelle!"
Spark looked over to the pegasus, she was staring straight down with a look of dread in her eyes. After a few awkward moments he just about got up and left, but as he began to do so he heard her mumble something he couldn't understand. "Would you mind repeating that please?" he asked.
"M-my name Fluttershy." She said.
"Oh, thank you for tending my wounds, Fluttershy. My name is Galvanic Spark." Spark said.
Then, she inexplicably started dancing around as if she had just conquered the world. "I DID IT! I INTRODUCED MY SELF AND HE HEARD IT ON THE SECOND TRY!"
Spark was tempted to ask why that was such a big accomplishment, but he stopped himself. Oh come on Spark, just let the shy mare enjoy her little achievment. What harm could it do? So he simply watched with a smile as Fluttershy paraded herself around the room in triumph. After a minute or two a unicorn bearing a striking resemblance to Sweetie Belle came in and whispered something in Fluttershy's ear that immidiately ended her routine.
"Hi Rarity!" the little filly called, "What's up?"
"Oh, nothing," Rarity said in a rather formal tone, "Sweetie Belle, would you mind giving me some privacy with Fluttershy? I need to talk to her about grown up things, okay?"
"Okay." Sweetie Belle said in a sad tone, "Can you come home early and read me a sory tonight?"
Rarity was clearly feeling guilty and responded with a woeful "I'll try, but you know I'm busy."
"Wait," Spark called out, "Since it's pretty clear that I won't be leaving for quite a while, would you mind showing me around your town?" Spark gave Rarity a look that said I got this. She was clearly greatful.
"OOH! YEAH!" Sweetie Belle was excitedly jumping around his bed at this point, "And we can get Scootaloo and we can show you the market and the school and the houses and the motel and my sister's house and the library and you can meet Rainbow Dash and Twilight an-"
"Sounds like you've got a lot to do, dear." Rarity interjected, "You might want to get going."
"Yeah C'mon! Let's go!" She said, tugging on Sparks hoof.
"Alright, let's." Spark shot one last look at Rarity and she responded with a nod, as if to say You volunteered for this, don't blame me. Then the two were off.
Once they got to her Scootaloo's house they found that she was a little sick that day and couldn't come along. A minor cold, nothing bad. So, Spark was given the tour from one of the "Cutiemark Crusaders" rather than two. As he was walking with her, she told him all sorts of things about the town. Who not to bother past 9 PM, who was prone to rages, who the local "wenches" were. When Sweetie had pointed out one of the mares with that reputation Spark was taken aback "Sweetie, do you even know what that means?"
She did. She also knew that her sister was one of them. The child explained how she would hear stories about what happened when Rarity sent her over to see Scootaloo or Fluttershy for a few hours, "After a long, stressful week of field labor, a colt would take a bottle of the makeshift alchoholic cider over the their house. The next day, he didn't have a care in the world." Rarity had been a fashion designer befor the destroyers came and... well... aside from the occational blanket repair job, most of her work had become useless. Sweetie Belle also knew that rarity tried desperately to keep her sad work a secret, protect her innocence. True to her name, Sweetie led Rarity to believe that it was working because, as the filly put it "My sister works so hard to keep me safe and happy, why shouldn't I let her feel like she's succesful in at least this?" This is possibly the wisest thing I've ever heard from anypony, exept Celestia. There should be more Sweetie Belles in the world. The colt thought to himslef.
After that thought they had arrived at the library and Spark saw her again... that beautiful mare that had knocked him out earlier that day. Sweetie Belle was still giving a speech about something or other, but all he could think was Shine told me to talk to her, what the buck am I supposed to say?!