LOLO Fillydelphia

by AizakkuHorooee

Act 1

When Aita and I arrive in downtown Fillydelphia, Aita with a saddlebag that contains her DS as well as some money, we start by looking at the skyscrapers from about five blocks away. Somehow, they are still highly apparent. But as we walk, I notice a two story brick structure across the street. It has picket fencing surrounding the yards sandwiching the building on its sides, and a playground in the backyard. Up front, there is a sign against the sidewalk.

“Happy Foals Schoolhouse…” I read, crossing the street. I attempt to open the front door, but it appears to be locked. “Strange. Is there a field trip underway?”

“I think so,” Aita says as I come back to her. “Why else would the main entrance be locked?”

As Aita and I continue our walk, she stays pretty close to me. Obviously she seems unfamiliar with the area. I don’t blame her. I can’t help but think of when I sent my own search party. “Last time I had any interaction with this city, Celestia met two of my top drones here during the search party.”

“Huh. I do remember that. I was with Mom and Pinkie when that happened. Were Cilia and Seta the ones that set hoof here?”

“Well, they were the closest.”

After a brief verbal pause, Aita looks up at me. “Hard to believe our hopes are actually coming true right now. Everything we’ve done is now building up to something.”

“I wouldn’t have any other way, Aita. You’ve accomplished truly remarkable feats nopony could ever fabricate.”

While we have our tender moment, we hear the faint sound of colliding pins coming from one of the buildings next to the skyscrapers from earlier. The sign above the front doors appears to alternate for four characters between a pin and a bowling ball.

“Do you remember what that is?” I ask Aita.

“Is it a bowling alley? I have done a couple of games on my seventh birthday back home.”

“Correct you are.”

Entering the bowling alley fills the air with the ambient rumbling and crashing I could only imagine Aita was used to before moving to Equestria. To our left, there appear to be twelve bowling lanes to our left. There aren’t any lights on in that area, so it’s rather hard to tell all the littler details. Just that each lane has a table up front for resting and dining. Closer to me and Aita, tables of higher elevation host appropriately elevated seating of its own for spectators.

Farthest to our right, I can see presumably twelve more lanes, this time with their lights on. Fillies, colts and baby dragons come into view every so often and promptly leave, probably playing games typical of young children to play. In between those areas, there are two entrances to what looks like a bar. And in between those is the front counter.

At the front counter across the entrance, a dragon greets us. Her scales are mostly a dark tan with purple spines and a golden underbelly.

“Oh hey! Chrysalis! Aita! Welcome to the Fillydelphia location of LOLO.”

Aita looks around, confused why this dragon knows us.

“Greetings, young drake. We’ve been called by the tree of harmony, so we arrived to scout for a friendship mission to fulfill,” I explain as I approach the dragon. “You wouldn’t mind us spectating, would you?”

“Knock yourselves out. We have a full house on the north side of the building - the twelve lanes on your right. Mostly just kids, but Pinkie Pie was apparently also here as one of the chaperones.”

Without another word, Aita and I move to our right to see a crowd of foals and baby dragons. And like the dragon at the counter said, there are a few mares chaperoning them, one of them appearing to be Pinkie Pie. The fillies and colts appear to be just unicorns and pegasi sitting on all the front chairs with their dragon classmates. The five chaperones are seated at the closest table to what seems to be a snack bar across from the farthest lanes to the back.

“Why would a school plan a field trip here?” I ask.

“I know Cheerilee took my class to LOLO at the end of last semester as a reward. Not sure why a school would open with that.”

When we sit at the adjacent tables to the chaperones to see the student body, Pinkie Pie soon spots us and cautiously approaches us. She holds her hoof out, her look suspicious of me. I chuckle at the act, thinking she was just playing around.

I then meet her hoof with mine. “It’s okay, Pinkie. It’s just me and Aita.”

“Aita? W-who’s Aita?”

Oh. This doesn’t appear to be the Pinkie I was thinking would be here, based on the relatively deep but tenorish voice. I tilt my head in confusion. Aita appears to recognize the voice though. She pushes the chair back and waves at this peculiar Pinkie.

“Ah, so that’s who. Um, what brings you two to Fillydelphia?”

“Friendship mission,” replies Aita. “So, Universe A, right? I hope I’m remembering that correctly.”

“What? H-How did you know where I was from?”

“Aita comes from the real world,” I explain. “so her knowledge of our respective worlds is kind of extensive. So, Pinkie Pie of Universe A, what brings you chaperoning?”

“Oh that? I was living in Manehattan for a while until one of the fillies here asked me to fill in for Sunspot while he’s in Sire’s Hollow.”

While Pinkie is explaining why she’s here, I notice one of the pegasus fillies is wearing a violet bandana. She has a pink coat, a neatly curled turquoise mane and tail tied by ivory ribbon, and a rook as a cutie mark.

I point to the filly. “Would that be her?”

Pinkie looks in the direction I point. “Um, I think so.”

The dragon Aita and I saw at the counter from earlier suddenly races to the lanes the children are occupying. She lands next to the ball queue farthest to the back.

“Hello, students of Happy Foals Schoolhouse. Smoulder here. Hope you kids have a good time bowling. I’ll be at the counter up front if you need anything. The snack bar is behind you if you’d like to buy some lunch. Also behind you are the chaperones if you need them, Pinkie Pie, Radiance, Espresso, Air Whiff and Interpolation. We also have Queen Chrysalis now if you need her or Aita; they’re on a friendship mission anyway.”

Aita and I wave hello upon Smoulder introducing us.

“It’s really cool the school board planned this in the middle of the opening assignment I’ve heard about from the chaperones. Now, I’m sure you all know how bowling works right?” Everyone nods at Smoulder. “Good. Behind me is one of the ball queues. Just make sure not to pass the foul line when you bowl. The lanes are slick, which could cause you to slip, and I will know about it when that happens. And you certainly wouldn’t want to get lectured by me. Well, I think that’s everything I need to cover. Have fun everyone, and good luck.”

Smoulder then leaves to return to the front counter. The rest of the children glare at the filly I spotted earlier as if Smoulder was referring to her during the introductory speech. The filly looks around until she sees me as some of the other children begin their games. The unicorns use their magic, pegasi use their wings, and dragons use their claws to play.

She then flies up on top of the table Aita and I are sitting at, and lies down on the table.

“Are you okay, little one?” I ask her.

“No…” she answers, prompting concern from Aita.

“But why not?”

“My class found out I’ve been behind everything about this field trip. I liked it last semester, but now I’m having second thoughts about going again so soon.”

I tilt my head again. “Everything? And that includes Universe A Pinkie Pie? And the school board?” The filly nods. “Planning a fun field trip was pretty nice of you to do, little one. I can’t imagine why everyone would be so up and legs about it.”

Pinkie taps the filly out of nowhere while I realize exactly what I just said. “Um, Cozy Glow, I think you’re up.”

“Oh, golly. We’ll have to talk more in a bit, Chrysalis.” Cozy Glow, as she’s called, jumps down off the table.

“No worries. Go take your turn.” I turn to Aita, who is confused by the name a little bit.

“Cozy Glow? I guess that’s what Dr. Immunity meant when she thought I sounded cozy to her.”

“Well, you two do sound alike,” Pinkie notes. “Maybe it was just a coincidence.”

At the snack bar, Aita and I share a plate of hay fries together as we give ourselves time to chat away from the crowd.

“Well Aita, I believe we’ve found our friendship mission.”

Aita nods. “Yeah. Cozy Glow lobbied for an opening field trip to the school board just so she and her classmates could bowl together again. And everyone seems to take that for granted.”

“Perhaps you could ask the children why. If I’m right, Happy Foals might be the school Carve was referring to back at the hive. Do you think you can do that while I talk to Cozy?”

“Sure do, Chrysalis.”

Aita gets up off her seat and starts for the crowd. But it appears she’s forgetting something, so I momentarily hold her tail with my magic to stop her. At the same time, Pinkie jumps onto the other seat next to me.

“Hold it, AIta. Aren’t you going to bring our snack?”

“Oh, that’s right. The snack.”

“THE SNACK!” Pinkie instantly replies.

“THE SNACK!” Aita replies back.

The rapid-fire exchange between the two leaves me a little confused as Aita walks back to the crowd with our fries in her magic.

“What was that?” I inquire.

“Oh our interaction? Seems AIta was somehow able to watch The Snack.”

“The Snack?”

“THE SNACK!” Pinkie repeats.

Dumbfounded by the whole snack bar experience, I simply return to the table I assigned myself before. Thankfully, Aita appears to’ve successfully dropped our fries off.

I’m caught off guard when I spot Cozy Glow scoring a strike, the best result of throw one in bowling. No one seems to’ve turned their heads to see her though. She pulls down the air above her in accomplishment and races to me and Aita’s table in the air in excitement.

“Did you see, Chrysalis?!? Did you?!?”

“Patience, Cozy. Yes, I arrived just in time to see your strike. I can at least see why you enjoy yourself here if you manage to accomplish that on a regular basis. I sure hope you’re feeling better after that.”

All the hype contained within Cozy quickly dissipates as she sighs and slumps midair in disappointment, an obvious sign my calm tone was not what she was expecting.

I alternate my gaze between Cozy and the plate of hay fries. Making my decision on how to respond, I float a fry in front of her, getting her to look at me. “Here. Enjoy a hay fry. You’ve earned it after that strike.”

“R-really? B-but that’s yours.”

“It goes without saying, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy the plate all by myself. Good deeds can be rewarding after all.”

Cozy still looks unsure whether or not she should take the fry I’m offering her. “You really think I should eat this?”

“Absolutely, Cozy. Now, go on.”

Cozy reluctantly holds out her hoof under the fry for me to rest it onto. I watch as she consumes the fry, savoring every last bit before gulping it down.

“Golly. That was a good hay fry. Thanks, Chrysalis,” says Cozy, hugging me.

“Anytime, little one. It looks like you’re up again to bowl now.”

I watch as the filly flies back to her lane.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

What's Scootertrix Pinkie Pie?

[AizakkuHorooee]

11492463
The Pinkie Pie from Scootertrix the Abridged, by Jack Getschman. The world of Scootertrix the Abridged is named Universe A.